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18-Opal
bfriesen18-Opal
18-Opal
November 8, 2023
Solved

Multiple part numbers in a table for multiple versions of a manual

  • November 8, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 1749 views

Good afternoon, we have a dilemma that we are trying to solve. We create multiple variations of parts books that need different part numbers for the same part.  Currently we manually add all the versions and profile accordingly. I would like to automate it if possible.

 

Example below

Book 1 has part 123

Book 2 has part 123, but needs it to show up a A12

Book 3 has part 123, but needs it to show up a X2A

 

Is there a way to retrieve the correct number when building the publish?

 

Thanks

 

Bryon

 

 

 

 

Best answer by ClayHelberg

Hi Bryon--

This is what the DITA keydef/keyref mechanism is for. You can have your main content with key references, where the part references use IDs (keys) that look up part number strings in a different file (the key definitions). So you would have one key definition file for each variation, and then swap them out (i.e. have a bookmap for each configuration that imports the correct keydef file) to produce the correct result.

See the help center for more info on key references: https://support.ptc.com/help/arbortext/r8.1.2.0/en/#page/editor%2Feditor_help%2Fhelp17173.html

--Clay

1 reply

C
ClayHelberg18-OpalAnswer
18-Opal
November 8, 2023

Hi Bryon--

This is what the DITA keydef/keyref mechanism is for. You can have your main content with key references, where the part references use IDs (keys) that look up part number strings in a different file (the key definitions). So you would have one key definition file for each variation, and then swap them out (i.e. have a bookmap for each configuration that imports the correct keydef file) to produce the correct result.

See the help center for more info on key references: https://support.ptc.com/help/arbortext/r8.1.2.0/en/#page/editor%2Feditor_help%2Fhelp17173.html

--Clay

B
18-Opal
bfriesen18-OpalAuthor
18-Opal
November 8, 2023

Thanks Clay, we tried using keydefs early in our Arbortext adventure and found that we had issues with translation, so we stopped using them. This might be a good place for them because there are no words.

 

Bryon

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