Incoming bozo alert: condition tags.

[Kat se gat]

I've tried to the point of crying and I still can't test a condition I set.

I added a new condition tag set and in it I added a condition tag called TestAbc. I then selected a paragraph in a topic and I attached the paragraph to TestAbc. It highlighted the paragraph in the colour associated with my condition tag. Next, I clicked the Primary Target button on the ribbon's Project tab. I selected the Conditional Text tab and I then checked my item for TestAbc.

I generated the PDF print output and I was hoping the paragraph wouldn't appear but it did. I think I have I wired everything up okay so maybe I've not actually switched it "on".

Does anyone have any idea what I've done wrong?

[Nita Beck]

Peter, it's not clear to me what you did or didn't do.

So go check something for me (and forgive my taking you on baby steps). Open your PDF target to edit it. On the Conditional Text tab of the Target Editor, have you selected the EXCLUDE checkbox for your TestAbc condition?

[Kat se gat]

Nita, while you were posting I went and had a strong coffee. I came back and reviewed what I'd done. I clearly messed it up somewhere so I restored a copy of my project and went through it again. This time it worked okay. I discovered, as you pointed out, that I must have ticked the include box and not the exclude box. I think that's where my original point of failure was but I can't be sure. Suffice to say it's now working okay.

I also did an experiment with an image. I finally got round to giving some dance floor time to Capture. We waltzed and jived. I trod on its feet a few times and it barfed at me. Eventually, I worked out how to put the same condition on some graphical elements I added to an image. We waltzed again and this time the elements I tagged in the image also disappeared as expected. So I dumped my dance partner who screamed "Men!" I liked the connection between the Flare and Capture and I can see now why our illustrious user Atomdocs likes that part of Capture.

Seriously, are condition tags that easy? Are there any "gotchas" waiting in the wings?

I reckon it's because I got in touch with my feminine side that I achieved what I was able to. Us girls have to stick together. Blokes just don't understand us.

[Nita Beck]

Glad you got TestAbc all sorted out. And congrats on exploring how to use conditions in Capture images. I use Capture a lot myself, including using conditions and variables. Although there are lots of areas where Capture could stand to be improved, some of what it does is indeed very clever. I really like the tight integration with Flare.

Anyway, hi ho, glad you're sorted out. Catch you around the forums...

[atomdocs]

Nice one, Peter. I think basic conditions are simple to use, but they are still a powerful tool. I have used them to create a user guide and an administrator guide, all single-source, same TOC, but different topics in each. That's a simple scenario, but conditions also have an "advanced" mode where you can extend your condition statements with OR and AND, if you have a lot of different targets for different uses or users. Some info here: http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare ... ssions.htm. Look at the "Examples of condition expressions" expander towards the bottom of the topic.

Glad to hear you are getting into Capture Nita's posts are a great inspiration for getting the best from Flare.

[Kat se gat]

Tom, I see your avatar has now changed. Looks good.

You are right about the collective weight of Nita's posts. There's a lot to learn still and I'm slowly getting there but I'm still ensconced somewhere betwixt amoeba and protozoa whereas you lofty Flareopods occupy much higher positions on the food chain.

I found one of the Madcap vids about condition tags. Towards the end, the narrator said it's a good idea to tick every tag's checkbox whether you want to include or exclude. I am right to assume that if you don't tick either then the default assumption has to be include? After all, they're not tri-state checkboxes. Does anyone actually tick them all, one way or t'other? I only have about four of the pups in my project and two of those were already there.

EDIT: Tom, off topic but as a Snagittino and Captureino yourself, does Capture have stamps? You probably know what I mean, they're those automatically numbered kites, roundels and boxes that you can drop on the canvas to show a sequence of events? I'm happy to replace my images with Capture versions of them and some would benefit from tags as well. I really need the stamps however on some of them. Any suggestions?

[Nita Beck]

Gosh, fellas, I'm touched.

(Apology in advance for going totally off-topic, at least in terms of the title of the original post...)

Peter, you can use native Capture effects to emulate stamps in Snagit. Let me give a specific example.

In Snagit, as I assume you know, one of the common sets of stamps is numbers in a circle, I think from 1 to 20. These are very helpful for adding to a screenshot in order to designate various areas of the shot; the Flare author can then use that image in a topic in which he/she includes a legend that explains what the numbered callouts mean. This is very common for images that appear in documentation that will be translated -- no need to translate the numbers.

Anyway, one can achieve something quite similar, even somewhat more easily, in Capture. The idea is to create an object, be it a rectangle, square, oval, or circle, that has the desired border, background color, and size. Furthermore, the object can have "rich text" associated with it. (Rich in the sense that the text can not only be present but can be formatted: bold, italic, whatever.) In my practice, I have a little square with a dark gray border and a medium yellow background, and its rich text reads simply "1".

Now comes the magic. Capture has a concept called a palette. It comes stocked with a whole bunch of objects, including, in my opinion, some pretty awful looking arrows. I don't use any of those things, or perhaps rarely so. But I do use the palette. Back to that little "1" square, I right-click and say (I'm going on memory), put this on the palette so I can now use it over and over. But do I really want a bunch of little "1" squares? Of course not, but I can easily change each object's rich text to be 2, 3, 4, etc. In short, I don't need a whole collection of stamps from 1 to 20. I just need that one 1 on my palette. When I need a numbered callout, I drag that one 1 off the palette, position it where needed, open its properties, and on the Rich Text tab, change 1 to whatever number I need.

