Authoring end user assistance

z/OSMF provides a help system that familiarizes users with the interface, teaches users the concepts required to perform the supported tasks, and helps users troubleshoot errors and transition from one step to another. z/OSMF allows you to add documentation to the help system so you can provide end user assistance that enables users to effectively and easily use your application.

Overview of the z/OSMF help system

The z/OSMF help system, which is integrated into the software product, contains user assistance for each page, window, message, and action supported in the z/OSMF interface. Users can access the help system by clicking the help link, help button, or message ID link provided in the interface. When clicked, context-sensitive help is displayed within the z/OSMF help system framework, which is depicted in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Screen capture of the z/OSMF help system

The framework displays the table of contents and the requested help file. The table of contents mirrors the navigation tree provided in the z/OSMF interface. That is, an application (task) and its help content are included in the same category. For example, the user interface and help content for the Incident Log task are contained in the Problem Determination category.

The help system contains the following additional categories:

Getting started with z/OSMF. This section introduces users to the common features of z/OSMF including using tables and wizards, logging in, and navigating.
z/OSMF messages. This section provides a detailed explanation of each z/OSMF message; describes the reason codes (if any) that are listed in each message; and, suggests actions you can perform to resolve the issue.
Tools and techniques for troubleshooting. This section describes the tools and techniques that are available for troubleshooting problems with z/OSMF.

Format of the files in the z/OSMF help system

The help files in the z/OSMF help system are stored as help plug-ins. A help plug-in is a folder that contains the following content:

doc.zip file: Contains the help files, which are coded using the XHTML tagging language.
toc.xml file: Provides the table of contents for the plug-in in XML format.
index.xml file: Defines the index entries for the plug-in in XML format.
plugin.xml file: Describes the plug-in to the z/OSMF help system using the XML tagging language.
nl folder: Contains language sub-folders, identified by the 2-character language code, for each language into which the help plug-ins are translated. For example, if the help files are translated into Japanese, the nl folder will contain a ja sub-folder that contains the Japanese version of the content.

To create help plug-ins and add links to your help files, complete the tasks described in the sections that follow.