Using Online Documentation
Tip
Getting the most out of online Help and PDF files
Although SSCS provides its customers printed user guides, it also makes
documentation available for selected SSCS applications in electronic form with the same content. There are two
types of electronic documentation. The first is the online help
file which can be accessed through the Help menu by clicking Contents
or by clicking F1 from anywhere within the application. The second is the PDF file.
Each has its advantages.
Selected SSCS applications include a context-sensitive help system with content identical to that
found in the printed user’s guide. Online help is built right into (and accessed from) the
application itself.
To access online help from the Help menu of the application. On the Help menu,
click Contents:
The main help window appears displaying a table of contents in the left pane
(1). The entries visible in the help contents contain the same
entries as the table
of contents in the
user's guide:
 Contents entries can contain more than
one topic level. To see a subtopic, click the small plus sign (2)
next to the topic to expand it. Click the minus sign (2) to collapse topics.
Every content entry is a hyperlink, which means you can click the entry
to navigate to the corresponding topic which will display in the right pane.
Navigate back and forth between displayed topics using the arrow buttons at
the top of each topic window (4). A list of tabs (3) running across
the top of the contents includes the "Index" tab.
Click the "Index" tab to display the help system's index in the left-hand
pane of the help window:
Help index entries parallel the index entries in the user's guide. They are hyperlinked—double-click an
index entry to navigate to the
corresponding topic which will appear in the right-hand pane of the help window
at which time you can click it to access the topic. You may also search by typing a keyword into the textbox at
the top of the index (1). If an index entry matches what you
typed, it will appear highlighted in the index at which time you can
double-click it to access the topic.
Context-Sensitivity
The help system provides context-sensitivity. This means that if you are in an
application window, press F1 and a help topic appears specific to the area of the system you are in.
For example, let's say you are in the CDBWin Settings window, using the “Inventory” tab and you wish to access help
that tells you how to use that tab. Place the cursor somewhere on the tab and click F1. The information
for the tab appears as follows:
When F1 is used to call up help, you can still access other parts of the help system.
Hyperlinks in Text
The help system contains hyperlinks that give you fast access to
related information about a specific function. Typical hyperlinks appear as
follows in the body of the help:
In the example above, clicking on "see Entering Setup Information" or "Backup Data" would
take you right to those respective topics.
Other Help Commands
Across the top of the
left-hand pane of the help window runs a sequence of buttons that allow you to
run other help commands:
From left to right, these commands allow you to:
Hide — Click this button to hide the left pane of the help window,
where contents and the index display.
Back — Click this button to return to the last topic you displayed.
Print — Click this button to print the currently displayed topic
Options — Click this button to display the Help system's Option menu.
The .pdf file is an electronic version of the
user's guide (the hard copy book version is printed directly from it). PDF
copies are available from the SSCS installation CD and the SSCS web site (http://www.sscsinc.com/manuals).
There are certain advantages to viewing a .pdf file on your computer screen:-
The .pdf file is updated more quickly than the book (updates become available on
the SSCS Web site 24 hours after a major book build).
-
You can click on a hyperlinked contents entry to navigate to a specific topic
within the book.
- You can click on a page number in the index to navigate to the reference in the
text.
- You can click on a hyperlinked web address to access the linked web site.
- You can click on a cross-reference to move to the section and page to which
it corresponds (the page number is there for people using the printed
version—any reference with a page number, chapter/section title offset by quotation
marks or both is usually a hyperlink), as shown below:
- You can click on a bookmark to navigate to the corresponding heading
(click the plus sign [+] to expand bookmarks with more than one level).
| 
