AgileApps Support Wiki Pre Release

Application Help Tab

From AgileApps Support Wiki

An application help tab gives application users a tab they can click on to get information instructions, or answers to frequently asked questions.

Creating an Application Help Tab

  1. Go to GearIcon.png > Developer Resources > Pages and create a JSP page with your help text.
    Be sure to turn headers off.
    With headers on, jQuery and JavaScript functions become available--but CSS and links in the page are ignored.
    When off, you have a normal HTML page. CSS and links in the page work as expected.
  2. Go to GearIcon.png > Developer Resources > Web Tabs and create a new tab from that page.
  3. If needed, go to GearIcon.png > Preferences > Tab Preferences and specify which Roles can see the tab.
    (By default, it is available to all. Use this option to selectively turn it off.)

Linking to Other Help Pages

To add a link that goes to another JSP page in the platform, code it like this:

<a href="networking/pages/YourPage.jsp">...text-to-click...</a>

That link loads the referenced page into the help tab.

Opening a Link in a New Window

By default, the page targeted by a link displays inside the help tab.

To open a target page in a different window, use the standard HTML idiom:

<a href="...URL..." target="_blank">...text-to-click...</a>

where "_blank" tells the browser to display the referenced page in a new window.

Sample: Self-Contained Help Page

This sample help page is derived from Brainstorm--an application built on the AgileApps Cloud platform that allows customers to file requests for features they would like to see.

Warn.png

Important:
When make sure that HEADER FILES are OFF when creating the file.
With headers on, JSP tags are available, but links don't work. Turning them off creates a vanilla HTML page.
Learn more: Pages#About Header Files

The resulting page looks like this:

SampleHelpTab.png

Here is the code:

<html>
<!-- 
  When creating the JSP file, make sure HEADERS ARE OFF.
  (With headers on, JSP tags are available, but links do not work.
   Turning them off creates a vanilla HTML page.)
  -->
<head>
  <style>
    heading
    { 
     font-weight: bold;
     font-size: 3em;
    }
    a.rightAlign
    {
     font-size: .8em;
     position: absolute;
     right: 0px;
     width: 10%;
    }
    a.top
    {
     font-size: .7em; 
    }
    p.links
    {
     font-size: .8em;
     //text-align: center;
                line-height: 2;      
    }
    p.question
    {   
     font-weight: bold;
     font-size: 1em;
    }
    p.answer, li
    {     
      font-size: .8em;
    }
    body
    {
     font-family: arial;
     margin-left: 10px;  
                 margin-right: 10px;
    }
  </style>  
</head>

<body>     
  <heading>FAQ</heading>
  <a id = "pagetop" class = "rightAlign" href="#moreinfo">Contact Us</a> 
  <hr>
    </br></br>
    
  <p class = "links">
    <a href="#whatisapp">What this app?</a></br>
     <a href="#more info">Is more info available</a></br></br></br>
  <hr>
  </p>  
    
  <p class = "question">
     <a id="whatisapp">What is this app? </a>
     <a class = "top" href="#pagetop">[top]</a>
  </p>
  <p class = "answer">
    This app is...
  </p>

  <p class = "question">
     <a id="more info">Is more info available? </a>
     <a class = "top" href="#pagetop">[top]</a>
  </p>
  <p class = "answer">
    Yes, you can send any queries or suggestions to <a href="MAILTO:someaddress@somecompany.com">someaddress@somecompany.com</a>.
  </p>
</body>
</html>