{"id":7,"category_id":1,"slug":"easy-help-cics","type":null,"name":"Easy Help for CICS","code":"EZH","content":"<p><strong>'HELP' windows without programming<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><strong>Easy Help for CICS<\/strong> displays interactive help data to users without changing application programs. Pressing the designated \"Help\" PF key causes help text to be displayed based on the cursor location of the screen being viewed. The help text is displayed in a window comprising a portion (or all) of the screen, depending on the amount of text to display and Easy Help configuration.&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>Help text is organized into <strong>screens<\/strong> and <strong>fields<\/strong>, where a field is a designated area on a specific screen. <strong>Text items<\/strong> contain the actual text, and are displayed when help is requested from a specific screen and field. Menus can be created to organize help text and make it easier for users to navigate to help text of interest. Hyperlinks can be defined linking to text&nbsp;items based on field content. For complete flexibility, user exit programs can provide data for help text from any data source accessible by the CICS region.<\/p>\r\n<p>Help text is maintained by authorized users using either CICS transactions or batch programs. Application or system programming staff is not required to maintain help data.<\/p>\r\n<p>Easy Help for CICS&nbsp;can replace more expensive \"help\" software. Conversion and migration assistance from other products is available.&nbsp;<\/p>","summary":"","featured":1,"status":1,"passwords":1,"extended_info":"0","deleted_at":null,"created_at":"2017-11-14T23:21:24.000000Z","updated_at":"2017-12-01T04:52:04.000000Z","sorted_releases":[{"id":980,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"4.4","notes":"<p>Enhancements:<\/p><ul>  <li>A new      screen identification method is introduced that allows you to specify both      the BMS mapset name and map name.\r\n  <\/li><li>The      Screen Directory is enhanced for screens that use the ALLBMS      identification method\r\n  <\/li><li>A new      batch program, BMSTOEZH, is added that will compare a BMS map with the      Easy Help data and generate Easy Help updates to reflect the changes made      in the BMS source program.\r\n  <\/li><li>A new      option of *UNLOAD: *UNLOADL, provides a method for help administrators to      specify one or more screens and\/or one or more text items to be \u201cunloaded\u201d\r\n  <\/li><li>Support      for UniKix\/TPE and MicroFocus (now Rocket) CICS emulators has been      removed.\r\n  <\/li><li>License      passwords are no longer supported. Customers must now install the      MacKinney License Keys software before being able to enable Easy Help in a      region.<\/li><\/ul>","released_on":"2024-09-25T18:10:34.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":680,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"4.3","notes":"<ul>\n<li>The code for the CICS, Unikix and Micro Focus platforms has been\nconsolidated.<\/li>\n<li>Miscellaneous code fixes.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","released_on":"2016-02-12T23:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":643,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"4.2","notes":"<ul>\n<li>Introduced support for the Dell\/Clerity TPE (also known as UniKix)\nenvironment.<\/li>\n<li>\"Termid\" security was made optional for user authorization and the\nnew default is to NOT check terminal when deciding to allow a user to\nuse Easy Help.\u00a0 Contact MacKinney Systems if you want to continue\nusing the userid\/terminal id combination to control Easy Help\nsecurity.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","released_on":"2015-07-27T21:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":593,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"4.1","notes":"<ul>\n<li>Added ability to create hyperlinks between help text pages allowing\nyou to position the cursor and jump to other help text.<\/li>\n<li>There are two levels of hyperlinks --screen-level, and field-level.\nRouting information for screen-level hyperlinks is stored in the form\nof {EZHLNK} items in the Screen Overview text for the screen and can be\naccessed from help text displayed for any field. Routing for\nfield-level hyperlinks is stored in the text item referenced by the\nfield. Hyperlinks are delimited in the data by using the defined\n'Hyperlink char'.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Added ability to determine the text item to display based on the\nvalue of a field from the application screen. This information is\nstored in the screen field records using {EZHVAL} records.<\/li>\n<li>Added support for\u00a0 'TOP' and 'BOT'\/'BOTTOM' commands in the\n'Find' field of the help display.