IPFHelp formatter

This formatter associates the help functionality with the cell. The actual content displayed in the cell is controlled by the Field Display Format attribute on the formatter. It can be context sensitive and can be directed to help topics that reside in the IPF Help Assets library.

In the case of the IPF HelpType, when searching to see whether a help page exists for a topic, we use this search pattern:

  • If datum is blank, then we create a context key from the page URL specified in the Display Help For field, changing the extension for the value of the help page file extension).
    • We search the IPFContextKey column in the IPF Help Assets library for the contextkey, prefixing the file with CurrentLocale + Product.
    • If not found, we search the IPFContextKey column for ContextKey with the file prefixed DefaultLocale + Product.
    • If not found, we search the IPFContextKey column for ContextKey with the file prefixed Product.
    • If there are no matches or too many matches, we show HelpPageNoMatchUrl value.
    • If no value is specified in the Display Help when full match is not found field, the help button is hidden.
  • If datum is not blank, we create a helpkey of CurrentLocale + Product + Datum and search for it.
    • If nothing is found, we create a helpkey of DefaultLocale + Product + Datum and search again.
    • If nothing is found, we create a helpkey of Product + Datum and search again.
    • If nothing is found, we show the URL specified in No Results URL.

    • If no value is specified in No Results URL, we hide the help button.

If Product Session Variable has a value, the search pattern will not hide the help button, because we do not search for the help topic until a user clicks on the button. We also search for the product given to use from the session variable value. If not found and a Product property value is given, we will search for it.