Filters

Filters provide a mechanism for Technical Document Authors to associate Characteristics (metadata) with Document Elements and use these characteristics to automatically filter the content. This is useful when technical documents can serve multiple, but related, purposes. For example, a technical document that describes several similar models of the same part. Content that is specific to any model (or models) can have filters associated with it. When an end user wishes to see only the content that is either associated with all models or is particular to a specific model, they can identify the appropriate filters and the Technical Documentation Framework will display the correct content accordingly.

Figure 28.
Referring to Filters, the list of features associated with Model ‘X123-01’ is A, B, and D. The list of features associated with Model ‘X123-02’ is A, C, and D.
The list of available Filter Names and associated Filter Values is set by the Technical Document Administrator and exists for all Technical Document Types. By default, the following Filters are included: Region, Zone, and Model.

To add a Filter to a Document Element, right-click the Document Element either in the Navigation Pane or in the Content Viewer and select Change Condition. The Change Element Condition dialog is displayed.

Figure 29.

The Change Element Condition dialog will display each Filter that has been configured for the Technical Documentation Framework. Each Filter Name is displayed with a combo-box list containing each of the corresponding Filter Values. In Filters, the ‘Model’ Filter has the following Filter Values: ‘X’, ‘Y’, and ‘Z’ with the Filter Value ‘X’ selected. If this were the only Filter selection, then the selected Text Document Element would have the Filter ‘Model: X’ associated with it.

A set of Filters can be applied to the entire Technical Document. To do this, right-click the root node in the Navigation Pane (it will be displayed at the top with the name of the document) and select Change Condition in the context menu.

Document Elements with associated Filters associated with them are displayed in the Navigation Pane with a Filter icon added to the right of the node. This alerts the author that the corresponding content could be disabled or hidden with the application of a Filtered View.

Figure 30.

A Filtered View contains content that is either hidden or disabled based on the application of one or more Filters. The set of Filters is applied to all content that is displayed in a Technical Document, including referenced content. Only Document Elements that have a Filter applied will be affected by a Filtered View. This is because the system assumes that content without Filters apply to the set of all Filters.
To create a Filtered View, select the Document View button on the toolbar. Doing so will display the Document View dialog. The Document View dialog provides a list of all Filters showing each Filter Name and corresponding Filter Values in a combo-box list. To apply a Filter to the view, select the check mark next to the Filter Name. This will enable the list of Filter Values.

Figure 31.
The Filter Values that have been assigned to Document Elements in the current Technical Document will be highlighted (in color) in each list. To apply a Filter Value, select one or more Filter Values in each list and select the Apply button. By default, content that doesn’t apply to the selected list of filters is displayed as disabled. Document Elements that have been disabled in a Filtered View will be displayed lighter (partial transparency) in the Navigation Pane and as a collapsed section in the content viewer with the Filtered Icon displayed to the right (Filters). To expand the disabled section, select the ‘+’ button next to the disabled content in the content view.

Figure 32.
To hide disabled content in a Filtered View, select the radio button next to the ‘Hidden’ label in the Document View (Filters). In this case, disabled content will not be shown in the Content Viewer.
The Document View dialog allows the author to select a set of Filters for a Filtered View. To turn on/off a Filtered View, select the Enable Filter button in the toolbar. Note that this button is selected by default when the user selects the Accept button in the Document View dialog.