pre req / post req / ref in a rel tbl?

[DurtyMat]

::cough:: some of you might remember this from the beta threads ::cough::

so my team wants to implement rel tables into our documentation but split the tasks into pre req procedures and post req procedures (aka before you start and whats next). i figured using a rel tbl to implement this change would be pretty easy, just create columns for the the requested functionality and badda-bing-badda-boom, im done ... however, im running into an issue with how to link the pre/post/ref links to the individual procedures topics.

ill try to use an example that shows the issue i run into. if i have the following topics:

1. login (pre)
2. create a new thing (pre)
3. open a thing with a barcode scanner (viewed topic)
4. add new info to the thing (post)
5. thing selection window (ref)

i cant place 3 in the pre / post columns because 3 is a post for 1 and 2 and a pre for 4 (if those topics were being viewed in the help). i could place 3 in another column that is never displayed but that seems like a lot of work for each procedure (one new row for each procedure topic to link them to the pre / post / ref topics (btw: this is the only way i could even get the links to display in the viewed topic).

any thoughts?

[KevinDAmery]

To my mind your 3rd column idea is the only one that makes sense. Since you want it to do something programmatic, you need to define all of the entries in some way; leaving the state undefined works for humans, but not for machines (so the machine won't treat the entry the way you want unless you provide some sort of definition for it).

[DurtyMat]

yea, it seems pretty easy to drag and drop files into the rel tbl to meet the needs of the team, and it is actually a great way to stay organized ... now if only i could seperate the different columns to different sections of a topic


::cough / nudge / wink-wink::

[KevinDAmery]

http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx

[DurtyMat]

http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx

been there done that

but, exciting news in some recent developments with my relationship (i just thought of the dane cook joke about bad relationships when i typed this and it makes my stomach hurt) table.

SO, we found out that we were leaving our field and button descriptions out in the cold and they were going to end up being dead end topics (ruh-row!) so, I added a new column that is used to add related topics (procedures) to the individual field and button description pages. This work around was created because if a topic was in the pre_req column in one row it would take the post_req and ref_type topics and post them in the rel tbl output. I fixed the pulling from other rows issue by making every column a "target only" link.

After doing all of this, it feels like the rel tbl has been converted from the default concept / task / ref rel tbl to a very easy to manage related topics control ....

thoughts?

rel_tbl_forum_ex.png

[edit] uploaded image of my rel table as it currently stands

[madstrong]

::cough:: some of you might remember this from the beta threads ::cough::

so my team wants to implement rel tables into our documentation but split the tasks into pre req procedures and post req procedures (aka before you start and whats next). i figured using a rel tbl to implement this change would be pretty easy, just create columns for the the requested functionality and badda-bing-badda-boom, im done ... however, im running into an issue with how to link the pre/post/ref links to the individual procedures topics.

ill try to use an example that shows the issue i run into. if i have the following topics:

1. login (pre)
2. create a new thing (pre)
3. open a thing with a barcode scanner (viewed topic)
4. add new info to the thing (post)
5. thing selection window (ref)

i cant place 3 in the pre / post columns because 3 is a post for 1 and 2 and a pre for 4 (if those topics were being viewed in the help). i could place 3 in another column that is never displayed but that seems like a lot of work for each procedure (one new row for each procedure topic to link them to the pre / post / ref topics (btw: this is the only way i could even get the links to display in the viewed topic).

any thoughts?

How did you resolved this lastly?