Topic variable is red

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Ed Hawco
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Topic variable is red

Unread post by Ed Hawco »

I use topic variables on occasion. I.e., a variable that is defined in the document, used in a snippet, and its value is defined in the topics in which the snippets appear. It works well. Yay!

However, in the Topic Variables window in Topic Options the variable and its value are red. Red is usually a warning sign. Does this mean something is broken, or is red just the default color?

(Unrelated: why can I not post images from URLs in this forum? I use the IMG thing, with the URL between the IMG tag, and all I get is the word "image.")
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Ed Hawco
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Tim Green
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Re: Topic variable is red

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Ed,

I'm checking the red variables question with the developer responsible for it because I'm not quite sure about it myself. I'm pretty sure it's not critical, I think it's just a reminder. But I'm not quite sure when it shows up. I'll let you know. 8)
why can I not post images from URLs in this forum? I use the IMG thing, with the URL between the IMG tag, and all I get is the word "image."
It definitely works, here's an example:

Image

The code for that looks like this:

Code: Select all

[img]http://www.helpandmanual.com/help/btn_zoom.png[/img]
Maybe your URL contained spaces or illegal characters. Or you may have forgotten the http:// or https:// prefix or perhaps the image was on a site that actively prevents deep linking.
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Tim Green
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Re: Topic variable is red

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Ed,

Update: The red variables are actually a warning. You can only use user-defined variables to redefine as topic variables (i.e. no standard/global variables). If a variable that you have redefined in Topic Options is deleted in your project configuration then it will appear in red in the Topic Variables list. :)
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Ed Hawco
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Re: Topic variable is red

Unread post by Ed Hawco »

OK a couple of things...

First, the IMG thing. I most definitely had the correct URL. The failure I saw was in the preview window, so maybe it works but not in preview. I'll try it here now:

Image
(The above fails to render in "preview." Let's see if it renders when submitted...

Second thing: why the red variable. I'm not 100% sure I follow your explanation, but apparently it's not critical because it works. Today I'm on a different machine (using the same files) and the variable is NOT red. Go figure...
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Ed Hawco
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Re: Topic variable is red

Unread post by Ed Hawco »

...and FAIL on the image. Grrrrr!

Here's the URL I'm using:
https://www.blork.org/pix/topic-variable.png
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Re: Topic variable is red

Unread post by Tim Green »

Ed Hawco wrote:...and FAIL on the image. Grrrrr!
Your image is displaying for me just fine... :shock:
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Martin Wynne
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Re: Topic variable is red

Unread post by Martin Wynne »

Hi Ed,

Try http for the image instead of secure https.

Martin.
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Ed Hawco
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Re: Topic variable is red

Unread post by Ed Hawco »

Martin, I don't think that would work because (a) it's on an HTTPS server and (b) since this page is HTTPS, HTTP objects will likely be refused.

Case solved anyway. It turns out a privacy extension I'm using (sort of like an ad blocker) was preventing it from displaying. I turned off the extension for this page and the image appeared.
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julio
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Re: Topic variable is red

Unread post by julio »

I found this situation of red warnings not on topic variables, but on custom builds. We have a lot of projects with linked projects working as chapters and some custom builds were created on the linked projects but not on the main project. That caused a red warning when generating a full report on the main project. As there are many linked projects, I am working on an application to check those custom builds and spot when linked projects contain custom builds not defined on the main project.
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