Each TXT macro generates one line of text in a help member. Within a help member, group all TXT macros together, following any RP macro.

When someone requests help, HCD displays each line of text as you specified it through a TXT macro.

The syntax of the TXT macro is as follows:

 [label]  TXT      'text-line'

label

Specifies the label name that the system generates in the first instruction of the macro expansion.

text-line

Specifies the text line. Its maximum length is WIDTH minus 1. (Specify WIDTH as a parameter in the HDR macro.) You must enclose the text line in apostrophes.

The text line can contain one or more reference phrases. You must enclose each reference phrase between the starting and ending indicators for a reference phrase. (Specify these starting and ending indicators through the RPDLM parameter in the HDR macro.) The default starting indicator is a < character, and the default ending indicator is a > character.

You do not need to duplicate reference phrases within a help panel. If a reference phrase appears more than once on a panel, you should place delimiters only around the first occurrence of that phrase.

IBM recommends that you specify “TXT” in unit record columns 2 through 4, and the text line's beginning apostrophe in column 6. This lets you enter either 53 or 60 text-line characters into a single unit record. This simplifies help panel maintenance, because text lines appear similarly in assembler source code and on the help panel.

Figure 6 shows example TXT macros. These multiple TXT macros generate the multiple text lines of help member CBDED15.