<\/li>\n<li>Simplified the user interface with ability to suppress the display\nand use of the 'Next', 'Prev'(ious), and 'Overview' PF keys on the help\ndisplay.<\/li>\n<li>Enhanced the field directory to allow authorization level 5 users\nto copy and delete fields directly from the directory rather than\nrequiring them to start from the application screen.<\/li>\n<li>Enhanced the HELPUTIL batch job to eliminate multiple references to\n{EZHxxx} items --if a field specifies another field (via {EZHPTR}), but\nthe other field also contains an {EZHxxx} reference (instead of having\nits own text), HELPUTIL points the original field to the same {EZHxxx}\nreference.<\/li>\n<li>Returns user to their application after displaying an error\nmessage. \u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Emphasizes 'sticky cursor' and hyperlinks using the\u00a0'Bright'\nattribute, and extended attributes of Underscore, Blink and\nReverse.<\/li>\n<li>Added migration path from the Unicom WINDOWS(tm) product.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","released_on":"2014-11-05T23:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":540,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"4.0","notes":"<p>Release 4.0 of Easy Help introduces several major changes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A new way to store help text has been added. \"Text\" items are not\nassociated with a particular screen, but are stand- alone units which\nare referenced from screens and menus. This allows an unlimited number\nof individual collections of help text to be stored, and faster\nresponse in some situations. Previously, all help text had to be\nassociated with a specific row\/column area (field) on a screen.\nAlthough that text could be referenced by any other area on the same or\nany other screen, if the \"owning\" field changed positions, references\nto that text from another screen\/position would be broken. With the\naddition of \"Text\" items, each independent screen position can\nreference the text item without knowing about any other screen's use of\nthat data.<\/li>\n<li>The maximum length of a line of help text increased from 72 to 75\nbytes. If a user requests help that contains more than 72 bytes of text\nand the installation is set to show a shadow border, the shadow is\nsuppressed so the extra 3 bytes display on terminals with 80 column\nscreen sizes.Lines of text that are longer than 72 bytes cannot be\nedited using the \"Native\" editor, so the QEDITOR is used. The QEDITOR\nis invoked automatically if needed. New synonyms for \"E\"dit are also\navailable---entering \"N\" where you usually enter \"E\" invokes the\n\"Native\" editor, and entering \"Q\" invokes the QEDITOR.<\/li>\n<li>\"Text\" item and \"Menu\" names can be up to 20 bytes long. Title\nlengths are increased from 25 to 35 bytes. (However, some displays\nstill only display the first 25 bytes.)<\/li>\n<li>The format of the input to the batch program HELPUTIL has changed.\nYou can only run HELPUTIL with input generated from the same version of\nHELPUTIL. For example, you cannot unload data from a release 3 version\nof the HELP02 file and use that unloaded data as input into a release 4\nversion of HELPUTIL or a release 4 version of the HELP02 file.<\/li>\n<li>The HELPTEST program's transaction ID changed from HZTS to HTST.\nSeveral added features include the ability to display any map\/mapset\nproviding easier testing especially during initial installs, an option\nto set your terminal's UCTRAN setting, and easier specification of\nwhich \"captured\" map to display. Refer to Using the HELPTEST program\nfor more information.<\/li>\n<li>More than one license password can now be stored in the same\nMSXGCF$ file. A new batch program, HELPUPWD, allows updating the Easy\nHelp license password(s) via a batch program instead of online.\u00a0\nIn addition to making disaster recovery easier, you can use this method\nto enter up to 6 passwords so the configuration file (MSXGCF$) can be\nshared across multiple processors.<\/li>\n<li>Printing individual screen fields, menus, or text records has been\nadded to the HELPPRNT program. The input to HELPPRNT has also been\nsimplified to print these.<\/li>\n<li>A \"Search Exit\" option has been added, expanding the ways Easy Help\nis used to display help data. Optionally, an additional PF key can be\nassigned to invoke an alternate search exit.<\/li>\n<li>3270 Screen sizes larger than 24x80 are better utilized when the\ntransaction being displayed is in model 3 or 4 mode.