Docs  /  NAVAX Help Builder  /  Write Help  /  Basics

 Create Topics

2024/02/18 • 6 min. to read

In this topic

• Structure of the help topic
• Formatting of the help topic
• Snippets
• See also

The Help Builder requires that the individual help files for each language are grouped together in one folder (2 characters, lower case). For more information, see Preparations, How the Help Builder works. It is recommended to create the necessary folder structure directly in the directory of the AL extension. This way the online help is also integrated into the source control process. The help should be written in Visual Studio Code. It is also possible to write the help with another tool, but then no supporting functions are available. For more information, see Preparations, Set up Visual Studio Code. Each help topic is stored in a separate file with the file extension .nchb. The file is basically a normal text file. It is important that the file is created as a UTF-8 file (with or without BOM) so that special characters are displayed correctly later. The default encoding of Visual Studio Code is UTF-8 without BOM. In the status bar in the lower right corner you will see the label UTF-8. if not, click it to open the action bar and select Save with Encoding. You can now select a new encoding for the file.

Structure of the help topic

Each help topic starts with a so-called Topic Header. The Topic Header is specified with the <h1> tag. If no <h1> tag is specified, an index-driven topic header is automatically added. Afterwards any text can be written. A line break will later be shown as such. With the NCHB: Preview command of the Help Builder, the later result of the help topic can be displayed directly in Visual Studio Code:

Formatting of the help topic

HTML tags are used to format the text. In addition, special tags are available, which are automatically converted by the Help Builder later when the topic is displayed. For faster creation of the online help, the Help Builder provides Snippets for the most common requirements.

Snippets

The following snippets are available:

Snippet	Code/Result
_NewTopic	Creates an example which can be used as a starting point.
_TopicHeader	<h1>TODO_TopicHeaderText</h1> Result: TODO_TopicHeaderText
_Header2	<h2>TODO_HeaderText</h2> Result: TODO_HeaderText
_Header3	<h3>TODO_HeaderText</h3> Result: TODO_HeaderText
_Header4	<h4>TODO_HeaderText</h4> Result: TODO_HeaderText
_Fields	<table> <caption><h2><fields></h2></caption> <tr><td>TODO_FieldCaption</td><td>TODO_HelpText</td></tr> </table> Note <fields> will later be automatically replaced by a language-dependent text. Tip For large pages an additional indication for <fields> can improve the clarity: General, <fields> Result: Fields TODO_FieldCaption TODO_HelpText
_FieldsAddField	<tr><td>TODO_FieldCaption</td><td>TODO_HelpText</td></tr>
_FieldsAddOptionField	<tr><td>TODO_FieldCaption</td><td>TODO_HelpText <ul> <li><b>TODO_Option1</b> TODO_HelpText1</li> <li><b>TODO_Option2</b> TODO_HelpText2</li> <li><b>TODO_Option3</b> TODO_HelpText3</li> </ul></td></tr>
_FieldsAddFieldOptions	<ul> <li><b>TODO_Option1</b> TODO_HelpText1</li> <li><b>TODO_Option2</b> TODO_HelpText2</li> <li><b>TODO_Option3</b> TODO_HelpText3</li> </ul> Result: TODO_Option1 OptionText1 TODO_Option2 OptionText2 TODO_Option3 OptionText3
_Actions	<h2><actions></h2> <ul> <li><h3>TODO_ActionCaption</h3> TODO_HelpText</li> </ul> Note <actions> will later be automatically replaced by a language-dependent text. Tip For large pages an additional indication for <actions> can improve the clarity: Setup, <actions> Result: Actions TODO_ActionCaption TODO_HelpText
_ActionsAddAction	<li><h3>TODO_ActionCaption</h3> TODO_HelpText</li>
_FactBoxes	<h2><factboxes></h2> <ul> <li><h3>TODO_FactBoxCaption</h3> TODO_HelpText</li> </ul> Note <factboxes> will later be automatically replaced by a language-dependent text. Result: FactBoxes TODO_FactBoxCaption TODO_HelpText
_FactBoxesAddFactBox	<li><h3>TODO_FactBoxCaption</h3> TODO_HelpText</li>

See also

• Preparations, How the Help Builder works
• Preparations, Set up Visual Studio Code
• Write Help, Basics, Index-driven Approach