Configuring Siebel eBusiness Applications > Online Help Development > Employee Applications >

Customizing and Adding Help

You can customize help content included for a screen to suit your Siebel implementation and requirements. Standard Siebel eBusiness Applications do not include help files for views. If you want to add help at the view level, you must implement help for the view and then create a new HTML file with the help content for the view. See Implementing Help for a View for instructions.

The following topics are included:

• Customizing Help for Screens with Generic Help Topic Files
• Customizing Help Content
• Adding Help for a Screen
• Adding Help for a View
• Customizing the Help Index

Customizing Help for Screens with Generic Help Topic Files

Some screens are associated with generic help topics, which means that the HTML Help URL property of the Help Id object for a screen is one of the following:

• help/siebadmgeneric.htm for administrative screens
• help/siebendusegeneric.htm for end-user screens

See Help Properties of Screens and Views for information about finding the HTML Help URL property.

To customize help for screens with generic help content

1. Open the HTML file referenced in the HTML Help URL property (siebendusegeneric.htm or siebadmgeneric.htm).
2. If the following <META> tag appears at the top of the file, remove it.

   <META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" CONTENT="1; URL=siebwelcome.htm">

3. Save the file with a different name.
4. In Siebel Tools, update the HTML Help URL property of the Help Id object to reflect the new filename.
5. Follow the instructions in Customizing Help Content.

Customizing Help Content

Since the help consists of HTML pages, you can use any HTML editor to change the content of a help topic.

To customize help content for a screen

1. Find the HTML Help URL property associated with the screen.

   See Help Properties of Screens and Views for instructions.

   For example, the HTML Help URL property for the Opportunities screen is
   help/siebopportunities.htm.

   NOTE:  If the HTML Help URL property for the screen is siebendusegeneric.htm, siebadmgeneric.htm, or siebstarthelp.htm, use the instructions in Customizing Help for Screens with Generic Help Topic Files instead.

2. Open the HTML file, make your changes, and save the file.

   For example, open siebopportunities.htm, make your changes, and save the file.

   NOTE:  If a redirect tag exists in the file, be sure to remove the tag. The following is an example of a redirect tag:
   <META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" CONTENT="1; URL=siebwelcome.htm"> 

3. Test your changes and distribute the updated HTML file to the appropriate Siebel Servers, Siebel Mobile Web Clients, and Siebel Dedicated Web Clients.

   For example, for Siebel Web Client implementations, copy siebopportunities.htm to the correct Siebel Server location (<install dir>\public\<install language>\help).

   For more information, see Testing and Distributing Changes.

Adding Help for a Screen

If you added a custom screen to your implementation of Siebel eBusiness Applications, you can add help for that screen. See Implementing Help for a Screen for instructions.

Adding Help for a View

To add help for a view, you must name the HTML topic file using the HTML Help URL property of the view. See Implementing Help for a View for instructions.

Customizing the Help Index

The index topic in the help system allows the user to find topics by keyword (see To search the help by keyword). The index topic is a set of links to topics based on keywords. When you customize the content of the help system, you may want to update the entries in the index to reflect the new content. Another option is to remove access to the index topic entirely.

To customize the help index

1. Open siebindex.htm, make your changes, and save the file.
2. Test your changes and distribute the updated siebindex.htm to the appropriate Siebel Servers, Siebel Mobile Web Clients, and Siebel Dedicated Web Clients.

   For example, for Siebel Web Client implementations, copy the updated siebindex.htm to the correct Siebel Server location (<install dir>\public\<install language>\help).

   For more information, see Testing and Distributing Changes.

To remove access to the index topic

1. Open one of the HTML files, except siebindex.htm, that is part of the help system.
2. Delete the statements that reference siebindex.htm and save your changes.
3. Repeat Step 1 and Step 2 for each HTML file in the help system, except siebindex.htm.
4. Test your changes and distribute all the updated HTML files to the appropriate Siebel Servers, Siebel Mobile Web Clients, and Siebel Dedicated Web Clients.

   For example, for Siebel Web Client implementations, copy all the updated HTML files to the correct Siebel Server location (<install dir>\public\<install language>\help).

   For more information, see Testing and Distributing Changes.