Introduction
Several customers have been asking the question that is the subject of this BLOG:
In Configuration Manager, why isn’t there out-of-the-box "PF1 help" for the parameters that you specify in your RTEDEF members, like there is in PARMGEN?
The good news is that, with a little setup, you can use your PARMGEN help with Configuration Manager. This blog explains how to accomplish this using standard tools of the z/OS operating system.
Please note that some of the parameter defaults are not the same in Configuration Manager as in PARMGEN; for details, see the Configuration Manager documentation here.
Creating your basic setup to enable help
The PARMGEN parameter help is identical to the Configuration Manager parameter help, as the same parameters are used in both PARMGEN and Configuration Manager.
To enable the PARMGEN help to work for Configuration Manager, a few things need to be done, which are explained in the following steps. (There are different ways to implement this, so take this as a working suggestion. ;-) ).
Before proceeding, make sure UJ95574 (OA66051) is are applied.
Step 1: Copy KFJPHELP and define Function key mapping
The TKANSAM(KFJPHELP) REXX edit macro should now be copied to an EXEC library. After copying, optionally rename the member (for example, rename it to CFMHELP).
The respective EXEC library must be concatenated to your SYSEXEC DD.
Note: Use command tso isrddn to check if your library is concatenated properly in SYSEXEC.
Open copied member and update “smpe” value to point to the correct SMP/e high level qualifier.
e.g.:
smpe = “MY.SMPE” (without last LLQ, .TKANCUS)
Next, use the "keys" command to bind your program function keys, as follows:
- Open your RTEDEF data set, type "keys" in the command line, and press enter
- The following screen appears, where you can enter "CFMHELP HELP" and the preferred name of your FP1 key label:
Press PF3 to exit the dialog, and the new FP1 binding appears:
Step 2: Let's try this out!
So far so good! Let's see if this works :).
- Open the RTE_NAME member in your RTEDEF data set, place the cursor on a parameter name (for example, RTE_DESCRIPTION), and press PF1.
- If all is well, you should see the help appear in a pop-up window:
- If there is no pop-up window or no message in the top right indicating no parameter help is available ("HELP NOT AVAILABLE RC=8 "), but you see the general ISPF help, then something went wrong with your PF key binding.
Check the names of the EXECs you specified in the bindings.
Conclusion
This blog demonstrated how you can quickly get your PARMGEN "PF1 help" working with Configuration Manager.
So, get a coffee or tea, grab your Sysprog and get going - it will only take you minutes to make it happen :-).
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