Conditions don't apply to tables

[mattf]

Hi gang,
When I select content to condition within a topic -- let's say I select everything from the H1 down to the last paragraph return, and condition it -- then in the output any tables that fall within that selection are excluded. When I look at the structure bars at the left, they are similarly uncolored. I have to condition them manually.

Is anyone else experiencing this? I'm using the Flare 9 trial download. I'm an old customer but I changed jobs and have been away from Flare since v.8.

Note: For various reasons I don't want to apply a single condition to the whole topic.

[DocuWil]

Hi Matt,

Yes, you are right.
I always put a div around it and apply the condition to the div.
Otherwise you have to select the table an apply the condition.

Greetings,
Wil

[Msquared]

I too put everything in a div, then apply the condition to the div. I have a special div.conditional that I use just for this purpose. This makes it easier to undo or change conditionals that span several paragraphs too, as you only have to select the div.

This works, even for your scenario.

However, I've just tried what you described and think there is indeed a bug. If I take a topic that includes a table, and select all the text in the topic, including the table, and whatever is before and after it, then condition it, as you say, the table bar doesn't show the condition. If you look at topic in the text editor, the table content is conditioned, but the structure isn't. So when you build the output, a blank table with the rows and columns but no content is included.

Can I encourage you to report this as a bug?

[mattf]

Wil, Marjorie,

Thanks for the quick replies. I don't know much about divs because I have div-avoidance syndrome. They've always seemed confusing. Could you guys throw me examples of the xhtml you use for this? Also, Marjorie, how does your div.conditional work? I mean, is that a condition you only use for divs?

Thanks,
Matt

[mattf]

And yes, Marjorie, I will submit this as a bug.

[mattf]

I figured out how to add a div. Easy-peasy. But Marjorie I'm still curious about your div.conditional.

[Msquared]

Divs were one of the things that I didn't get my head round initially either. I avoided them too, but once I found out how to create them, I realised they weren't that scary.

My div.conditional doesn't actually apply a condition. It's just the container I use round a chunk of text that I want to apply a condition to.

The style definition is actually empty, like so:

div.conditional
{
}

When you create a div, you have to choose a div style, and I don't like defaulting anything - I'd rather make a specific choice to keep my content consistent. So now I've got a div without any other styling applied, which I can use to chunk my paragraphs up specifically before I apply a conditional. My other divs are there for other reasons, for example, I have a div.keeptogether which contains page-break-inside: avoid; so I wouldn't necessarily want to use that one to chunk up text before applying a conditional, as it would have side-effects.

So now, once I've applied the div.conditional, I just right click on the div in the structure bars on the LHS of the topic, and apply the conditional as usual, and in fact, probably exactly as you have just learned to do. The difference is that I've used a div specifically for the conditional, so if at a later stage, someone needs to update the document and remove the conditional, they will be able to see that the only reason for the div was because there was once a conditional there - it wasn't being used to apply some weird and wonderful formatting. Also if they remove the conditional but not the div, and later on someone else wants to know why the div was there, they will be able to work it out too.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you want a more detailed example - I'm happy to provide one.

And, the other thing I did was put the "Group" button (the thing you use to create a div) on the QAT, as I can never find it otherwise, and now I've got my head round divs, I use them a lot.

[mattf]

Wow, this is super-helpful. Thanks Marjorie. Lots of good ideas here. I hadn't even thought of having a div for page-break avoids, and I was just working with that problem yesterday. Thanks again.
-Matt

[wclass]

...
And, the other thing I did was put the "Group" button (the thing you use to create a div) on the QAT, as I can never find it otherwise, and now I've got my head round divs, I use them a lot.

Good tip - and for the keyboard people, select your text then press the TAB key to pop up the "Group" button.

[smajors]

Does anybody know if you can put conditions on certain columns or rows in a table rather than the whole table? I'm having trouble figuring out how but maybe it can't be done.

Thanks!

[whunter]

Yes. If it's not already turned on, click Toggle Show Blocks in the bottom toolbar of the XML Editor. This shows the style blocks along the left-hand side of the topic. To condition a row, select the tr block for the row you want to condition, then apply the condition.

I haven't done it but I assume it works the same for columns. In this case you would want to click Toggle Show Spans (to show blocks along the top of the topic) and then select the appropriate column.

You probably want to keep your tables very simple for this to work right. For example if you are using alternating shading in table rows then hiding a row will mess up the alternating pattern. I don't know but I imagine there might also be issues if the table has merged columns or rows.

[smajors]

Thank you!

[CATERAF]

Yep, you can definitely condition columns and rows as described. I have a table with so many different conditions applied that the table looks like someone decided to scribble all over it in different colours (it was the only way I could single source the table contents).
Just one note I want to make is that there is a bug concerning some conditions and merging cells. I found I could get some cells to merge and other cells would merge but with an error. I contacted Tech Support and they said it was because of the particular conditions I had applied. To solve it, I unmerged the two cells causing the problem. So yes, should you get any errors (mine was a big red cross through the screen and an 'unexpected error' message), try unmerging the cells or removing some conditions.

[smajors]

I'm trying to put a condition tag on one cell in a column, when I apply it to the td block, it applies the tag to the whole row. Is it possible to just apply a condition tag to one cell?

Flare_tableColumnCondition.jpg

Thanks!

[LTinker68]

You generally don't want to apply a condition tag to one cell in a table, unless you apply it to the other cells in the same column. If you apply it to a single cell, then you have a badly formed table, because you don't have an even number of td tags in each tr tag.

Instead of applying it to the td tag, apply it to the content in that tag.