This section allows you to define and store any number of variables for use in your project. This is very useful for texts that may change after you create your project, such as program names and so on. You can then change the texts in your entire project just by editing the variables, and you are always sure that all instances have been changed.
Plain text variables can include other variables as part of their definition. HTML variables cannot include variables in their definitions. |
Plain text variables and HTML variables
You can define variables as either plain text variables or HTML variables.
Plain text variables can be used anywhere and everything they contain will be rendered as plain text, including HTML code.
HTML variables can contain HTML code. If they are used in topics only the plain text part of the code will be inserted, for example the text portion of a hyperlink. The HTML code is only used when the variables are used in HTML templates and HTML code objects. If you insert an HTML variable in locations where HTML code is not supported (for example the main editor) only the plain-text portion of the variable value will be used. If there is no plain-text portion nothing will be inserted.
Controls:
Add |
Add a new variable to the list. Variable names can contain spaces. Variable names are converted to all upper case characters automatically. After creating a variable select the Type (HTML or Text), then enter the value in the Value column. There is no effective limit on the amount of text you can enter. The theoretical limit is 2 gigabytes, which should be enough for most purposes. |
Delete |
Select to delete variables from the list. Does not check whether the variable is in use in your project. You can select multiple variables for deletion with SHIFT+Click and CTRL+Click. This also works with multiple variables with unselected variables between them. Undefined variables will be output to your project as the variable name. You can search for them and remove them as normal text with Find & Replace in the Write tab. |
Import |
Imports a list of variables and corresponding values from a plain text file using the standard INI format, adding them to the project's variable list. You must set the variable type (HTML or Text) manually after importing the list – the type cannot be stored with the list. INI sections are not supported, so please don't use them. Syntax: VARIABLENAME=Variable value Enter one variable per line without spaces on either side of the = sign and with a hard carriage return at the end of each line. Example: PRODNAME=Widget Confabulator 3 |
Export |
This function exports the current variable list to a text file, using the same format as shown above. (You can use this to get a full example of the format if you like.) This only includes user-defined variables. Help+Manual's own predefined variables are not exported. |
Move Up |
These functions help you to arrange the variables list. The Sort button sorts the entire list alphabetically. The Move Up and Move Down buttons move individual variables up and down in the list. You can select multiple variables for moving with SHIFT+Click and CTRL+Click. This also works with multiple variables with unselected variables between them. |
See also:
