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DATE:    WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1982
.BR;FROM:    Allen Watson
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.LEFT MARGIN -9;TO:      11/70 programmers and operators
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HFL and HDX: A new means of finding out what HELP is available through the 
system HELP command. 
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.TITLE TECO HELP MACRO
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There is a wealth of useful information in the RSX-11M-PLUS Version 2.0
HELP files, but sometimes you don't know how to ask for it. I have found
that working down the levels of HELP can sometimes be tedious. For example,
I type HELP/MCR BRU to find what help is available on BRU, then HELP/MCR BRU X
to find help on X, and perhaps HELP/MCR BRU X Y to find the last level that
I really wanted in the first place.

I have developed two TECO macros that will list out all the available HELP 
qualifiers, one on a given level and the other on multiple levels.

.hl 1 HFL - Help File Level display

HFL is used by typing "HFL MCR|DCL qualifier ...".
For example, to see what all the major qualifiers are if you are in DCL mode,
type "HFL DCL".  To see what help is available on BRU, type "HFL MCR BRU".
This will list all the secondary qualifiers for BRU.
(The MCR or DCL qualifier is required because the system actually has two 
different sets of HELP files, one starting in MCR.HLP and one in DCL.HLP.)

When you see a qualifier that you think will contain the information you are
looking for, then you can revert to the regular HELP command to get it; if
you think there may be more qualifiers, you can add another qualifier to the
HFL command to list topics at the next lowest level. Most help trees don't
go down more than two or three levels. Or, you can try the HDX command (see 
below).

.hl 1 HDX -- Help File Index command

HDX is used like HFL, by typing "HDX MCR|DCL qualifier ...". It differs in 
that it does not stop at the one level; if you type "HDX DCL SET", for example
, HDX will list out every sub-qualifier under the SET command, from level 2 on 
down as far as the help files go. (This alone takes several pages on your
terminal -- be prepared to use NO SCROLL.)

If you try "HDX DCL" you will be shown the qualifiers for everything (!) under 
DCL. Beware: this can take several minutes!

HFL and HDX work from a CCL command that invokes TECO as MUNG [1,2]HELP (for
HFL)  and MUNG [1,2]HELPLEV for HDX. For any TECO hackers, the unsquished
source for HELP.TEC and HELPLEV.TEC is in [1,2]HELP.TES and [1,2]HELPLEV.TES,
with comments.