<\/li>\n<li>This release is currently for z\/OS only. z\/VSE users should install\nrelease 3.1, or contact MacKinney Systems for availability of later\nreleases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","released_on":"2013-05-31T21:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":457,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"3.0","notes":"<p>This release introduces several major changes:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>A new function to display menus has been added, allowing a menu to\r\nbe displayed instead of the help text for a field. A menu allows the\r\nuser to select from any number of items (8 per page). Each menu item\r\ncan display help text or another menu. This allows Easy Help to display\r\ntext in a hierarchical type format similar to a book with\r\nchapters.<\/li>\r\n<li>Segregate help data based on the transaction ID (or the userid), by\r\nspecifying a different \"File Suffix\" for the transaction.<\/li>\r\n<li>User exit programs can now specify that the first line of the first\r\npage of help text is to be considered a heading and should be displayed\r\nas line one of all subsequent pages.<\/li>\r\n<li>Copy an existing screen as a completely new screen----- the\r\n\"receiving\" screen does not have to already exist.<\/li>\r\n<li>Create help text for a screen that does not have a unique\r\nidentifier on the screen.<\/li>\r\n<li>The Attach Exit program (HELPXZCP) is now threadsafe. The remaining\r\nprograms are still Quasirent.<\/li>\r\n<li>Diagnostic messages and tracing have been improved.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><br><\/p>\r\n<ul><\/ul>","released_on":"2011-08-11T01:24:18.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":119,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"2.9","notes":"<p>Added support for programs using CICS TS V3's CHANNEL facility.<\/p>","released_on":"2008-03-18T23:06:23.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":120,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"2.8","notes":"<ul>\n<li>Modified to reduce the likelihood of storage violations in the\nHELPDISP program. Coded changes and included the SSRANGE compiler\noption.<\/li>\n<li>Upgraded the components used to create the z\/OS loadmods to\nEnterprise Cobol Release 3.4, with the LE components from z\/OS 1.4. The\nz\/VSE version was generated using IBM COBOL for VSE\/ESA Release 1.1.1,\nwith the version of LE that shipped with z\/VSE Release 3.1. If you are\nnot running at least z\/OS 1.4 or z\/VSE 1.1, you may want to continue to\nrun release 2.7.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","released_on":"2006-10-27T21:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":121,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"2.7","notes":"\n<ul>\n <li>The *EHLOAD function of the HELPUTIL batch program has been replaced with 4 different formats of the *EHLOAD function. Now, all information for a screen and fields can be supplied using HELPUTIL, not just field help text.<\/li>\n <li>Multiple-line \"fields\" can be defined using the \"Array Indicator\" field of the *EHLOAD4 record.<\/li>\n <li>A \"Debug Option\" on the HCFG screen that can be used to help diagnose datastream and other issues<\/li>\n <li>This release is the first OCO release of Easy Help.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","released_on":"2004-07-12T21:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":657,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"2.3","notes":"<p>\u00a0Maintenance release.<\/p>\n","released_on":"2006-01-03T23:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]}],"releases":[{"id":119,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"2.9","notes":"<p>Added support for programs using CICS TS V3's CHANNEL facility.<\/p>","released_on":"2008-03-18T23:06:23.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":120,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"2.8","notes":"<ul>\n<li>Modified to reduce the likelihood of storage violations in the\nHELPDISP program. Coded changes and included the SSRANGE compiler\noption.<\/li>\n<li>Upgraded the components used to create the z\/OS loadmods to\nEnterprise Cobol Release 3.4, with the LE components from z\/OS 1.4. The\nz\/VSE version was generated using IBM COBOL for VSE\/ESA Release 1.1.1,\nwith the version of LE that shipped with z\/VSE Release 3.1. If you are\nnot running at least z\/OS 1.4 or z\/VSE 1.1, you may want to continue to\nrun release 2.7.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","released_on":"2006-10-27T21:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":121,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"2.7","notes":"\n<ul>\n <li>The *EHLOAD function of the HELPUTIL batch program has been replaced with 4 different formats of the *EHLOAD function. Now, all information for a screen and fields can be supplied using HELPUTIL, not just field help text.<\/li>\n <li>Multiple-line \"fields\" can be defined using the \"Array Indicator\" field of the *EHLOAD4 record.<\/li>\n <li>A \"Debug Option\" on the HCFG screen that can be used to help diagnose datastream and other issues<\/li>\n <li>This release is the first OCO release of Easy Help.