On-line Help Customization#

Note

The customization to on-line help discussed here refers to the data in the data/GeneralHelp model.

The online help information that is available can include general and field-level information. This information can be added in the following ways:

  • On the design input form of the model. In this way the creator of a model can include its on-line help information. Field-level help is also shown as a tool-tip pop-up in the instance input form of the model.

  • In a Field Display Policy that applies to the model. In this way the default information on the model can be overridden if the Field Display Policy is applied to the model. A Field Display Policy can be associated with a model from its access in the Menu Layout.

  • If write access to the data/GeneralHelp model is available, instances of this model can be marked as information to display on the on-line help for a model. This is done by adding Model Overwrite Details array instances to a data/GeneralHelp model instance.

Role-based access on models and model fields, as well as Field Display Policies for models can be used to customize a user’s view of the available on-line help.

Instances of the data/GeneralHelp model created at a selected hierarchy level provide hierarchy-specific content. If the name of the instance of data/GeneralHelp at a hierarchy level is the same as that of an existing default instance, the default instance is replaced at the relevant hierarchy level.

Instances of the data/GeneralHelp model also contain a language code. If the user’s language corresponds with the language code, then this instance is displayed. In the case where an instance is to be translated, a new instance can be created where:

  • The instance language_code is updated to the new language, for example fr-fr.

  • Instance names should be unique.

If write access to the data/GeneralHelp model is available (contact VOSS), new help instances can be added and existing help instances can be modified. The process is summarized in the list below:

  • The menu position of the instance (the value -1 will hide an instance). The list of instances can be sorted on the menu position column to show the order in which they will display on the General Help list on the Help browser tab.

  • The display of an instance as a part of the model detail help of one or more selected models by adding Model Overwrite Details array instances to a data/GeneralHelp model instance. Options are available to:

    • Modify the title of the model help.

    • Modify the title of the General Help instance.

    • Show or hide the model help information (as obtained from the model or Field Display Policy).

    • Specify the position of the General Help instance relative to the model help information.

If more than one General Help instance is set to override the same selected model, all these overrides are applied where the positioning does not conflict. If positioning conflicts, the positioning of the first of the General Help instances (sorted alphabetically by instance name) is used.

If formatting is required in a new General Help model instance, the content can be written as ReStructured Text ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReStructuredText ).

Note that:

  • The Restructured Text is added as a single string in the JSON format file (line breaks in the text are to be replaced by the JSON escaped equivalent). This will be seen in the file when the data/GeneralHelp instance is exported.

  • Model descriptions are also pop-up tooltips, so Restructured Text is not supported in attribute descriptions - either in the model or Field Display Policy.

  • There is no support for local image references, but remote references to images can be added in the Restructured Text by adding the URL to it.