One of the most intuitive development tools on the AS/400 is SDA, Screen Design Aid. With it,
you build display screens and menus in a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) mode. We're
going to look at how easy it is to create a simple help screen.
In only a few minutes, you can build a custom help screen for your user. Start SDA with the
command STRSDA. You will see that SDA has three functions:
1) Design Screens
Use selection 2 to design a menu. Enter the name of your menu, where you have stored the
source (usually QDDSSRC) and the library that it is in.
Now choose the selection to "Work with menu help" by changing the "N" to a "Y". Here you can
define help screens that will display if your user enters a selection number and hits F1.
This is where you will "Create" the text for your help screen. You will also have 3 Range
Options to choose from.
2) Design Menus
3) Test Display Files
Valid ranges are:
00-00 General help for the entire menu.
nn-nn Where nn is a number between 01 and 99. This is specific help for one option of
the menu.
nn-mm Where nn is a number between 00 and 99 and mm is a number between 01 and 99 and
is greater that nn. This is help for a range of options on your menu.
Note: You cannot create more than a single page of help for each range of options.
You will see this screen displayed. Type in a 1 for Create in the Opt field, and 01 - 01 in
the Range field. The 01 is only used for Selection 1 of your main menu selection. Option
02 is for Selection 2, etc..
Work with Menu Help Records
File . . . . . . : QDDSSRC Menu . . . . . . . : MRCM001
Library . . . . : User999
Type options (and Range), press Enter.
1=Create 3=Copy 4=Delete 12=Update
Opt Range Text
___ __ - __
Bottom
F3=Exit F5=Refresh F9=Display image F12=Cancel
Create Menu Help Record
File . . . . . . : QDDSSRC Menu . . . . . . . : MRCM001
Library . . . . : USER999
Type choices, press Enter.
Create help for option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01 01-99
-OR-
Create help for option range (range xx-yy)
From menu option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ___ 00-99
To menu option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ___ 01-99
-OR-
Create general help (range 00-00) . . . . . . . . . . N Y=Yes, N=No
F3=Exit F5=Refresh F9=Display image F12=Cancel
From here, you will press Enter, a blank screen will appear and now you can type in the text
you want for your help screen.
Once you have created the text help for each option you chose, you should see the following
screen with your enhancements:
Work with Menu Help Records
File . . . . . . : QDDSSRC Menu . . . . . . . : MRCM001
Library . . . . : User999
Type options (and Range), press Enter.
1=Create 3=Copy 4=Delete 12=Update
Opt Range Text
-
01 - 01 Run Customer Query
02 - 02 Print Customer Query
03 - 03 Change Address in Customer File
04 - 04 Show Customer File
05 - 05 Work with Printer Files
Bottom
F3=Exit F5=Refresh F9=Display image F12=Cancel
When you exit SDA, check the "object library" name. This is where your compiled menu objects
will go. Hit enter and the AS/400 will compile your source code and your menu will be ready
to run. SDA creates three objects, all with the same name: the commands, the display file and
a message file for the menu.
When you run the menu you have created, type in selection 1 and press F1, when you do this you will see the following help screen.
HELP Running Customer Query Information
This option will run the Customer Query. The information of
this query will show you the Customer Name, Customer Number
and Address.
Hit F3 to Exit, and Enter to run query.
F3=Exit F12=Cancel
You can also use SDA to test and design display files. With the "Test Display Files" selection of SDA, you can see the fields and presentation of a display file. This works even if you don't have the source code.