OpenHelpDocument @Command (Formula Language)

Allows you to create your own context-sensitive help documents. To use this command, you must first create a view that has a sorted first column containing key values that uniquely identify each help document. @Command([OpenHelpDocument]) searches this sorted view for the specified key value and, if found, displays the associated help document in a separate Help window.

Tip: If you use this @command as the formula for the onHelp event for a form, for example, when a user presses <F1> in the context of this form, the custom help document associated with it displays instead of the standard Notes® Help database that is usually triggered when a user presses <F1>.

Note: This @command is new with Release 5.

Syntax

@Command( [OpenHelpDocument]; server : database; viewname; key )

@Command( [OpenHelpDocument]; [ HelpDatabase ]; viewname; key )

Parameters

server

Text. The name of the server where the database resides.

database

Text. Required. The path and file name (in the appropriate format for the operating system) of the database you want to open.

viewName

Text. The name of the view you want to open in the database.

key

Text. Indicates which document you want Notes® to scroll to when it opens viewName. The key is a value that appears in the first sorted column of viewName. It can either be a formula or a hard-coded value such as the title of a document.

[HelpDatabase]

Keyword. If you supply one of the following keywords instead of server:database values, this @command opens the corresponding Notes® Help files:

[ClientHelp ] opens Domino® Help.

[DesignerHelp] opens Domino® Designer Help.

[AdminHelp] opens Domino® Administration Help.

Usage

In the Help database, the column that contains the key must be sorted.

The Help database must be on either a server or in the local data directory. If you do not specify the server name, it defaults to your local data directory.

If you do not specify the database name, it searches within the Help database. For example, in the Notes® 6 Client, the search occurs in Domino® 6 Help (HELP6_CLIENT.nsf).

For Web access, this command is useful to create a button to get Help documents.

Note: You can also create pages for Help and open them with @Command([OpenPage]).

Examples

This formula, when added to a view action labeled Help, opens a specific help document when a user triggers it. It displays the document that contains the value "customerView" in its about field in a Help window. The myHelpDocs view is a hidden view containing all the custom help documents for the database. Its first column is a sorted column containing the value of the "about" field. Since this formula specifies no server, database, or keywords, OpenHelpDocument searches the current database for the specified Help document.
```
@Command([OpenHelpDocument];"";"myHelpDocs";"customerView")
```
This formula, when added to a hotspot button labeled Help on a form, opens a Help window that displays a custom Help document. It displays the document that contains the value "orderForm" in its topic field. The Keys view is a hidden view containing all the custom help documents for the database. Its first column is a sorted column containing the value of the "topic" field. Since this formula specifies no server, database, or keywords, OpenHelpDocument searches the current database for the specified Help document.
```
@Command([OpenHelpDocument];"";"Keys";"orderForm") 
```
This formula, when added to a Help hotspot button, displays the Formula Language Help topic from the Domino® Designer Help database in a separate Help window.
```
@Command([OpenHelpDocument];[DesignerHelp];"(Help)";"FormulaLanguage")
```