The LBR$GET_HELP routine retrieves help text from a help library, displaying it on SYS$OUTPUT or calling your routine for each record returned. Format LBR$GET_HELP library_index [,line_width] [,routine] [,data] [,key_1] [,key_2 . . . ,key_10]
1 – Returns
OpenVMS usage:cond_value type: longword (unsigned) access: write only mechanism: by value Longword condition value. Most utility routines return a condition value in R0. Condition values that this routine can return are listed under Condition Values Returned.
2 – Arguments
library_index OpenVMS usage:longword_unsigned type: longword (unsigned) access: read only mechanism: by reference Library control index returned by the LBR$INI_CONTROL routine. The library_index argument is the address of the longword that contains the index. line_width OpenVMS usage:longword_signed type: longword (signed) access: read only mechanism: by reference Width of the help text line. The line_width argument is the address of a longword containing the width of the listing line. If you do not supply a line width or if you specify 0, the line width defaults to 80 characters per line. routine OpenVMS usage:procedure type: procedure value access: read only mechanism: by reference Routine called for each line of text you want output. The routine argument is the address of the procedure value for this user- written routine. If you do not supply a routine argument, LBR$GET_HELP calls the Run-Time Library procedure LIB$PUT_OUTPUT to send the help text lines to the current output device (SYS$OUTPUT). However, if you want SYS$OUTPUT for your program to be a disk file rather than the terminal, you should supply a routine to output the text. If the user-written routine returns an error status with low bit clear, the LBR$GET_HELP routine passes this status to the caller. If the user-written routine returns a success status with low bit set, the LBR$GET_HELP routine returns 1 to the caller. The routine you specify is called with an argument list of four longwords: 1. The first argument is the address of a string descriptor for the output line. 2. The second argument is the address of an unsigned longword containing flag bits that describe the contents of the text being passed. The possible flags are as follows: HLP$M_ Specified help text cannot be found. NOHLPTXT HLP$M_ Text contains key names of the printed text. KEYNAMLIN HLP$M_ Text is part of the information provided on OTHERINFO additional help available. Each programming language provides an appropriate mechanism for accessing these flags. Note that, if no flag bit is set, help text is passed. 3. The third argument is the address stipulated in the data argument specified in the call to LBR$GET_HELP (or the address of a 0 constant if the data argument is zero or was omitted). 4. The fourth argument is a longword containing the address of the current key level. The routine you specify must return with success or failure status. A failure status (low bit = 0) terminates the current call to LBR$GET_HELP. data OpenVMS usage:longword_unsigned type: longword (unsigned) access: write only mechanism: by reference Data passed to the routine specified in the routine argument. The data argument is the address of data for the routine. The address is passed to the routine specified in the routine argument. If you omit this argument or specify it as zero, then the argument passed in your routine will be the address of a zero constant. key_1,key_2, . . . ,key_10 OpenVMS usage:longword_signed type: longword (signed) access: read only mechanism: by descriptor Level of the help text to be output. Each key_1,key_2, . . . ,key_ 10 argument is the address of a descriptor pointing to the key for that level. If the key_1 descriptor is 0 or if it is not present, LBR$GET_ HELP assumes that the key_1 name is HELP, and it ignores all the other keys. For key_2 through key_10, a descriptor address of 0, or a length of 0, or a string address of 0 terminates the list. The key argument may contain any of the following special character strings: String Meaning * Return all level 1 help text in the library. KEY . . .Return all help text associated with the specified key and its subkeys (valid for level 1 keys only). * . . . Return all help text in the library.
3 – Description
LBR$GET_HELP returns all help text in the same format as the output returned by the DCL command HELP; that is, it indents two spaces for every key level of text displayed. (Because of this formatting, you may want to make your help messages shorter than 80 characters, so they fit on one line on terminal screens with the width set to 80.) If you do not want the help text indented to the appropriate help level, you must supply your own routine to change the format. Note that most application programs use LBR$OUTPUT_HELP instead of LBR$GET_HELP.
4 – Condition Values Returned
LBR$_ILLCTL Specified library control index not valid. LBR$_LIBNOTOPN Specified library not open. LBR$_NOTHLPLIB Specified library not a help library.