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@node Help_On_Help
Rational provides a variety of resources for finding information about
the Environment. The following sections explain how to look for
information using:
* Online help (including using the standard help keys)
* Online specifications
* Printed manuals
ONLINE HELP
-----------
The Environment help facility provides a number of ways to get online
information for Environment resources such as commands and tools.
Various help operations are bound to keys; others are available from
command windows. RXI and Rational Access also offer help facilities
through the main pop-up or pull-down menus. You can use these
facilities to answer questions such as:
* What command does this key execute?
* What does this command do?
* What Environment commands and topics pertain to this topic?
The following subsections summarize the behavior of standard help
keys, explain how to find answers to the questions above, and describe
a standard help entry.
STANDARD HELP KEYS
Regardless of the interface you are using, the standard key bindings
include several help keys:
[Help on Help] Explains how to get information using the help
system (this display).
[Help] Depending on your user interface, either
(or [Help on Command]) displays help for the designated item or opens
a command window with the What.Does command in
it. The What.Does command displays help for
the topic or command name entered as the Name
parameter.
[Help on Key] Prompts for a key or key combination (in the
message window) and explains the command that
the key activates. [Help on Key] is often
bound to [Control][Q].
[Prompt For] Prompts for a key or key combination (in the
message window) and opens a command window
containing the command bound to that key or
key combination.
[Explain] Provides additional information about the
designated object or error. In an Environment
specification or a menu of help topics,
[Explain] displays the help entry for the
designated item.
[Complete] Provides prompting and completion for the
parameters for commands in command windows
(also provides such prompting in Ada units,
but requires that the item to be completed be
selected).
Check your key bindings to determine the physical keys that correspond
to these operations.
WHAT COMMAND DOES THIS KEY EXECUTE?
You can use [Help on Key] (often bound to [Control][Q]) to find out
what command is bound to a particular key or key combination. For
example, to display help for the [Definition] key:
1. Press [Help on Key]. The cursor can be anywhere on the screen.
The message window prompts you to press the key or key combination
for which you want help.
2. Press the desired key or key combination--in this case,
[Definition]. (You can press any single key, and modified key
combination, or any item-operation key combination.)
The message window echoes the name of the physical key you pressed.
For example, if [Definition] is bound to [F5] on your keyboard, the
message window echoes "F5".
The Environment help window displays the help message for the
command that is bound to the specified key. In this example, the
command in Common.Definition.
WHAT DOES THIS COMMAND OR PACKAGE DO?
If you know a command's name, you can use the help facility to find
out what the command does. For example, to display help for the
command Common.Definition:
1. Press [Create Command] to open a command window.
2. Enter "What.Does" and press [Complete]. The Environment displays:
What.Does (Name => "");
3. At the parameter prompt, enter the name of the command package for
which you want help. Enter as much of the name as you know--if you
can, enter a qualified name such as "Common.Definition"; otherwise,
enter a simple name such as "definition":
What.Does (Name => "definition");
4. Press [Promote].
If there is no help for the name you entered, a message is
displayed in the message window.
If the name you entered resolves to a single command, the help
window displays the help entry for that command.
If the name you entered requires further qualification to resolve
to a single command, the help window displays a menu of fully
qualified command names for you to choose from.
WHAT COMMANDS OR PACKAGES PERTAIN TO THIS TOPIC?
You can use the steps given in the previous section to find out what
Environment resources are available for a given topic. For example, to
find out what commands and tools are available for moving the cursor,
you can supply "cursor" as a clue instead of a command name.
READING HELP ENTRIES
A help message for an Environment command consists of:
* A dashed line indicating the beginning of the entry.
* A list of all the key combinations to which the command is bound.
(Note that if you have customized your key bindings, some of the
displayed bindings may not be correct.)
* The specification for the command, including its parameter profile
and default parameter values.
* A description of the command. More recently-updated help entries
may also include information about the command's parameters, any
restrictions, an example, and cross references.
The help messages for other topics may have different formats. For
example, the help entry for a package typically contains a list of the
resources in that package and introductory information pertaining to
all commands in that package.
Each subsequent help entry you request is appended to the last entry
in the help window. (Thus, the dashed line at the top of a entry
separates it from the previous entry.) The help window contains all
the help messages you request from the time you log in until you log
out. To see previous messages, scroll back through the help window.
ONLINE SPECIFICATIONS
---------------------
The complete set of Environment specifications are present online in
the !Commands and !Tools libraries. If you know the pathname of a
declaration, you can view its specification in an Environment window
by providing its pathname to the Common.Definition procedure:
Definition ("!Commands.Debug");
If you know the simple name of the unit in which the declaration
appears, in most cases you can use searchlist naming, as follows, as a
quick way of viewing the unit:
Definition ("\Debug");
From the Environment specification, you can obtain additional help on
a unit by placing the cursor on the unit's declaration and pressing
[Help].
PRINTED MANUALS
---------------
The core Rational documentation set includes the following manuals:
* Rational Environment User's Guide
* Rational Environment Basic Operations
* Rational Environment Reference Manual, comprised of 11 volumes:
- Volume 1, Reference Summary (incl. Glossary and Master Index)
- Volume 2, Editing Images / Editing Specific Types
- Volume 3, Debugging
- Volume 4, Session and Job Management
- Volume 5, Library Management
- Volume 6, Text Input/Output
- Volume 7, Data and Device Input/Output
- Volume 8, String Tools
- Volume 9, Programming Tools
- Volume 10, System Management Utilities
- Volume 11, Project Management
* System Manager's Guide
* Reference Manual for the Ada Programming Language
(The content of these books are described in the "Introduction to the
Documentation Set" in Volume 1 of the Reference Manual.)
The Rational documentation set also includes three guides tailored for
use with each of Rational's user interface products:
* Rational X Interface (RXI) User's Guide
* Rational Windows Interface (RWI) User's Guide
* Rational Access (RXI) User's Guide
Guides are also available for Rational's layered-software products.