Setting the search scope

When you search the help, by default only the local help contents are searched. You can expand the search scope to search a supported information center, the web, or an intranet site with an internal search facility.

Before you begin

To search an information center, the web, or an intranet site with an internal search facility, you must use the search pane in the dynamic Help view.

You can search only supported information centers, that is, the information centers for CICS® TS Version 4.1 to Version 5.2 that are downloaded to your environment, for example your organization's intranet, or a local installation on your own system. You cannot search earlier versions of the CICS TS information center, or CICS TS product documentation on IBM® Knowledge Center.

To set the search scope, use the following steps.

Procedure

  1. Open the search pane in the dynamic Help view by using one of the following methods:
    • From the workbench menu, click Help > Search. For the OS X operating system, ensure that you click the menu option with the Search icon Search icon
    • Press the keyboard help key, typically F1 (Ctrl+F1 on Linux), then click the search link in the Help view.
  2. Click the Default link next to the Search scope heading to change the current scope set.
    Search field and link to changing current scope
  3. In the Select Scope Sets window, click New.
  4. In the New Scope Set window, enter a name for the scope set, for example IBM product information, then click OK. The new scope is now displayed in the window with the default scope.
  5. Select the new scope and click Edit to display the Search Scope window.
    Search Scope dialog
    By default, the only search type is Local Help, indicated in the contents pane of the dialog.
  6. Click New to add a new search engine type.
  7. In the New Search Engine window, click the required search engine type (Information Center or Web Search), then click Finish. The new search engine type is listed in the contents pane of the Scope window together with the required fields.
  8. Enter the URL for the required site, then click Apply:
    • For an Information Center, enter the URL of a supported information center, leaving off the index.jsp suffix. An example of a URL for the IBM CICS TS Version 5.1 information center is as follows: http://your.organisation.com/infocenter/cicsts/v5r1/
    • For a Web Search, enter the URL template for the required search engine. For example, you might use one of the following search URLs:

      Google(TM): http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q={expression}&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

      Yahoo!: http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?p={expression}&fr=yfp-t-501&ei=UTF-8&rd=r1

      Bing: http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q={expression}&FORM=MSNH11

    • For an intranet search, enter the URL template for the search engine on your intranet site. You can use the following steps to find out the URL:
      • Search your intranet site using the text TEST.
      • Copy the results string in the address bar and paste it into the URL template field in the Scope window. An example string is as follows: http://your.organisation.com/search/do/search?qt=TEST&x=10&y=12&url=
      • Replace the search word TEST with {expression}. The resulting example string is as follows: http://your.organisation.com/search/do/search?qt={expression}&x=10&y=12&url=.
    When you search, your search argument is passed to the search engine in the {expression} value.
  9. Optional: By default, any new searches will search both the default search types and the new search type that you specified. To disable a search type, select the search engine type in the contents pane of the Scope window, for example Local Help, then clear the Enable search engine check box.
    Important: When you add a new search type, Eclipse automatically adds the new search type to any existing search scopes that you have defined. A limitation in the Eclipse version that CICS Explorer® uses might cause an error when you search. To avoid this error, edit any existing search scopes to disable the new search type. It is advisable to define only one of each type of search engine in each search scope.
  10. Click OK to save your settings, and click OK again to save your new scope.

    You can define any number of search scopes. However, it is advisable to define only one of each type of search engine in each search scope.

What to do next

The search scope is now changed to your new scope. To return to the default search scope, click the search scope link, select Default in the Select Scope Sets window, then click OK.