With variables, you can alter small pieces of content (text, images, values, links) that you want to change for different scenarios. This makes it possible to reuse more content. The variables are defined in a Variable Set, which is a collection of variables and their possible values.
When you publish with a variable set containing variants, you can choose which variant to use. The variables (like height, product name, variant image, weight and width) fetch the values from the column that represents the chosen variant.
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The left column contains the
variables, which are the placeholders that you add to your topics. In this column, you enter the variable names. -
The second, third and fourth columns contain
variants. Each variant column represents a different scenario and contains the terms or values that will be used for the variables, for example different weights.
Tip
Once the Variable Set is created, you can use the variables in your topics, see Use Variables.
To learn how to use variable sets, see:
To create a variable set:
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Scroll down to Variable sets in Content Manager.
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Select the dotted menu (...) for Variable Sets and choose Create variable set.
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Name the variable set and confirm it with the check mark.
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Select the new variable set to open it in the Variable Editor.
Paligo displays it in the Variables Editor.
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Select Add Variable.
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Select the Variable type to create.
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Text: for plain text that does not need to be translated, such as product names, number values.
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Text (translatable): this variable type will let you enter translations of each variable value (for the languages you have selected). If you use this type of variable, remember that different languages can have very different grammars. Translated variables can read badly if the grammar, gender of each language has not been considered.
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Image: these variables allow you to swap out images. They are useful when you have topics that contain images that need to be changed for different variants or publications. It is often more convenient to have a variable for the image, rather than many images with filtering.
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XML: these variables are similar to plain text variables, but allow you to add XML tags too, so you can include inline tags if needed.
Tip
If you create a text variable and later realize that you need it to be a translatable variable, you can convert it by using the Convert Variable Type option. Similarly, you can convert a translatable variable into a text variable.
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Repeat step 5 to create as many new variable types as needed for this variable set.
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Select Add variant and enter a name.
The variant is going to be one set of values that can be used for the variables. You might want different values for depending on the product model you are publishing for, so add product models as the variant columns.
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Enter values for each variable.
These values will only be used if this particular variant is selected when publishing.
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Repeat steps 8 and 9 to create as many variants and variant values as needed.
You can convert an existing text variable into a translatable variable or vice versa by using the Convert Variable Type option. Paligo automatically detects the type of variable you have selected and will convert it into the other type.
Tip
If you have made a mistake, you can always do another conversion to change the variable back to its previous type.
To convert a variable:
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Scroll down to Variable sets in Content Manager.
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Select the arrow in front of the Variable sets to expand it.
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Select the variable set that contains the variables you want to convert.
Paligo displays it in the Variables Editor.
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Select the Dotted Menu (...) for the variable you want to convert.
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Select Convert Variable Type.
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Select Confirm to convert the variable.
You can copy an existing variable set to use as a starting point for a new set. This is sometimes quicker than creating a new variable set from scratch.
Note
For performance reasons, we recommend that your variable sets have less than 2,000 entries. For example 100 variables x 20 variants = 2,000. In most cases it's better to divide your variables into a number of smaller sets in different categories.
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Scroll down to Variable sets in Content Manager.
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Select the arrow in front of the Variable sets to expand it.
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Select the Dotted Menu (...) for the variable set you want to copy.
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Select Copy.
Paligo makes a copy of the variable set and adds it to the list of variable sets. It has the same name as the original version, but is appended with a number.
A variable set cannot be deleted unless all the variables from the variable sets are removed from the instances where they are used. To see where a variable is used, see Display Usage Information.
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Scroll down to Variable sets in Content Manager.
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Select the arrow in front of the Variable sets to expand it.
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Select the Dotted Menu (...) for the variable set you want to delete.
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Select Delete.
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Scroll down to Variable sets in Content Manager.
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Select the arrow in front of the Variable sets to expand it.
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Select the variable set that contains the variables you want to display.
Paligo displays it in the Variables Editor.
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Select the Dotted Menu (...) for the variable you want to display the usage information for.
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Select Usage information.
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Paligo shows the usage information for the chosen variable.
If you need to reorganize your variables, you can move them from one variable set to another.
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Scroll down to Variable sets in Content Manager.
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Select the arrow in front of the Variable sets to expand it.
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Select the variable set that contains the variable you want to move.
Paligo displays it in the Variables Editor.
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Select the Dotted Menu (...) for the variable you want to move.
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Select Move variable.
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Choose the Variable set that will receive the variable.
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Select OK.
Paligo moves the variable to chosen variable set.
A variable cannot be deleted unless it has been removed from the instances where it is used. To see where a variable is used, see Display Usage Information.
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Scroll down to Variable sets in Content Manager.
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Select the arrow in front of the Variable sets to expand it.
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Select the variable set that contains the variables you want to remove.
Paligo displays it in the Variables Editor.
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Select the Dotted Menu (...) for the variable you want to remove.
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Select Remove Variable.
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