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","released_on":"2004-07-12T21:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":457,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"3.0","notes":"<p>This release introduces several major changes:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>A new function to display menus has been added, allowing a menu to\r\nbe displayed instead of the help text for a field. A menu allows the\r\nuser to select from any number of items (8 per page). Each menu item\r\ncan display help text or another menu. This allows Easy Help to display\r\ntext in a hierarchical type format similar to a book with\r\nchapters.<\/li>\r\n<li>Segregate help data based on the transaction ID (or the userid), by\r\nspecifying a different \"File Suffix\" for the transaction.<\/li>\r\n<li>User exit programs can now specify that the first line of the first\r\npage of help text is to be considered a heading and should be displayed\r\nas line one of all subsequent pages.<\/li>\r\n<li>Copy an existing screen as a completely new screen----- the\r\n\"receiving\" screen does not have to already exist.<\/li>\r\n<li>Create help text for a screen that does not have a unique\r\nidentifier on the screen.<\/li>\r\n<li>The Attach Exit program (HELPXZCP) is now threadsafe. The remaining\r\nprograms are still Quasirent.<\/li>\r\n<li>Diagnostic messages and tracing have been improved.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><br><\/p>\r\n<ul><\/ul>","released_on":"2011-08-11T01:24:18.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":540,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"4.0","notes":"<p>Release 4.0 of Easy Help introduces several major changes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A new way to store help text has been added. \"Text\" items are not\nassociated with a particular screen, but are stand- alone units which\nare referenced from screens and menus. This allows an unlimited number\nof individual collections of help text to be stored, and faster\nresponse in some situations. Previously, all help text had to be\nassociated with a specific row\/column area (field) on a screen.\nAlthough that text could be referenced by any other area on the same or\nany other screen, if the \"owning\" field changed positions, references\nto that text from another screen\/position would be broken. With the\naddition of \"Text\" items, each independent screen position can\nreference the text item without knowing about any other screen's use of\nthat data.<\/li>\n<li>The maximum length of a line of help text increased from 72 to 75\nbytes. If a user requests help that contains more than 72 bytes of text\nand the installation is set to show a shadow border, the shadow is\nsuppressed so the extra 3 bytes display on terminals with 80 column\nscreen sizes.Lines of text that are longer than 72 bytes cannot be\nedited using the \"Native\" editor, so the QEDITOR is used. The QEDITOR\nis invoked automatically if needed. New synonyms for \"E\"dit are also\navailable---entering \"N\" where you usually enter \"E\" invokes the\n\"Native\" editor, and entering \"Q\" invokes the QEDITOR.<\/li>\n<li>\"Text\" item and \"Menu\" names can be up to 20 bytes long. Title\nlengths are increased from 25 to 35 bytes. (However, some displays\nstill only display the first 25 bytes.)<\/li>\n<li>The format of the input to the batch program HELPUTIL has changed.\nYou can only run HELPUTIL with input generated from the same version of\nHELPUTIL. For example, you cannot unload data from a release 3 version\nof the HELP02 file and use that unloaded data as input into a release 4\nversion of HELPUTIL or a release 4 version of the HELP02 file.<\/li>\n<li>The HELPTEST program's transaction ID changed from HZTS to HTST.\nSeveral added features include the ability to display any map\/mapset\nproviding easier testing especially during initial installs, an option\nto set your terminal's UCTRAN setting, and easier specification of\nwhich \"captured\" map to display. Refer to Using the HELPTEST program\nfor more information.<\/li>\n<li>More than one license password can now be stored in the same\nMSXGCF$ file. A new batch program, HELPUPWD, allows updating the Easy\nHelp license password(s) via a batch program instead of online.\u00a0\nIn addition to making disaster recovery easier, you can use this method\nto enter up to 6 passwords so the configuration file (MSXGCF$) can be\nshared across multiple processors.<\/li>\n<li>Printing individual screen fields, menus, or text records has been\nadded to the HELPPRNT program. The input to HELPPRNT has also been\nsimplified to print these.<\/li>\n<li>A \"Search Exit\" option has been added, expanding the ways Easy Help\nis used to display help data. Optionally, an additional PF key can be\nassigned to invoke an alternate search exit.