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Creating Paragraph Links

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Gary Christensen
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Overview

Links can be created to any paragraph or choice in the project. All links start with a source of paragraph or choice, and end with a target of paragraph or choice. 

Paragraph links allow the user to create a link that begins with the activation of a paragraph that leads to an activation ("yes" or "green") link, a suggestion ("maybe" or "yellow") link, or an alert of conflict ("no" or "red") link with another paragraph or choice option within a choice list. Steps for creating paragraph to paragraph and paragraph to choice links are below.

It's important to understand the basics of linking before creating user-defined links. Please review Linking Basics to assist in determining the type of link as well as the action(s) and subsequent results you expect to achieve.

This articles covers the following topics:

If attempting to edit an existing link, please see this article instead.

Creating a Paragraph to Paragraph Link

Follow these steps to create a paragraph to paragraph link. 

  1. From within a specification section, click to expand the Sequence Manager on the left side of the screen.

    seq_man.png
  2. From the Sequence Manager menu, click Links.

    sequence_manager_links.png
  3. Click the Create New Link Button located at the top of the Links menu. new_link_icon.png

  4. The Create New Link window will appear displaying the Source Links area on top, and the Target Links area on the bottom. Drag and drop a sequence number from the document window where directed between the Source Links and Target Links areas. This will become the focus paragraph.

    create_new_links_window.png

    Below, you can see I've dragged and dropped sequence number 0000 (TRAFFIC CONTROL) into the Create New Links window. This is now the focus paragraph.

    focus_paragraph.png

  5. Alternatively, if the Links Information Column is open and the paragraph does not already have a link associated with it, there is a "Create New Link" icon that appears in the L (Links) column that will open the Links Panel and autofill the sequence number, instead of having to drag and drop. This one-click alternative can be used any point during the link-creation process when setting the focus paragraph.

    New_Link_From_Column.png
  6. Once a focus paragraph is selected, click the "+" sign next to "Click to add a target link..." located beneath the focus paragraph.

    click_to_add_target_link.png

    The Add a New Target Link window will open. Step 1 consists of confirming or selecting the link type and color for the new link. The image below shows the New Target Link pane with the defaults pre-selected.

    Default_Target_Link_Options.png

  7. The Link Type defaults to the Paragraph Link type, the "P" indicating a paragraph link. Using the Link Type menu dropdown menu, any of the Link types may be selected. When creating a Paragraph Link, it can be left as the default "P" selection.

    new_target_link_type_p.png


  8. The Link Color defaults to a Green Active link. Using the Link Color menu, choose the action the link will invoke. (Green=Active, Yellow=Suggest, Red=Deactivate).

    new_link_color.png

    The selected color will appear in the link color box indicating the action the link will invoke.

    new_target_step2_color_select.png

  9. From the document window, either click the plus icon to type in the sequence number or drag and drop the sequence number of the target paragraph into step 2.

    Paragraph_Link_Step_2.png

    The image below displays the sequence number 0020 input as the target paragraph. The completed Add A New Target Link window will include a link preview as you build the link.

    Sequence_Number_Added_New_Link.png

  10. When you are satisfied the link is complete, click Save. create_new_link_save_button.png

    The new link will appear in the list of target links with a U indicating that it is a User created link.

    Saved_New_Link.png

Creating Multiple Paragraph to Paragraph Links Simultaneously

When creating a Paragraph to Paragraph link, it is possible to save time by creating up to 10 links related to the focus paragraph simultaneously.

Please follow the steps below.

  1. Follow the initial steps to creating a new link shown above.

  2. When adding a new target or source link, you can either type in or drag and drop multiple sequence numbers to the Links pane. There is a maximum limit of 10 sequence numbers during each link creation.

    Add_Multiple_Links.png

  3. After all sequence numbers have been added to the link pane (up to maximum 10), click "Save" to create all the links at once. When creating multiple links this way, all links will be the same link type and color, but can be edited afterwards individually.

  4. The created links will all appear as separate individual links in the appropriate section of the Links pane. Also, the Link icon will appear in the Links column for affected target link paragraphs. 

