Using help

Throughout the help are links that you can click to move to another page or to another section of the current page. After visiting a link, you can use your browser's Back button to return to the help page that you were reading. There are three types of links in help pages.

Types of links in Help pages

Inline help links

Inline links are underlined, and are colored to stand out from ordinary text. These links usually take you to another help page, or to another section of the current help page.


[NOTE: ]

NOTE: Depending on the capabilities of your browser, the underline might appear only as you move your mouse cursor over the link text.


This is an example of an inline link.

Some inline links point to external resources on the World Wide Web. All such links are clearly identified as external links.


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NOTE: In order to use external links, your browser must have access to the external internet. If you are behind an internet firewall, you might need to configure proxy servers. Consult your network administrator to determine the appropriate settings for your browser.


Inline glossary links

Glossary links are displayed the same way as inline help links. These links always take you to the glossary definition of the linked word or phrase.

Link lines

A link line is a link that appears on a line by itself, separate from surrounding text. Link lines can appear individually, or in a list. These links are preceded with the symbol », as in this example:

Using Help

These links are colored like inline links, and an underline might appear as you move your mouse cursor over the link text.

Common components of each help page

To make it easy to use the help system, every help page contains certain common components.

Banner

At the top of the page is a colored banner identifying the help system and the language in which the help page is written.

Topic path

Beneath the banner is a single line in small font, showing the topic hierarchy that leads to the current page. If the current topic has parent topics, you can click on any of the parent topic names to go to the corresponding help page.

Title block

Beneath the topic path is a title block identifying the current help page.

Search controls

A search field is displayed at the top left of each help page, allowing full-text search across all of the help topics in the application. Enter the word or phrase to search for, and click Search. Advanced search options are available from the search results page.


[NOTE: ]

NOTE: Search capability is not provided for all help systems.


Page table of contents

Some help pages contain multiple sections. The section title inside a colored banner marks the beginning of each major section. The page table of contents is a list of link lines that point to the start of each section. On pages that contain multiple sections, the page table of contents appears directly under the title block.

Navigation links

At the left side of the page is a block of link lines arranged as a topic outline. The link line corresponding to the current page is dimmed and inactive. As you move through the help system, the outline automatically expands or collapses, depending on the position of the current help page. The following navigation links are always shown:

  • All top-level help topics

  • All subtopics of the current topic

  • All peer topics of the current topic

  • All peer topics of the parent of the current topic

These navigation links are designed to make it easy to get to other topics that are closely related to the current topic, without cluttering the left navigation with unrelated topics. If you want to see the entire outline of topics and subtopics, click the Table of Contents link at the top of the navigation links.

The following standard links are included at the top and bottom of the navigation link lines.

Standard Navigation Links (top)

Table of Contents

An outline view of all the help pages, with all subtopics expanded. From the table of contents, you can go directly to any help page with a single mouse click.

Index

A keyword index of all the help pages. Index entries are linked to the help pages where the keywords appear. If you cannot find the help that you're looking for, you are always one click away from the index.

Standard Navigation Links (bottom)

Glossary

A glossary of terms used in the help pages.

Using Help

This help page.