Bug in variable in variable when variable filename changed

[chuck_agari]

I found a bug. I also found a workaround. This is what I reported to MadCap:

A variable that can contain a variable is great. But I found what seems to be a bug. When you change the name of a variables file, if a variable contains a variable that was in that file, that variable's reference is not changed.

Here's an example from the code in a target:

<Variables>
<Variable
Name="Variables_PD/Book Title">[%=Variables_Global.Company Name (Short)%] [%=Variables_ATP.Product Name (short)%] Administrator and User Guide</Variable>
<Variable
Name="Variables_PD/Product Base URL">appc.cisco.com</Variable>
<Variable
Name="Variables_PD/Product Name (long)">Cisco [%=Variables_ATP.Product Name (short)%]</Variable>
<Variable
Name="Variables_PD/Product Name (short)">Advanced Phishing Protection</Variable>

I had a variables file that was named "Variables_ATP" because the product it contained variables for was named "Advanced Threat Protection." We changed the product name to "Phishing Defense," so I changed the filename to "Variables_PD," and I did so in Flare. As Flare does when you change a filename, it updated all references in the project. Or so I thought.

As you can see in the first variable in this target, the Name attribute in the Variable tag was changed. But the variable itself did not change its reference.

I found this to be true in a different target, and I figured out a workaround: In a text editor, delete these variable references. It seems that these are generated in a target when you select in that target a different definition than the default. Then in the target UI, you can just re-select the definition you want to use in that target.

That said, this is clearly a bug. The variable itself is not being updated when the filename it was in is changed.

[chuck_agari]

Turns out it's also a known bug. (105410)

[Jeong]

I also submitted a bug report about this recently.