<\/li>\n<li>3270 Screen sizes larger than 24x80 are better utilized when the\ntransaction being displayed is in model 3 or 4 mode.<\/li>\n<li>This release is currently for z\/OS only. z\/VSE users should install\nrelease 3.1, or contact MacKinney Systems for availability of later\nreleases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","released_on":"2013-05-31T21:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":593,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"4.1","notes":"<ul>\n<li>Added ability to create hyperlinks between help text pages allowing\nyou to position the cursor and jump to other help text.<\/li>\n<li>There are two levels of hyperlinks --screen-level, and field-level.\nRouting information for screen-level hyperlinks is stored in the form\nof {EZHLNK} items in the Screen Overview text for the screen and can be\naccessed from help text displayed for any field. Routing for\nfield-level hyperlinks is stored in the text item referenced by the\nfield. Hyperlinks are delimited in the data by using the defined\n'Hyperlink char'.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Added ability to determine the text item to display based on the\nvalue of a field from the application screen. This information is\nstored in the screen field records using {EZHVAL} records.<\/li>\n<li>Added support for\u00a0 'TOP' and 'BOT'\/'BOTTOM' commands in the\n'Find' field of the help display.<\/li>\n<li>Simplified the user interface with ability to suppress the display\nand use of the 'Next', 'Prev'(ious), and 'Overview' PF keys on the help\ndisplay.<\/li>\n<li>Enhanced the field directory to allow authorization level 5 users\nto copy and delete fields directly from the directory rather than\nrequiring them to start from the application screen.<\/li>\n<li>Enhanced the HELPUTIL batch job to eliminate multiple references to\n{EZHxxx} items --if a field specifies another field (via {EZHPTR}), but\nthe other field also contains an {EZHxxx} reference (instead of having\nits own text), HELPUTIL points the original field to the same {EZHxxx}\nreference.<\/li>\n<li>Returns user to their application after displaying an error\nmessage. \u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Emphasizes 'sticky cursor' and hyperlinks using the\u00a0'Bright'\nattribute, and extended attributes of Underscore, Blink and\nReverse.<\/li>\n<li>Added migration path from the Unicom WINDOWS(tm) product.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","released_on":"2014-11-05T23:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":643,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"4.2","notes":"<ul>\n<li>Introduced support for the Dell\/Clerity TPE (also known as UniKix)\nenvironment.<\/li>\n<li>\"Termid\" security was made optional for user authorization and the\nnew default is to NOT check terminal when deciding to allow a user to\nuse Easy Help.\u00a0 Contact MacKinney Systems if you want to continue\nusing the userid\/terminal id combination to control Easy Help\nsecurity.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","released_on":"2015-07-27T21:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":657,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"2.3","notes":"<p>\u00a0Maintenance release.<\/p>\n","released_on":"2006-01-03T23:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":680,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"4.3","notes":"<ul>\n<li>The code for the CICS, Unikix and Micro Focus platforms has been\nconsolidated.<\/li>\n<li>Miscellaneous code fixes.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","released_on":"2016-02-12T23:21:24.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]},{"id":980,"parent_id":null,"product_id":7,"release":"4.4","notes":"<p>Enhancements:<\/p><ul>  <li>A new      screen identification method is introduced that allows you to specify both      the BMS mapset name and map name.\r\n  <\/li><li>The      Screen Directory is enhanced for screens that use the ALLBMS      identification method\r\n  <\/li><li>A new      batch program, BMSTOEZH, is added that will compare a BMS map with the      Easy Help data and generate Easy Help updates to reflect the changes made      in the BMS source program.\r\n  <\/li><li>A new      option of *UNLOAD: *UNLOADL, provides a method for help administrators to      specify one or more screens and\/or one or more text items to be \u201cunloaded\u201d\r\n  <\/li><li>Support      for UniKix\/TPE and MicroFocus (now Rocket) CICS emulators has been      removed.\r\n  <\/li><li>License      passwords are no longer supported. Customers must now install the      MacKinney License Keys software before being able to enable Easy Help in a      region.<\/li><\/ul>","released_on":"2024-09-25T18:10:34.000000Z","deleted_at":null,"children":[]}]}