Accessing the VSA Help

The VSA Help files are installed with the VSA software by default. However, the VSA installer allows you to choose not to have the help files installed if you need to conserve local disk space. In this case, the VSA software automatically connects online with a software revision-specific copy of the help. You must be connected to the internet to use the VSA Help in this mode.

There are multiple ways to access the 89600 VSA help:

Windows Start menu

After installing the 89600 VSA software, you can click the Windows Start button, then select Keysight PathWave 89600 VSA <ReleaseVersion> > VSA Help to open the 89600 VSA help system.

Show Help (F1)

While the VSA software is running, click Help > Show Help. For a listing of other available Help menu selections, see the Help menu topic.

You can also launch context-sensitive help VSA help while navigating the GUI by pressing the F1 key. When you are viewing a dialog box, pressing F1 shows the same information as clicking the ? button. The F1 help also works on menus (as shown below) and traces.

Pressing F1 while a menu item is highlighted opens context-sensitive help for that menu item.

In this example, pressing F1 will open help for the Y Scale tab in the Trace dialog box.

Search Help

While the VSA software is running, click Help > Search Help to open the 89600 VSA help system and activate the search field in the upper-right corner of the VSA Help viewer. Enter a term to start the search. You can use qoutes if you are searching for an exact string comprised of multiple words.

For a listing of other available Help menu selections, see the Help menu topic.

Dynamic help

When the VSA is running, you can open Dynamic Help by clicking Help > Dynamic Help. By default, dynamic help is shown in a tool window that is docked by default to the right-hand side of the VSA main window.

The dynamic help will navigate to the topic for the user interface item that currently has focus. This is an excellent way to explore the functionality of the 89600 VSA.

Help button on dialogs

You can access help for any dialog box by clicking the ? button in title bar of the dialog box.

In the following illustration, clicking the Help button opens the VSA help for the Format tab of the Digital Demod Properties dialog box.