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Help text retrieval

This operation exposes the application help content stored in APPLICATION_HELP_DETAIL and APPLICATION_HELP_MASTER. The library supports both single-row retrieval by reference key and broader collection retrieval by application code.

Field Value
Operation ID OP-SB-04
Trigger Caller invokes GetHelpText or GetHelpTextCollection.
Inputs Reference key value or application code
Outputs clsHelpText or clsHelpTextCollection
Primary components clsHelpText.GetHelpText, clsHelpText.Criteria.BeforeRetrieve, clsHelpTextCollection.Criteria.BeforeRetrieve
Entry point Business\SAIF.Business\clsHelpText.vb

Steps

  1. A single-help-text request creates clsHelpText.Criteria with the reference key value supplied by the caller.
  2. BeforeRetrieve builds the detail lookup against APPLICATION_HELP_DETAIL and binds the requested reference key into the SQL (SQL-029, APPLICATION_HELP_DETAIL).
  3. After retrieval, the object copies the row's help-text fields into the business object and returns it to the caller.
  4. A collection request creates clsHelpTextCollection.Criteria with an application code rather than a reference key.
  5. The collection criteria build a join between APPLICATION_HELP_MASTER and APPLICATION_HELP_DETAIL, filter the row set to the requested application code, and order the result for presentation (SQL-030, APPLICATION_HELP_MASTER, APPLICATION_HELP_DETAIL).
  6. AfterRetrieve turns each joined row into a clsHelpText item and returns the populated collection.

Process flow

The following diagram visualizes this operation's control flow.

flowchart TD
    Start([Help-text request]) --> Type{Single key or collection?}
    Type -->|Single| Single[Query help detail by key]
    Type -->|Collection| Collection[Join help master and detail by application]
    Single --> Return1([Return help-text object])
    Collection --> Return2([Return help-text collection])

Failure and edge-case behavior

  • A missing reference key or application code yields no result rows and therefore returns an empty object or collection.
  • The library performs no write path for help text; it only reflects what is already present in the help tables.

Sources

  • Business\SAIF.Business\clsHelpText.vb
  • Business\SAIF.Business\clsHelpTextCollection.vb