Snippets

Concept

Snippets are documents placed inside another document. Depending on your needs, a variety of options are available to work with snippets.

To simplify matters, we will talk about:

• Master Document: the document into which the snippet is placed
• Original Document: the underlying document of the snippet
• Snippet: the actual placed object

A document with two snippets, each containing their own collection of

various frames and layout

Snippet Types

There are three types of snippets:

• Snippets which reference the original document
• Snippets which are saved inside the master document
• Snippets which are placed as individual (editable) frames

Referencing the original document means that a link is preserved between the snippet and the original document. The original document can be modified, and changes will be reflected (after refreshing) inside the master document. Besides choosing the page and layout to be visualized, no changes can be made in the snippet itself.

Snippets saved inside the master document loose all relationship to the original document. When placing the snippet, all information is duplicated from the original document to the snippet itself. The main advantages for this approach are:

• The user will always get what he signed off on (changes in the original document do not influence the master document)
• It is possible to change certain values just for the placed snippet. If the original document contained variables, for example, these can be edited (purely for the placed snippet, without impacting the original document, which could serve as a template)

Any snippet (either on placement or afterwards) can be converted to its individual frames. By doing this, all relationship to the original document is lost. Frames are created as individual objects rather than a single placed snippet. And the user has the possibility to edit these frames (changing text, moving items, ...). All variables inside the snippet are removed, though.

Adding a Snippet

You can add a blank snippet frame using the object creation toolbar item. This can be positioned for the user.

For any snippet, you can assign content using the server selection control (typically located in the right tabs, "Snippet", "Snippet Settings" at the top of the panel).

Alternatively, you can create new snippets by going to the Snippet Input panel. By default, this is located in the right tab "Resources", panel "Snippets". This panel allows you to drag snippets onto the page with a number of settings (see the documentation for the panel for more details). It also allows you to replace existing snippets by dragging over them.

Snippet Settings

You can typically find the settings for the selected snippet in the right tab "Snippet". The default panels allow you to:

• Assign a new snippet
• Convert the snippet to frames
• Change the selected page
• Change the selected layout
• Change the fitting type
• View information on the snippet
• ....

See the documentation on the individual panels for more details.