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<H2><A NAME="SECTION00644000000000000000"> </A> <A NAME="1712"> </A>
<BR>
On-Line Help
</H2>
<P>
The help facility of MIDAS (command <TT>HELP</TT>) provides detailed
descriptions of all supported commands and qualifiers. This applies
also to the HELP command itself.
If you work in an X-Window environment we suggest to use <TT>XHelp</TT>, the
graphical user
interface to the MIDAS Help facility, by executing the MIDAS command
<BR>
<TT>CREATE/GUI HELP</TT>.
<BR>
It is recommended to execute this command before any
<TT>LOAD/IMAGE</TT> command, otherwise you could get problems with missing
colors. <BR>
Besides providing a separate and convenient interface to the MIDAS Help utility
this GUI <A NAME="1717"> </A> also supports a
<I>feedback</I> facility for reporting errors,
problems and suggestions to the
<BR>
MIDAS group at ESO (this problem-report
mechanism is based on the commercial <I>Action Remedy</I> System).
<BR>
<P>
And if you use the <I>readline</I> line-editor you can
also update the MIDAS Help facility with the current command-line by typing
<!-- MATH: $\fbox{\tt Ctrl/X}$ -->
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ALT="\fbox{\tt Ctrl/X}">or
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<BR>
<BR>
Also, the <TT>TUTORIAL</TT><A NAME="1723"> </A> commands will help you in exploring the
MIDAS system. Use the MIDAS command <TT>HELP TUTORIAL</TT> to find out
which tutorials exist and try them out.
<BR>
There is also a tutorial about the <TT>HELP</TT> command itself. Use
<TT>TUTORIAL/HELP</TT> to exercise many of the features described in this section.
<BR>
Besides the <TT>HELP</TT> GUI you can enter <TT>HELP</TT> commands from the terminal;
the syntax for using <TT>HELP</TT> from the command line are given in the
table <I>Help Syntax</I>.
<BR>
<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="1744"> </A>
<TABLE>
<CAPTION><STRONG>Table 3.1:</STRONG>
Help Syntax</CAPTION>
<TR><TD>
<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
<TABLE CELLPADDING=3 BORDER="1" ALIGN="CENTER">
<TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><B> Command</B></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><B> Description</B></TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><TT>HELP </TT></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1>To display all currently existing MIDAS
commands and topics</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><TT>HELP <I>comnd </I></TT></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1>To display all the
<I> comnd/qualif</I> combinations
available for the given <I> comnd</I></TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><TT>HELP <I>comnd/qualif </I></TT></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1>To get detailed information about the
specified <I> comnd/qualif</I> combination</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><TT><I>comnd/qualif ?? </I></TT></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1>To display full command syntax (one line) of
specified <I> comnd/qualif</I></TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><TT><I>pattern? </I></TT></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1>To list all commands which begin with
given <I> pattern</I></TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><TT>HELP/QUALIF <I>qualif </I></TT></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1>To list all commands which may
use the given <I> qualif</I></TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><TT>HELP/SUBJECT <I>subject </I></TT></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1>For any info related to <I> subject</I></TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><TT>HELP/CL <I>comnd </I></TT></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1>To get detailed information on the MIDAS
command language <I> comnd</I></TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><TT>HELP/KEYWORD <I>keyword </I></TT></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1>To get detailed information about the
specified <I> keyword</I></TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><TT>HELP <I>[Topic] </I></TT></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1>To get information about a <I> topic</I>, e.g.
the standard descriptors or available
contexts</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><TT>HELP/APPLIC </TT></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1>To get information about available
application procedures</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1><TT>HELP/CONTRIB </TT></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=1>To get information about available contributed
procedures</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE></DIV>
<A NAME="help-features"> </A></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</DIV>
<BR> <BR>
Normally, the HELP text is not written to the MIDAS logfile (to save space in
the logfile)<A NAME="1747"> </A>
but if you wish to include this, you may do so by setting keyword LOG(3) to 1
via e.g. the MIDAS command <TT>LOG(3) = 1</TT>.
To print out the help text, use <TT>PRINT/HELP</TT>.
<P>
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<ADDRESS>
<I>Petra Nass</I>
<BR><I>1999-06-09</I>
</ADDRESS>
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