Configuring WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help

WebFOCUS App Studio Help is configured, by default, to use Online Help that is hosted by ibi. This Help configuration is applied for new installations or when upgrading from an earlier release. The installation package no longer includes the help files, which greatly reduces the installation file size and time required to install and configure the software.

Benefits include:

  • You can access the most current Online Help content through Hosted Help model.
  • Upgraded delivery model that reduces the size of the product software package, and simplifies installation and configuration.
  • Online Help access using a secure connection to the ibi server hosting the Online Help system (HTTPS).

Deploying Online Help On-Premise

If you are restricted to using Hosted Help, the following procedure describes how to install Online Help on your own internal application server.

  1. Navigate to the doc site at:

    https://docs.tibco.com/products/ibi-webfocus-app-studio-9-0-5 https://docs.tibco.com/products/tibco-webfocus-app-studio-9-0-0https://docs.tibco.com/products/tibco-webfocus-app-studio-9-0-1https://docs.tibco.com/products/tibco-webfocus-app-studio-9-0-2https://docs.tibco.com/products/tibco-webfocus-app-studio-9-0-3https://docs.tibco.com/products/tibco-webfocus-app-studio-9-0-4https://docs.tibco.com/products/tibco-webfocus-app-studio-9-1-0

  2. Under Online Help, click the Download icon to download the zip file for the Help.

Requirements

The following are the requirements for WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help.

  • Java 8
  • A supported application server.

Deploying the Online Help Web Application in Tomcat

The following steps outline how to deploy the WebFOCUS App Studio Help using the Tomcat Manager.

  1. Navigate to the Tomcat Manager using the following URL: 
    http://servername:port/manager

    The following page displays, as shown in the following image.

  2. Navigate to the Deploy section of the Tomcat Manager page, specify /ibi_apphelp for the Context Path, and specify the location of the WebFOCUS App Studio Web Application in the WAR or Directory URL input box, as shown in the following image.

    The WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help application is deployed to the Tomcat webapps folder, as shown in the following image.

    After the WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help web application is successfully deployed on Tomcat, the following message is displayed.

    Additionally, the status on the Tomcat Manager console is true for /ibi_apphelp, as shown in the following image.

  3. From a browser, specify the following URL to confirm that WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help is available: 
    http://servername:port/ibi_apphelp/index.jsp

    The WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help displays, as shown in the following image.

Deploying the Online Help Web Application Using a Context File in Tomcat

The following steps outline how to deploy the WebFOCUS App Studio Help using a context file in Tomcat.

  1. Stop Tomcat to create an ibi_apphelp.xml context file in the Tomcat conf directory. For example, C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 8.5\conf\Catalina\localhost\ibi_apphelp.xml.
  2. Edit the ibi_apphelp.xml file in the Tomcat conf directory and add the following required syntax and parameters, where docBase is the path to the WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help web application and path is /ibi_apphelp. For example: 
    <?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<Context docBase="D:\ashelp\ibi_apphelp.war" path="/ibi_apphelp">
</Context>

    In this example, the ibi_apphelp.war file is located in the D:\ashelp\ directory.

  3. Start Tomcat and verify that the ibi_apphelp war has been deployed in Tomcat, as shown in the following image.

  4. From a browser, specify the following URL to confirm that WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help is available: 
    http://servername:port/ibi_apphelp/index.jsp

    The WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help is displayed, as shown in the following image.

Configuring WebFOCUS App Studio to Point to the Help on the Remote Server

  1. Start WebFOCUS App Studio. Click the AS Application menu icon , select Options, and then click Help Configuration.

    The WebFOCUS App Studio Help Configuration dialog box opens, as shown in the following image.

  2. Specify the Protocol, Host, Port, and Help Context Root with information from your On-Premises Online Help deployment.

    Protocol: HTTP or HTTPS

    Host: Application Server name of where the WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help is deployed.

    Port: Port number where the WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help is deployed.

    Help Context Root: Specify /ibi_apphelp/index.jsp.

  3. Verify that the WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help is accessible from help menus.

    Click the question mark ? next to the Style menu on the WebFOCUS App Studio toolbar, as shown in the following image.

    The help displays using the WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help URL.

  4. On the Home tab, in the View group, click the Help Wizard option to enable the Help panel, as shown in the following image.

    The Help Wizard displays the WebFOCUS App Studio Online Help, as shown in the following image.