    Saved_Multiple_Links.png

Multiple link creation is not available when the first paragraph has a choice selected in the choice tree within the Links pane. When attempting to add a sequence number to a target or source choice link, the paragraph will not be added and an error message will notify users. However, it is allowed for a choice to be selected for the primary paragraph in the center of the Links pane.

Attempting_To_Add_Sequence_Number_With_Choice_Selected.png

 

Creating a Paragraph to Choice Link

Follow these steps to create a paragraph to choice link.

  1. From within a specification section, click to expand the Sequence Manager on the left side of the screen.

    seq_man.png
  2. From the Sequence Manager menu, click Links.

    sequence_manager_links.png
  3. Click the Create New Link Button located at the top of the Links menu. new_link_icon.png

  4. The Create New Link window will appear displaying the Source Links area on top, and the Target Links area on the bottom. Drag and drop a sequence number from the document window where directed between the Source Links and Target Links areas. This will become the focus paragraph.

    create_new_links_window.png

    Below, you can see I've dragged and dropped sequence number 0000 (TRAFFIC CONTROL) into the Create New Links window. This is now the focus paragraph.

    focus_paragraph.png

    • Alternatively, if the Links Information Column is open and the paragraph does not already have a link associated with it, there is a "Create New Link" icon that appears in the L (Links) column that will open the Links Panel and autofill the sequence number, instead of having to drag and drop. This one-click alternative can be used any point during the link-creation process when setting the focus paragraph.

      New_Link_From_Column.png
  5. Click the "+" sign next to Click to add a target link.

    click_to_add_target_link.png

    The Add a New Target Link window will open. Step 1 consists of selecting the link type and color for the new link. The options will default to Paragraph Link Type and Green Active Color. 

    Default_New_Link_Apperance.png
  1. Use the Link Type menu to choose to create a Choice Link.

    new_target_link_type_c.png

    A "C" indicating a paragraph link will appear in the link type box.

    new_target_step1_c_select.png

  2. Once the Choice Link type is selected, the Link Color menu will disappear as Paragraph to Choice Links will not indicate the activation, suggestion, or deactivation of a paragraph. 

  3. From the document window, either click the plus icon to type in the sequence number or drag and drop the sequence number of the target paragraph. This paragraph must include a choice list.

    Step_2_Choice_Link.png

    The image below displays the sequence number 0018 input as the target paragraph. 

    Paragraph_Drag_and_Dropped.png

  4. Step 3 requires that you select a choice option from the selected paragraph in Step 2. The Linking Pane will display a selection tree showing each choice list and the nested options within. Selecting a choice option will automatically select the appropriate choice list. 

    Selected_Choice_Option.png

  5. Whichever choice option is selected in step 3 will be the selected choice when the focus paragraph (in this example, 0000 TRAFFIC CONTROL) is activated. 
    In this case, I'll choose the "Banana" choice option. 

  6. The completed "Add A New Target Link" pane includes a link preview as you build the link. The image below displays the link type as "C" for choice in Step 1. Step 2 shows the sequence number 0018 dropped in as the target paragraph that included a choice list. Step 3 displays the selection tree and the selected option of "Banana" from the choice list, which will be selected when Sequence number 0000 TRAFFIC CONTROL is activated.

    Finished_Paragraph_to_Choice_Link.png
  7. When you are satisfied the link is complete, click Save. create_new_link_save_button.png

    The new link will appear in the list of target links with a U indicating that it is a User created link. The tag for the link will also show P2C, indicating that it is a Paragraph to Choice Field link. 

    User_Link_P2C_link.png

 

Deleting a Link

Links can be deleted from links list. Follow these steps to delete a user defined link.

  1. Locate and select the user defined link that will be deleted from the links list.

    delete_p_link_1.png

  2. When the link expands with detailed information, click the red trash can on the lower left corner of the window. The link will be immediately deleted. Be aware this action occurs with no confirmation message.

    delete_cs_link_2_trash.png

 

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