Obtaining insights from a distributed system for a dynamic, customized, context-sensitive help system

A computer program product for using a context-sensitive help system for obtaining insights from a target environment using a product placeholder extractor in communication with a knowledgebase of an external system and in communication with a placeholder dictionary;

• a placeholder value extractor in communication with the product placeholder extractor, the placeholder dictionary, other external systems, and a placeholder value cache;
• a help annotator system in communication with the placeholder value cache, the placeholder value extractor and other external systems;
• the method comprising the steps of a computer of the context-sensitive help system comprising a computer comprising at least one processor, one or more memories, one or more computer readable storage media, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by the computer to perform a method comprising:
• detecting, by the computer, a search or opening of a help document containing a plurality of placeholders and product/component names by a user through an interface;
• crawling, by the computer, documents in the knowledgebase and extracting product and/or component names and corresponding configuration parameters or placeholders;
• storing, by the computer, the product and/or component names and placeholders in the placeholder dictionary along with links and an index to documents in the knowledgebase;
• extracting, by the computer, insights from the target environment further comprising
• mapping, by the computer, the product and/or component name to actual instances in the target environment and validating rules regarding whether more than one product or component name is present in a single document in the knowledgebase or more than one placeholder in a single document in the knowledgebase;
• extracting, by the computer, the insight or context from the target environment using monitoring and analysis tools to obtain placeholder values;
• and
• updating, by the computer, the placeholder value cache with the placeholder values obtained;
• and
• replacing, by the computer, placeholders in the help document with values from the target environment based on the insights from the target environment further comprising
• filtering and narrowing, by the computer, down a scope of the search received from the user using insight and context information in the knowledgebase;
• dynamically annotating, by the computer, placeholders in the help document opened by the user with corresponding values from the placeholder value cache;
• and
• if the placeholder value cache does not have values for all of the placeholders, intrusively extracting configuration values, by the computer and updating placeholder value cache with the extracted configuration values, and updating, by the computer the help document;
• and
• displaying, by the computer, the help document to the user through the interface.

A computer system for using a context-sensitive help system for obtaining insights from a target environment using a product placeholder extractor in communication with a knowledgebase of an external system and in communication with a placeholder dictionary;

• a placeholder value extractor in communication with the product placeholder extractor, the placeholder dictionary, other external systems, and a placeholder value cache;
• a help annotator system in communication with the placeholder value cache, the placeholder value extractor and other external systems comprising a computer comprising at least one processor, one or more memories, one or more computer readable storage media having program instructions executable by the computer to perform the program instructions comprising:
• detecting, by the computer, a search or opening of a help document containing a plurality of placeholders and product/component names by a user through an interface;
• crawling, by the computer, documents in the knowledgebase and extracting product and/or component names and corresponding configuration parameters or placeholders;
• storing, by the computer, the product and/or component names and placeholders in the placeholder dictionary along with links and an index to documents in the knowledgebase;
• extracting, by the computer, insights from the target environment further comprising
• mapping, by the computer, the product and/or component name to actual instances in the target environment and validating rules regarding whether more than one product or component name is present in a single document in the knowledgebase or more than one placeholder in a single document in the knowledgebase;
• extracting, by the computer, the insight or context from the target environment using monitoring and analysis tools to obtain placeholder values;
• and
• updating, by the computer, the placeholder value cache with the placeholder values obtained;
• and
• replacing, by the computer, placeholders in the help document with values from the target environment based on the insights from the target environment further comprising
• filtering and narrowing, by the computer, down a scope of the search received from the user using insight and context information in the knowledgebase;
• dynamically annotating, by the computer, placeholders in the help document opened by the user with corresponding values from the placeholder value cache;
• and
• if the placeholder value cache does not have values for all of the placeholders, intrusively extracting configuration values, by the computer and updating placeholder value cache with the extracted configuration values, and updating, by the computer the help document;
• and
• displaying, by the computer, the help document to the user through the interface.