12.4 Creating Help for Your Application

12.4.1.1 About Creating Help

Application Builder includes built-in attributes to create Help for your application. Creating Help for your application involves the following steps:

• Step 1: Create a dedicated Help page and Help region. See "Creating a Help Page and Region in Page Designer."

• Step 2: Define page Help text. See "Defining Page Help in Page Designer."

• Step 3: Define item Help text. See "Defining Item Help in Page Designer."

• Step 4: Create a navigation bar icon to link to your Help page. See "Creating a Help Navigation Bar Entry."

12.4.1.2 Creating a Help Page and Region in Page Designer

To create a Help page and region in Page Designer:

1. Create a blank page for your Help. See "Creating a Page from the Application Home Page."

2. Navigate to the appropriate page in Page Designer. "Viewing a Page in Page Designer."

   Page Designer appears.

3. From the Gallery select the Help Text region and drag it to the appropriate location in Grid Layout.

   Tip:

   You also right-click Help Text region, select Add To, and select the appropriate location.

4. View all attributes in the Property Editor. Select Show All from the Property Editor Menu.

5. Edit the region attributes:

   Tip:

   To learn more about an attribute, select the attribute in the Property Editor and click the Help tab in the center pane.

   1. Identification, Title - Enter a title for the region.

   2. Layout - Specify the Sequence, Parent Region, and Position.

   3. Appearance - Specify the Template and Item Display Position.

6. Click Save.

12.4.1.3 Defining Page Help in Page Designer

To define Page Help text in Page Designer:

1. Navigate to the appropriate page in Page Designer. See "Viewing a Page in Page Designer."

   Page Designer appears.

2. In the Rendering tree, click the page name.

3. In Property Editor - Page, scroll down to Help and enter text in Help Text attribute.

   Tip:

   By default, Help is populated with the text No help is available for this page.

4. Click Save.

12.4.1.4 Defining Item Help in Page Designer

To define Page Help text in Page Designer:

1. Navigate to the appropriate page in Page Designer. See "Viewing a Page in Page Designer."

   Page Designer appears.

2. In the Rendering tree, click item for which you want to define Help.

3. In Property Editor - Page Item, scroll down to Help and enter text in Help Text. attribute,

4. Click Save.

   Repeat the previous procedure for each item requiring Help text.

12.4.2.1 About Creating Help

Application Builder includes built-in attributes to create Help for your application. Creating Help for your application involves the following steps:

• Step 1: Create a dedicated Help page and Help region. See "Creating a Help Page and Region in Component View."

• Step 2: Define page Help text. See "Defining Page Help in Component View."

• Step 3: Define item Help text. See "Defining Item Help in Component View."

• Step 4: Create a navigation bar icon to link to your Help page. See "Creating a Help Navigation Bar Entry."

Help created in Application Builder displays on a dedicated Help page. To access Help, users click a link that takes them to a dedicated Help page. This Help page displays page and field-level Help topics specific to the page they are viewing.

12.4.2.2 Creating a Help Page and Region in Component View

The first step in creating Help for your application is to create a dedicated page and Help Text region. The region you create displays page and item help for the current page when called using following syntax:

f?p=&APP_ID.:Page:Session:&APP_PAGE_ID.

To create a Help page and region in Component View:

1. Create a blank page for your Help. See "Creating a Page from the Application Home Page."

2. View the page in Component View. See "Viewing a Page in Component View."

3. Create a new region. Under Regions, click the Create icon.

   The Create Region Wizard appears.

4. Under Regions, the Create icon.

5. When prompted to select a region type, select Help Text and click Next.

6. For Display Attributes:

   1. Title - Enter a title for the region. This title displays if the region template you select displays the region title.

   2. Region Template - Choose a template to control the appearance of the region.

   3. Parent Region - Defines the parent region to which the new region belongs.

   4. Display Point - Identify a display point for this region. To learn more, see field-level Help.

   5. Sequence - Specify the sequence for this component. The sequence determines the order of evaluation.

   6. Click Next.

7. On Source, click Next.

8. For Conditional Display:

   1. Condition Type - Select a condition type from the list that must be met in order for this component to be rendered processed. See "Understanding Conditional Rendering and Processing."

   2. Authorization Scheme - Optionally select an authorization scheme which must evaluate to TRUE in order for this component to be rendered or otherwise processed. See "Providing Security Through Authorization."

   3. Click Next.

9. Click Create Region.

12.4.2.3 Defining Page Help in Component View

To define page Help text in Component View:

1. Navigate to the page for which you want to add page Help. See "Viewing a Page in Component View".

2. Under Page, click the Edit icon.

3. Scroll down to Help.

4. Enter your Help text in the field provided.

   Tip:

   By default, Help is populated with the text No help is available for this page.

5. Click Apply Changes.

Repeat the previous procedure for each page requiring page Help text.

12.4.2.4 Defining Item Help in Component View

To define item Help in Component View:

1. Navigate to the page for which you want to add Help. See "Viewing a Page in Component View".

2. Under Items, locate the item you want to edit.

3. Access the attributes page for the item. Under Items, select the item name.

   The Edit Page Item page appears.

4. Scroll down to Help Text.

5. Enter your Help text in the field provided.

6. Click Apply Change.

Repeat the previous procedure for each item requiring Help text.

12.4.3.1 Accessing the Bulk Edit Item Help Report

If you are including Help in your application, you can edit multiple Help topics at once using the Bulk Edit Item Help report.

To view the Bulk Edit Item Help report:

1. On the Workspace home page, click the Application Builder icon.

2. Select an application.

3. Click the Utilities icon.

4. From Page Specific Utilities, select Item Utilities.

5. Click Grid Edit of All Item Help Text.

6. In Bulk Item Help Report, you can:

   • Update existing Help topics. Edit the Help text that appears and click Apply Changes.

   • Link to the page containing the item by clicking the page number.

   • Link to the Page Item by clicking the item name.

12.4.3.2 Seeding Item Help Topics

If your application does not yet contain Help, you can perform a mass update of default Help text.

To seed Help topics:

1. Access the Bulk Edit Item Help report as described in "Accessing the Bulk Edit Item Help Report."

2. Click Seed Item Help Text.

3. In Default Help Text, enter the default text to appear in all Help topics.

4. Click Apply Changes.

12.4.3.3 Searching for Existing Item Help Topics

You can search for existing Help text, or for an item label.

To search for existing Help topic:

1. Access the Bulk Edit Item Help report as described in "Accessing the Bulk Edit Item Help Report."

2. In Help Contains, enter keywords.

3. Click Go.

12.4.3.4 Searching for an Item Label

To search for an item label:

1. Access the Bulk Edit Item Help report as described in "Accessing the Bulk Edit Item Help Report."

2. In Help Contains, enter keywords.

3. Click Go.