Another advantage of Capture's palettes (yes, one can have multiple, differently named palettes) is that I can share a palette with another author.

If you haven't yet done so, go to MadCap's recorded webinars and watch any of the Capture webinars presented by Paul Pehrson. He is a *master* at Capture. I'm just a lowly hack. I guarantee that you will learn a lot from him.

Sidebar: If you're interested, I wrote a blog post a year or so ago about an experiment I did in Capture to emulate some other Snagit effects. The link to my website is in my signature; then just go to the Blog page (for all of about 3 or 4 articles! I don't blog often).

[Kat se gat]

Thank you. I experimented with a new palette of my own and I created a square stamp and I can replicate it on the image and change the text accordingly. I looked at your magnifying glass effect but I haven't tried creating it yet. I'm currently looking at Paul Pehrson's webinar he did called "Optimizing Images Using Flare and Capture". Thanks for the heads-up about it/them.

[SteveS]

...Seriously, are condition tags that easy? Are there any "gotchas" waiting in the wings?...

Not gotchas as such, but...

1. Include will overide exclude.

2. If you are using online versions of your output make sure you explicitly exclude topics you do not want accessed by users.
When output is built everything goes into the output, even if its not in the TOC. This means a search conducted by the end user will also search the 'hidden' output. Not good if you have a topic for admins only that contains passwords...

[atomdocs]

Peter, you've now seen how useful palettes are. They are a core function of using Capture. I find the palette function easier to use than Snagit's libraries. The difference is that Snagit has a much better range of predefined objects, whereas in Capture, you have to build your libraries yourself. However, when you are up and running, palettes are really fast and easy to use. The secret is in what Nita said: palettes can be shared. This is a really powerful community feature. I have been threatening to set up a palette sharing resource for Capture fans. I will try and a get a move on with that. Also, when creating objects for your palettes, you don't have to build them all in Capture itself; any object that you can bring into Capture can be saved to a palette. So if you have some nice icons or symbols from another source that you want to use (copyright permitting), just bring them into Capture and put them in a palette - easy. Nita's blog post and Paul's webinar show that you can do a lot of great things with Capture. It just requires some lateral thinking sometimes.

Steve, concerning your second point, does the option "Exclude content not linked..." in the Advanced tab of an online target solve that issue? I haven't tested it properly, but I assume that would do it?

[NorthEast]

I found one of the Madcap vids about condition tags. Towards the end, the narrator said it's a good idea to tick every tag's checkbox whether you want to include or exclude. I am right to assume that if you don't tick either then the default assumption has to be include? After all, they're not tri-state checkboxes. Does anyone actually tick them all, one way or t'other? I only have about four of the pups in my project and two of those were already there.

The name of the 'Include' option is very misleading, and judging by the forums, one that consistently causes confusion.

I've never had a reason to use Include, and I'd only suggest using it if you actually know what it does.

Flare's help says:

If you want to exclude a condition tag, click the Exclude check box next to it. If you want to make sure a condition tag is included, click the Include check box next to it. The primary reason for having Include check boxes is to account for possible conflicts.

Warning: If you do not select any check boxes at all, all of the tags will automatically be included. If you include only some tags and exclude others, any remaining tags without check marks for either Include or Exclude will automatically be included. However, if you select Include for any of the tags (even just one) and do not select Exclude for any tags, all of the other tags that do not have Include check marks will automatically be excluded. If you want to be safe and always know that the correct tags are included or excluded, you can make sure that all of the tags have check marks with either Include or Exclude.

I'd only imagine using Include in this type of scenario: you have two conditions A and B on the same tag or file, A is set to Exclude in your target, but you want B to take precedence; so you set B to Include, so that it override the Exclude set for A.

So I'd disagree that you set Include on everything just to be safe; only use it for conditions that you want to take precedence over others.

[ChoccieMuffin]

The ADVANCED condition tags bit can be a bit of a pig to use, and I frequently have to dig around in the Help to get my head round how to phrase the ANDs and NOTs and IFs, but it has a lot of poke.

Re "Exclude not linked" check box on Advanced tab, personally I have a condition called EXCLUDE that I apply to any topic that must not be included in the build and I "Exclude" that condition in all my targets without fail. That way I don't have to rely on working out whether something is linked or not.

[dorcutt]

Regarding the "Exclude Unlinked FIles" option, I'm a huge believer. I am currently maintaining 5 different webhelps, and my WebHelp system hasn't even gone live yet! Tagging individual files would be a nightmare, especially since I am using only Basic condition tags. I suspect that the "Exclude Unlinked Files" option is what is allowing me to actually keep on using Basic mode at all, which I dearly want to do.

That "Exclude Unlinked Files" option does exactly what I need it to without my having to worry about it at all. Highly recommended. The only issue I have ever had with it was when it was accidentally excluding a CSS file that was linked only by a script in my customized WebSkin. Fortunately, one of Dave Lee's forum post helped me identify the problem right away and fix it with an easy workaround.