Add a new feature from a specific release

Object Variants

Acme's requirements

With each new feature that Acme adds to improve their teleporters, they need to create and add the corresponding user documentation to the manuals and Knowledge Base. However, the content for new features must not be included when the content is republished for an earlier release.

Solution

The fall-back path allows you to define when variant content is introduced into the published document. For example, if a new feature was introduced in release 1.2 you'll want it to appear when publishing for releases 1.2 or 2.0, but not appear if republishing for release 1.1.

Requirement:

  • Create a new topic for the feature and add it to the book. The topic has the "release" variant criteria assigned for its introduction build (in this example the criteria value is release 1.2). You can add the topic to the book well ahead of its introduction release; it won't be included in the output until the publishing filter is set for the required release.

Behavior:

  • When the book is filtered for any releases earlier than the introduction release, for example release 1.1, the topic appears in the content pane with strikethrough text, indicating that the topic will not be added to the published output. However, you can still open the topic in the book and work with its content.
  • When the book is filtered for the topic's introduction release, for example, release 1.2, or a later release, the topic appears in the content pane without strikethrough text, indicating that it will be added to the published output.

Adding a New Feature from a Specific Release

Note: In these screenshots the topic is indicated with a blue variant icon because the ordinary object has criteria values assigned. It does not appear with a green icon as it has not been converted to a primary object with child variant objects.