Using the REXX/CICS help utility

REXX/CICS® includes an online help utility that you can use to search for and display the product documentation that is supplied with REXX/CICS.

About this task

The help utility provides a table of contents, help topics, and a search results panel.

It is advisable to check the REXX for CICS Transaction Server product documentation that is supplied with the latest release of the CICS Transaction Server for z/OS® product information for any updates that are more recent than the online product documentation.

Procedure

Accessing help

You can access help in the following ways:
- From the CICS environment, enter REXX CICHELP. The help table of contents is displayed.
- From the REXX/CICS interactive environment (you previously entered the CICS transaction REXX with no parameters), enter HELP. The help table of contents is displayed.
- From the REXX/CICS text editor, enter HELP or press F1 (HELP). Help about that editor is displayed.
- From the File List Utility, enter HELP or press F1 (HELP). Help about that utility is displayed.

Accessing a help topic

You can access a help topic in the following ways:
- From the REXX/CICS interactive environment, enter HELP followed by a search string for a topic title, for example HELP TRANSLATE. The first help topic with the search string, in upper-case, in its title is displayed.
  This method can be useful to find help for specific REXX commands, functions, or keywords.
- Access the help table of contents, as described earlier, then select a topic from the list. Either position the cursor on the line for the topic you want to select, or enter the line number for the topic in the input field, then press Enter. The selected topic is displayed.
- Access the help table of contents, as described earlier, then enter a search string. All topics that contain the search string are listed in a search results panel. The search is not case-sensitive. In most cases, the search results panel shows both the topic name and the parent topic. For example, if you search for ADDRESS, the result is shown as follows:
```
Keyword instructions > ADDRESS
```
  To select a topic from the list, either position the cursor on the line for the topic you want to select, or enter the line number for the topic in the input field, then press Enter. The selected topic is displayed.
  
  To display all the topics that are listed in the search results panel, enter ALL in the input field.

Scrolling through the table of contents, help topics, or the search results panel

To scroll forward to the next screen, press F8 (FORWARD).
If you are at the end of the current help topic, the following message is displayed:
```
End of topic -- press F8 for next topic
```
If you are at the end of the table of contents or the search results panel, the following message is displayed:
```
Already at the bottom
```
To scroll forward by part of a screen, position the cursor on a line in the help screen, then press F8 (FORWARD).
The selected line becomes the first line that is displayed on the help screen.
To scroll backward to the previous screen, press F7 (BACKWARD).
If you are at the start of the current help topic, the following message is displayed:
```
Start of topic -- press F7 for previous topic
```
If you are at the start of the table of contents or the search results panel, the following message is displayed:
```
Already at the top
```
To scroll backward by part of a screen, position the cursor on a line in the help screen, then press F7 (BACKWARD).
The selected line becomes the last line that is displayed on the help screen.

Exiting from help, a help topic, or a search results panel

To exit from help, a help topic, or a search results panel, press F3 (END function). You return to the previous screen that you used.

For example, if the table of contents is displayed and you press F3, you might return to the CICS environment or the REXX/CICS environment, depending on how you accessed help. If a topic is displayed and you press F3, you might return to a search results panel or the help table of contents, depending on how you accessed the help topic.