Where are the rules for snippets?

[kevinmcl]

I've got Flare 8.1.1 on Windows 7.

I had a section of several paragraphs plus a screencap that was needed on several topic pages, but only for some users.

Therefore I wanted:

a) to make it a drop-down, so it would not intrude on the flow for the majority of users who would not need its content, but it would be there for those who did need it

b) to make it a snippet (for automatic reuse on those several topic pages).

I accomplished the first requirement with a few seconds of work. The second took longer than I anticipated.
I found that if I highlighted the section in a topic and went to the menus (or ribbon), to turn the selected section into a Snippet, the Snippet command was grayed out - I surmise it has something to do with the Dropdown; there's nothing else exceptional about that handful of paragraphs and one image. After much diddling and searching, I found that if I created a new, blank, snippet file first , I could copy-paste the exact same selection from my topic, save the snippet with the Dropdown now included, and then call it up from my published topic(s).

I would like to know why essentially the same action on the same material appears to work one way, but is explicitly prevented when approached from another direction. There must be some rule, but it's missing from "MadCap Flare Snippets Guide version 8.0". It's the same content, after all. It's still a snippet, after all. What is the difference, and why not articulate it in the instructions?

Is my workaround going to rise up and bite me by failing obscurely at some later date?

Thanks for any insight.

-kevin

[trent the thief]

Kevin, submit it as a feature request. That's a good workaround, though. I'm going to start using it, since I've been headbanging on the same issue.


https://www.madcapsoftware.com/feedback/bugs.aspx

[kevinmcl]

Case 37447.


My worry is that the grayed-out Ribbon/menu item (Create Snippet) was CORRECT!

If that's the case, then my workaround will break sometime in the future, probably just at a really tense deadline...

[trent the thief]

It's only correct at this moment because someone missed a logical use. Not being able to re-use a snippet inside a pop-up is a definite, "Opps!" moment. Having pop-up definitions for glossary words is a common thing in help systems. Having to type in the same definition several times is a time waster.

[kevinmcl]

oh-oh...
I guess I'm a ba-a-a-a-a-ad teknuckle ryter...

That was NOT my issue.

My issue was/is not being able to CREATE a snippet that would CONTAIN a Dropdown.

The text that I wanted to convert into a snippet was about six paragraphs. Four of those paragraphs, plus a graphic (.png screen capture), were blocked off as a Dropdown. (Which worked fine in published output, but I had it duplicated on a couple of pages and was going to need it on a couple more topic pages, so I preferred to make it a snippet. Flare didn't like that idea.)

When I selected the whole mess in my original topic, the Create Snippet option in the Ribbon was gray. (Nyaah-nyaa, can't touch this!)

When I went outside the topic and created an unpopulated snippet, saved it, then opened it in the editor and PASTED in the content from my topic (including the Dropdown with its included graphic), THEN the snippet accepted that content and saved without complaint. THEN I was able to replace the multi-paragraph (and Dropdown with graphic) chunk from my topic with the pointer to the new Snippet.

I wasn't trying to use a snippet inside a pop-up.

Sorry. Thought I'd explained better in my first post.

Anyway, it's now in the MadCap pest-queue.

-k

PS: Y'know, I don't know for sure that the Dropdown is the issue. I just know that - as recently as a couple of weeks ago - I had created snippets from highlighted text that included graphic images (but not Dropdowns). So, ONE difference is that the latest attempt did try to include the previously not included element... the Dropdown... but the OTHER difference is that I updated Flare to 8.1.1 last week. That might have had an effect as well. I don't feel like downgrading Flare just to experiment.

[i-tietz]

When I went outside the topic and created an unpopulated snippet, saved it, then opened it in the editor and PASTED in the content from my topic (including the Dropdown with its included graphic), THEN the snippet accepted that content and saved without complaint. THEN I was able to replace the multi-paragraph (and Dropdown with graphic) chunk from my topic with the pointer to the new Snippet.

You can also insert a new paragraph after the dropdown and select that one too to make it all a snippet - then it works. It's just that Flare won't let you create a snippet, if the last element is a dropdown ... and I think the same applies to tables ... just don't forget to delete that paragraph in the snippet before closing it.

... although I quite like the concept of an "unpopulated snippet" ... this is the funny-term-creation-day ...

[kevinmcl]

Not for me.

I _DID_ make sure I had a couple of paragraphs selected below the bottom of the Dropdown, when I was selecting for the snippet. Didn't work for me.

At least one of those was empty, though... just a paragraph marker with no text. Maybe........

[i-tietz]

could be ... cannot remember ... and maybe also before the dropdown?

[trent the thief]

oh-oh...
I guess I'm a ba-a-a-a-a-ad teknuckle ryter...

That was NOT my issue.

My issue was/is not being able to CREATE a snippet that would CONTAIN a Dropdown.

The text that I wanted to convert into a snippet was about six paragraphs. Four of those paragraphs, plus a graphic (.png screen capture), were blocked off as a Dropdown. (Which worked fine in published output, but I had it duplicated on a couple of pages and was going to need it on a couple more topic pages, so I preferred to make it a snippet. Flare didn't like that idea.)

When I selected the whole mess in my original topic, the Create Snippet option in the Ribbon was gray. (Nyaah-nyaa, can't touch this!)

When I went outside the topic and created an unpopulated snippet, saved it, then opened it in the editor and PASTED in the content from my topic (including the Dropdown with its included graphic), THEN the snippet accepted that content and saved without complaint. THEN I was able to replace the multi-paragraph (and Dropdown with graphic) chunk from my topic with the pointer to the new Snippet.

I wasn't trying to use a snippet inside a pop-up.

Sorry. Thought I'd explained better in my first post.

Anyway, it's now in the MadCap pest-queue.

-k

PS: Y'know, I don't know for sure that the Dropdown is the issue. I just know that - as recently as a couple of weeks ago - I had created snippets from highlighted text that included graphic images (but not Dropdowns). So, ONE difference is that the latest attempt did try to include the previously not included element... the Dropdown... but the OTHER difference is that I updated Flare to 8.1.1 last week. That might have had an effect as well. I don't feel like downgrading Flare just to experiment.

Nah, it was early in the morning when I read that.

Either way, it should work the way we need it to work.

[kevinmcl]

I might need to try again, but with populated paragraphs (not just empties) before and after the Dropdown, and before and after the snippet (attempt).

snippet_w_dropdown_w_graphic_leading-trailing_paras.png

Wow, that's a lot of scrolling, isn't it?