MadCap Software Forums

We are trialing Flare at our office currently and we keep running into a recurring issue.
I am applying Conditions to entire Variable Sets rather than duplicating the exact same conditioning across each individual Variable, but when I select some of these Conditions for a target all Variable Sets are included in the output, not just the selected ones. If the same Conditions are applied to individual pieces of content, those content pieces are correctly included/excluded as selected.

Is there an additional step that needs to be taken to allow Conditions to properly include/exclude entire Variable Sets?
I have an example if necessary, but it is fairly complicated.

Generally you don't need to condition entire variable sets.
I set up a set of variables and assign initial/default text.
Then, within each target output, I assign appropriate values to those variables that should appear in that target.
Have a look in each of your Targets on the Variables tab - this is where you can set the specific values.

For more information, have a look at the online help at:
http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare ... iables.htm

Thanks for the reply. I do understand adjusting variable definitions by target, but I'm actually trying to solve a situation where we have a variable that is applied globally, but in each of the more than 200 instances of that variable there is the need to make individual exceptions.

Since we only have five or six different options for the global variable (but essentially infinite exceptions that can be made for each instance), my solution was to have each instance be it's own variable so definitions can be used individually to make exceptions, but to condition the variables to be able to select between the global options.

Example: ABC is the global item, which is selected by conditions

Target 1 - ABC=$5
Instance 1 - $5 (ABC)
Instance 2 - $5 (ABC)
Instance 3 - $5 (ABC)
Instance 4 - $7 (ABC exception)
Instance 5 - $5 (ABC)

Target 1 - Select condition: "ABC5" would change all instances to the shared definition of 5. Then individually change the definition for variable "Instance4" to 7.

Target 2 - ABC = $10
Instance 1 - $10 (ABC)
Instance 2 - $12 (ABC exception)
Instance 3 - $10 (ABC)
Instance 4 - $10 (ABC)
Instance 5 - $15 (ABC exception #2)

Target 2 - Select condition: "ABC10" changing all shared definitions to 10 and change definitions for variable "Instance2" to 12 and "Instance5" to 15.

I would like to condition by variable set, i.e. "VariableSet5" would contain default definitions of 5 and be globally selectable by choosing to include condition "ABC5." Alternatively I could individually condition the variables within the content, but there are hundreds of instances and I'd like the flexibility of conditioning by set if possible. There might be a more elegant solution that I am missing, so please feel free to suggest.

A Google search for madcap flare conditions variables returns this thread as the top result.

I just created an account for this forum and am reviving this thread because the OP's question doesn't seem to be resolved and I have the same question.

The use case is:

• one target, two outputs
• each output has a distinct set of terms
• one parameter to switch between term sets

Here's what I'm experiencing:

1. created two variable sets, one for each output
2. via the Properties dialog, set different condition tags to each
3. in the output, both appear

Clearly this is not the expected behaviour. Is this a bug or is there some other parameter I need to set?

John Cornellier wrote:The use case is:

• one target, two outputs
• each output has a distinct set of terms
• one parameter to switch between term sets

Here's what I'm experiencing:

1. created two variable sets, one for each output
2. via the Properties dialog, set different condition tags to each
3. in the output, both appear

Clearly this is not the expected behaviour. Is this a bug or is there some other parameter I need to set?

Hi John. Welcome to the forums!

Forgive my confusion. A target = an output, so I'm not sure what you mean by one target, two outputs. Do you mean one project, two targets (outputs)?

So the two targets are sharing content, but you need to use a different set of terms in each target?

I would think that you can have one variable set in which all the term variables are named but whose definitions are placeholders. Then, in each target's properties on the Variables tab, define the variables as needed for that target. I don't think conditions come into play at all.

Perhaps I'm oversimplifying your issue. HTH nonetheless.