manual title in xref format

[pdenchfield]

Okay, this is a long shot. As far as I can tell, the xref format possibilities are constrained to information found in the referenced topic, such as title, first heading, bookmark, and page number. I would like xrefs to be smart enough to go beyond identifying the referenced topic to also identifying the deliverable containing the topic, when that deliverable is print-based. This feature would be especially useful for Flare projects that have multiple targets (= multiple manuals in our case).

Is there a way to add a manual title variable to the xref format and have Flare automatically detect the manual title based on targets using the referenced topic (perhaps derived from TOC dependencies), or based on the parent folder containing the referenced topic, or based on some combination of these factors? And if this magic is available , can Flare automatically hide the manual title if it's the same as the current deliverable?

Example:

For more information, see "About Widgets" in the ABC Widget User Guide.

Our current approach is to manually type the "in the <manual title>" part of the xref above, and conditionalize it for print only.

There's got to be a better way! Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[LTinker68]

I don't think there's a way you can do it with variables because the xref format is specified in the stylesheet and that code isn't parsed -- it's treated as plain text. In other words, you could put the code for a variable into the xref format, but I don't think it'll take that variable code in the stylesheet and transform it to the appropriate value at run-time. But that is a great suggestion, so submit it at http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx.

In the meantime, you could use a snippet for the "in the ABC Widget User Guide" portion of your text. The snippet could contain a variable for the "ABC Widget User Guide" portion and you could change the value of that variable in the target editor. Or you could create a conditional snippet file with multiple document names (e.g., "ABC Widget User Guide", "ABC Widget Installation Manual", etc.), the value of which is selected based on which condition matches the output you're building. Or you could have multiple snippets for each document name, not worry about conditions (other than print-only), just insert which document name you want.

[pdenchfield]

Thanks, Lisa. I think my head's going to explode now. Wow, that's a lot to think about!

Seriously, though, I appreciate your reply, and I will log a feature enhancement request.

[peterbrown05]

hi;
I completely agree with this requirement. We produce multiple document skews from the same source and each needs its own title; "Config Guide", "User Giode", "Quick Start" and "Internal Guide"

Currently the only way I can achieve this is by having: "multiple variables - one for each of the document outputs", then additional conditional text tags (again one for each output Im producing). THe front page then needs updating to include ALL titles; with each conditionally tagged.

I'd suggest that each "Target" should have a specific field allowing the title to be entered and this being a variable (eg doc title) that can be added once to any page as needed.

peteB

[NorthEast]

hi;
I completely agree with this requirement. We produce multiple document skews from the same source and each needs its own title; "Config Guide", "User Giode", "Quick Start" and "Internal Guide"

Currently the only way I can achieve this is by having: "multiple variables - one for each of the document outputs", then additional conditional text tags (again one for each output Im producing). THe front page then needs updating to include ALL titles; with each conditionally tagged.

I'd suggest that each "Target" should have a specific field allowing the title to be entered and this being a variable (eg doc title) that can be added once to any page as needed.

peteB

You can already do this, you can set target-specific versions of a variable.

1. In your variable file, create a variable for the document title, and set it to have some dummy text, e.g. "Document title".

2. Insert the variable in the topic that is your front page.

3. In your target settings Variables tab, click on the Definition for your document title variable, and over-type "Document title" with whatever the title should be for that target.


You can also use the variable in TOC entries; if you set the variable as the first heading in your front page topic, then add the topic to the TOC, your TOC entry will use the variable (in the format [%=VariableFileName.VariableName%]).

[peterbrown05]

ah ha! perfect.
thanks. this has saved a lot of complications. I thought (incorrectly) that editing the variable in each target just changed that variable globally..... durrr!
thanks for your help!