Customizing the Help Link

I have seen one requirement from the client, who needs to have their own custom help documents to be displayed along with the PeopleBooks hyperlink, when clicked on the help link. The only way to do it was to track down, from where the PeopleBooks data is being pulled from and add those client customized docs into the folder.

How to do the same? There is a post in the PeopleSoft pros website, where Derek Tomei explains how to accomplish this task.

His blog post is given below:

Using Custom Documentation as PeopleBooks:

Prior to creating custom PeopleBooks, you need to divide documentation and/or training manuals into logical units. For example, if you have a custom component with three custom pages, and the functionality of all three pages is contained within one training document, three distinct documents would have to be created. The information for each page would be used to create an .htm document (.pdf and .doc documents can also be used but .htm is better for searching). Copying the documentation for a page into a Word Web Page template does this.

If, for example, the three custom pages are Query_1, Query_2 and Query_3, the three .htm documents can be saved as qry01.htm, qry02.htm and qry03.htm. It is important, especially if there are numerous custom pages, to use a naming convention that is easy to keep in the order of the pages you are going to attach them to.

Here are 6 Easy Steps to Create Custom PeopleBooks
The following steps detail how to create custom PeopleBooks:

Step 1: Create a new folder, for example Query817, under the weblogic folder on your Web Server. The navigation for PeopleTools 8.1x should be weblogic\ myserver\public_html \htmldoc\eng. This is the same location as the psbooks folder that holds the delivered PeopleBooks.

Step 2: Create a folder under Query817 called Query. In this folder, create a .htm folder and copy the .htm custom query files here. The PeopleSoft delivered Query PeopleBooks are .htm documents and are located under psbooks\tpsq\htm.

Step 3: Copy the contextids folder from a delivered PeopleBooks folder, with all of it’s content, to the custom Query folder that was just created.

Step 4: Modify the content of Query\contextids\q (javascript file). Use q because all of the pages that will have custom documentation begin with Q. The name of this javascript file must match the first letter of the name of the page that will be accessing the documentation. Open the file in Notepad and use the following format to add the custom PeopleBooks. Delete or comment out the delivered code:

o The item in bold is the page name of the page that you are linking a particular .htm file to. This is easy to find by navigating to your custom PeopleSoft page and clicking the HELP link. Since there is currently no PeopleBooks for this custom page, a message will appear stating the nothing could be found for :

bookmarks[bookmarks.length] = "QRY_CRITERIA_FIELD||Query817/Query/htm/qry03.pdf#F1ID_QRY_CRITERIA_FIELD";

o After the page name, the path to the file that contains the documentation for the page:

bookmarks[bookmarks.length] = "QRY_CRITERIA||Query817/Query/htm/qry03.htm#F1ID_QRY_CRITERIA";

o After the file path, the name of the file containing the documentation for the page:

bookmarks[bookmarks.length] = "QRY_FIELDS_SEC||Query817/Query/htm/qry02.htm#F1ID_QRY_FIELDS_SEC";

o After the file name, #F1ID_ and the name of the page:

bookmarks[bookmarks.length] = "QRY_FIELDS||Query817/Query/htm/ qry 02. htm #F1ID_QRY_FIELDS";

bookmarks[bookmarks.length] = "QRY_PROMPT||Query817/Query/htm/qry 02. htm #F1ID_QRY_PROMPT";
bookmarks[bookmarks.length] = "QRY_PROMPT_SELECT||Query817/Query/htm/qry 02. htm #F1ID_QRY_PROMPT_SELECT";
bookmarks[bookmarks.length] = "QRY_PROPERTIES||Query817/Query/htm/qry 05.htm#F1ID_QRY_PROPERTIES";
bookmarks[bookmarks.length] = "QRY_QUERY_HIERJOIN||Query817/Query/htm/qry 05.htm#F1ID_QRY_QUERY_HIERJOIN";
bookmarks[bookmarks.length] = "QRY_QUERY||Query817/Query/htm/qry 01.htm#F1ID_QRY_QUERY";

arraycount[arraycount.length] = bookmarks.length - 1;

These entries link the online Query pages to the corresponding custom PeopleBooks .htm file in the new folder (as described above).

Step 5: Update the following javascript files under weblogic\myserver\public html\htmldoc\eng\js:

o colltypes
o doctypes
o helptypes

In each of these files add the following (in bold):

helptypes = new Array(
"psbooks||PeopleBooks",
"dftie||Transactional Help",
"Query817||Query"
);


Step 6: Update the following javascript files under weblogic\myserver\public html\htmldoc\eng\psbooks\js:

o booklist
o colllist
o helplist

For example, in colllist, insert the following code:

o colllist[colllist.length]="Query817/Query||PeopleTools 8.17:Query||eng/Query817/Query/coll||";

In booklist, insert the following code:

o booknames[booknames.length]="Query817/Query||PeopleTools 8.17: Query";

In helplist, insert the following code:

o helpnames[helpnames.length]="Query817/Query||PeopleTools 8.17: Query";

Conclusion:
Now, the custom PeopleBooks will be accessible through the HELP link when the user is in the custom Query page. Follow these procedures for any custom PeopleBooks that you want to create for your custom pages.