List of values structure: Comparing fall-back paths & hierarchy

Variants for Software Releases

When you are using the List of Values variant you can organize the values into a flat or stepped structure. The structure you use determines the fall-back path and the objects Author will use when it filters a book or publishing job.

Note: The Promote and Demote buttons are available for variables converted to variant criteria. Ordinary list of values variables only include the Move up and Move down buttons.

Three Variant Criteria

Scenarios:

  • Simple, flat structure: Using this structure, if an exact match for a criteria value isn't found, Author uses the primary object instead.

    Example: Filtering is set to X5000, where there isn't a topic for X5000 then the X1000 primary topic is used.

  • Simple, two-level structure: Using this structure, if an exact match for a value isn't found, Author will fall-back to the first-level "parent" value. Although similar to the flat structure, this two level structure can be used if you need to "include" or "exclude" content rather than just use a different variant of the content.

    Example: This example sets an option to fall-back to nothing in the output. A topic for the "parent" value of "none" is created with no content and the publishing options are cleared (Properties > General tab). Filtering is set to Platform 4, if there isn't a topic for Platform 4 then no topic is substituted in the book at that point.

  • Complex, multi-level structure: Using this structure, if an exact match for a value isn't found, fall-back to the next option in the list; continue through the values until an object is found.

    Example: The example in the third image sets a fall-back using the path 2.1 to 2.0, 2.0 to 1.2, 1.2 to 1.1, and 1.1 to 1.0. A secondary path has been added for objects in a special build. The special build uses the fall-back path 1.1b to 1.1, and 1.1 to 1.0.