Mostly providing a help function in a database is a step that comes long after an application has been put ‘live’.
In order to save myself a lot of design additions I created a context-sensitive ‘help’ function for application managers so they can add them later, when users come with the need for documentation.
The function I add on view- and formlevel wherever I think it might be handy in the future and is really easy to implement.
On a view or a form I add an action button with some @formula code.
On a view:
db:=@Subset(@DbName; -1);
@If(@IsError(@DbLookup(“”:”NoCache”;”"; “(Help)”; @ViewTitle+”\\”+db;1));
@If(@IsMember(“[Admin]“;@UserRoles);
@Do(
@Set(“tmpval”;@Prompt([YesNo];”Help module”;”There is no help for this view available. Would you like to create a new Help document?”));
@If(tmpval;@Command([ToolsRunMacro];”(CreateHelpView)”);”"));
@Prompt([Ok];”Help module”;”There is no help for this view available.”));
@Command([OpenHelpDocument]; “”; “(Help)”; @ViewTitle+”\\”+db))
On a form:
db:=@Subset(@DbName; -1);
@If(@IsError(@DbLookup(“”:”NoCache”;”"; “(Help)”; Form +”\\”+db;1));
@If(@IsMember(“[Admin]“;@UserRoles);
@Do(
@Set(“tmpval”;@Prompt([YesNo];”Help module”;”There is no help for this form available. Would you like to create a new Help document?”));
@If(tmpval;@Command([ToolsRunMacro];”(CreateHelpDoc)”);”"));
@Prompt([Ok];”Help module”;”There is no help for this form available.”));
@Command([OpenHelpDocument]; “”; “(Help)”; Form+”\\”+db))
If a user has the role Admin assigned it will enable to create a new ‘Help’ document for this particular design element.
If there is no ‘Help’ document available for this design element a popup window will appear:
When selecting ‘No’ the code will stop. When selecting ‘Yes’ an agent will run and creates the document on the background. A confirmation will appear:
If the user hits the action button again the newly created document will appear in a new window, just like the normal client Help function would do. This enables the user to switch between the application and the ‘Help’ document.
If you add the Admin role in an Authors field on the ‘Help’ document they can edit the document via a double-click and add content to the document.
At least this function saved me a lot of time and surprised application managers that it was already there from scratch!
Here is the code for the agent:
Sub Initialize
%REM
———————————————————————————————————————
The next script runs when there is no help document available for this design element
The script will create a new help document
———————————————————————————————————————
%END REM
Dim Session As New NotesSession
Dim workspace As New NotesUIWorkspace
Dim db As NotesDatabase
Set db = session.CurrentDatabase
Dim lookupview As NotesView
Dim uidoc As NotesUidocument
Dim thisdoc As notesdocument
Dim lookupdoc As notesdocument
Dim kolldoc As notesdocument
Dim kollview As notesview
Dim newhelpdoc As notesdocument
Set uidoc = workspace.CurrentDocument
Set thisdoc = uidoc.Document
Dim helpform As String
Dim server As String
Dim path As String
path = db.FilePath
helpform=thisdoc.Form(0)
’Collect data from help view
Set kollview = db.GetView( “(Help)” )
key$ = helpform+” “+path
Set kolldoc = kollview.getdocumentbykey(key$, True)
If kolldoc Is Nothing Then
’Create a new help document
Set newhelpdoc = db.CreateDocument
newhelpdoc.form=”F-Help”
newhelpdoc.Tx_About=”Instructions for: ” + helpform
newhelpdoc.Tx_Databas=path
newhelpdoc.Tx_Form=helpform
saveres = newhelpdoc.save(True,True)
If saveres Then
var = Messagebox(“A help document has been created in the Help module.”+Chr(10)+Chr(10)+”Please test the connection via the Help button.”,0+64,”Help module”)
Else
var = Messagebox(“A Help document could not be created. Please check the connection to the Help module.”,0+16,”Help module”)
End If
Else
var = Messagebox(“A Help document already exists for this form.”,0+16,”Help module”)
End If
End Sub
