Variant criteria fall-back paths

Library administrators can configure variant criteria to use fall back paths. Fall back paths are useful for ensuring content isn't accidentally omitted from a published output, or for creating time-based variant criteria, such as release version, product model, or year.

Library administrators create fall back paths by putting variant-criteria values into a tree structure. The trees can have various branches. Values up a branch become fall backs for values down a branch. For example, a variant criteria called Release Version may have the values 1, 1.1, and 1.2. 1 is the first value, 1.1 is a branch of 1, and 1.2 is a branch of 1.1. This makes 1.1 a fall back value for 1.2, and 1 a fall back value for 1.1 and 1.2.

When determining what objects to publish, Author-it checks these values in order. The value you select for the publishing job is checked first. Author-it will check each object used by the book, and see if they have any variants matching the value you selected. If they don't, Author-it moves up the branch, and checks for variants matching that value. Author-it will continue moving up the branch until it finds a variant matching the value being checked. If or when it does, Author-it swaps the primary object with that variant.