Exclude all except conditionally tagged topics

[LesNoiz]

To help streamline our review process, I want to create condition tags for each agile user story, and tag the topics that were added/updated to document the user story with the condition tag for that story. I then want to create a target for each user story that will include only those topics tagged with the user story conditional text tag, but exclude everything else (tagged or not). That way reviewers only have to look at the stuff that was updated for the story and I don't have to tell them to read topic 1, topic 3, topic 5 ... to review a particular story.

Is this possible, or do i need to apply a tag to the entire project and set it to exclude in the target to have everything except for the user story tagged topics (included) show up in the output? Or, to put it simply, can I exclude all (tagged or untagged) except for the included topics?

[wclass]

There are several options.

One way is to tag all topics in the project so that you can logically include what you want and exclude everything else. Initially it seems a huge job, but if you are tagging many user stories anyway it's not that difficult.

Alternatively, there is an option on the Advanced tab, for Webhelp, that lets you "exclude topics not directly linked (via a TOC, etc)". For this to work, you would need to have separate TOCs set up for each target, so that only the topics in the TOC are included. Once again, this seems like a lot to set up initially, but you can create a "big" TOC that includes all the rest for your final build.

Are you creating print or webhelp targets for review? I ask because the inclusion/exclusion works a bit differently with these targets and TOCs.

I tend to create and apply conditions to all topics, and I generally send topics for review in a Word document. I have a review target and a review TOC - for each different function I just change the TOC prior to generating (very quick with drag and drop), and, as Word targets will only include what is in the TOC I get the limited output very quickly.
If I wanted to create the webhelp like this, I'd still create the small TOC but I'd check that "exclude" button in the advanced tab.

[LesNoiz]

Thanks Margaret, you confirm what I suspected. Although it's doable, like a lot of other things in Flare, it's going to require significant tedious and repetitive work to get it done. I think the simplest method for me is to tag all topics with a "Default" condition tag so that i can do an exclude all while still using the same TOC for all targets. Sad thing is that it is probably gong to take me longer to tag all of my topics that it would take a developer to create an "Exclude All" button in the Conditional Text tab of the Target dialog. Sigh.

[Nita Beck]

...it is probably gong to take me longer to tag all of my topics that it would take a developer to create an "Exclude All" button in the Conditional Text tab of the Target dialog.

If you work from the FIle List, you can select multiple topics, open the Topic Properties window, and set the condition tag for them all in one operation.

[i-tietz]

From File List or with "Show Files":

show-files.png

But you gotta be careful: If a file has more than one condition you might run into problems!
The condition logic in Flare is: Include overrules exclude. Means: Once a topic is included by one condition, it cannot be excluded anymore.

[LTinker68]

Means: Once a topic is included by one condition, it cannot be excluded anymore.

Only if there's a conflict between the conditions. If there's no conflict, then it can be excluded. So if TargetA specifies both conditions, then the include wins. If TargetB only specifies one of the conditions, then it's not a problem.