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.
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.