Global Project Linking—Importing Files From Other Projects

You can import files from another Flare project using Global Project Linking.

How to Import Files Using the Import Flare Project Wizard

The Import Flare Project Wizard guides you through the steps for importing Flare files from another project. When you use this wizard, an import file is created automatically and placed in the Imports folder in the Project Organizer.

1. Select Project > Import > Flare Project. The Import Flare Project Wizard opens.
2. Next to the Project file field click .
3. In the dialog find and double-click the Flare project file (.flprj extension) from which you will be importing files.
4. (Optional) If you want future changes to the files in the source project to be reimported automatically, click the Auto-reimport before "Generate Output" check box. If you select this "Easy Sync" option, the changes to the source files will be reimported automatically when you generate output. If you do not select this option, you can reimport future changes from the other project manually.

5. (Optional) If you want outdated files (e.g., files that have been deleted, renamed, or moved in the parent project) to be deleted from the child project automatically, click the Delete stale files check box.

   Example You import a group of files from a parent project into a child project. Later, you delete some of the files from the parent project. Selecting this option will remove the stale files from the child project automatically when you reimport files. The stale files will be deleted when you reimport either manually (by clicking Reimport in the Project Import Editor) or automatically when you generate output (if you have selected Auto-reimport before "Generate Output" in the Project Import Editor).

   Warning If you do not use this option, you must remember to delete the stale files in the child project manually. Otherwise, the files in the parent and child projects will not match.

6. (Optional) You can select Delete unreferenced files. This means that any files that were previously imported—but are not specified to be included (either under the Include Files or Import Conditions filters) in the reimport—will be marked for deletion in the Accept Imported Documents dialog and removed from the child project upon confirmation.

   Example Previously you had the Project Import Editor set up like this, where you are importing three topic files from a parent project:

   

   Later, after you've made lots of changes to the parent project, you open the child project again to import the latest files into it. However, you decide you no longer want to import the Welcome.htm topic into the child project (although it still exists in the parent project). So in the Project Import Editor, you remove it from the Include Files field. You also click Delete unreferenced files.

   

   When you tell Flare to reimport, the Accept Imported Documents dialog opens, showing the following:

   

   After you click Accept in that dialog, the changed files are replaced and Welcome.htm is removed from the child project.

   If you had not selected the "Delete unreferenced files" check box, the two changed files would still have been imported, but the old Welcome.htm topic would still remain in the child project.

   This feature is slightly different from "Delete stale files." When you tell Flare to delete stale files, you automatically sync the parent project with the child project when you've removed files in the parent. So in the example above, the Welcome.htm file would automatically be removed from the child project if you had also removed it from the parent project.

7. Click Next.

8. Use the Include Files and Exclude Files fields to select the type of files to be included in the import or excluded from it. Click the down arrow next to the appropriate field and select the type of files. Completing the Include Files field is mandatory. Completing the Exclude Files field is optional.

   If you want to import all of the files from the global project, select All Files (*.*).

   Note You are not limited to importing all files of a single file type. The following steps explain how to add more than one file type to the field, as well as how to select specific files to be imported while excluding others.

9. (Optional) If you want to add more file types to one of the fields, click the Edit button under the appropriate field and use the following steps.
   1. In the Import File Filter dialog click Add. The Import File Filter Designer dialog opens.

   2. Select the file type that you want to add. You can also use standard wildcards (text between asterisks) to enter patterns directly into the Pattern field (or into the Include Files or Exclude Files fields).

      Example You want to import only topic files that contain the word "Interface" in the file name. Rather than selecting to import all topic files and then later systematically deselecting the ones you do not really want in the import (via the Accept Imported Documents dialog), you can enter the following:

      *Interface*.htm;*Interface*.html

      Or maybe you want to import only files that have an extension starting with "fl," such as TOC files (.fltoc) and snippet files (.flsnp). In order to do this, you could enter *.fl* in the field, like the following:

      *.fl*

   3. Click OK.
   4. In the Import File Filter dialog, click OK.
10. (Optional) Let's say that the files you are importing contain links to other files. If you want Flare to automatically import those files as well, click Auto-include linked files. Not only will the immediate linked files be included, but any linked files from those files as well, and so on. It is a "domino" effect until no more linked files are found.
11. (Optional) In addition to specifying certain files or file types to include or exclude from the import, you can go a level deeper through the use of condition tags. If you have applied condition tags to files in your project, you can use the Import Conditions field to tell Flare to include or exclude certain files, depending on the condition tags that are applied to them at the file level. Simply click the Edit button to choose the conditions. In the Conditional Text dialog for this feature, you can use the Basic or Advanced mode for creating condition tag expressions. See Creating Conditions, Applying Conditions to Content, and Creating Basic and Advanced Tag Expressions.
12. (Optional) If you use the "Import Conditions" option, you may want to make sure that files without condition tags in the source project are not included in the import. If that is the case, click Auto-Exclude Non-Tagged Files.
13. Click Finish. The Accept Imported Documents dialog opens. The files in the source project are listed (depending on whether the file types were included or excluded from the import in the previous steps).

14. (Optional) The Accept Imported Documents dialog provides you with one last look at the files to be imported, allowing you to make sure everything is correct and letting you change your mind on any of the files. If you recognize files in the dialog that should not be imported, you can click the check boxes next to the files you want to exclude (removing the check marks).

    You can use the Select All and Clear All buttons as necessary. For example, if you only want to include a very small number of the files listed, you can click the Clear All button and then manually click the check boxes next to the files you want to include (this is quicker than individually deselecting each file that you want to exclude).

    Note If the current project already contains a file with the same name, the Status cell may be highlighted in green or red. Green shading indicates that the source file is newer. Red shading indicates that the local (or current) file is newer. If the file is identical in both projects, the check box is deselected by default.

    Tip You might find it useful to click on the column headings in the Accept Imported Documents dialog. Doing this reorganizes the contents in alphabetical order of the column that you click. For example, by clicking the Status column, you can easily group together all of the files that have red or green backgrounds (i.e., files that are newer in the local project or newer in the source project). This can be especially useful when reimporting project files. See Reimporting Files From Other Projects.

15. Click Accept. If the current project already contains files with the same names, you may be asked if you want to replace the local copies. Select Yes if you do.