Feedback on: Pathagoras Help System - InterviewsAdvanced_Logic_InterviewsDocument Logic > Interviews /Dear Support Staff,
Interviews
A typical 'well developed' document will likely have many Options and Optional blocks throughout the document. Some blocks are tied together with !GroupNames!, many are stand alone.
In a typical document assembly session, Pathagoras will identify the various Options/Optional/Repeat blocks starting at the top and working its way to the bottom. Each block is processed as it is encountered. If a !Group! is is encountered, all members of the group further down in the document are processed when the first member of the !Group! is answered.
There is only one drawback to this approach: each Option/Optional/Repeat block is answered one at a time, and as where encountered in the document. 'One-at-a-time' is not a 'bad' thing, but after a while it becomes tedious. You may find yourself asking 'Why can't I just answer all the questions at the outset and then let the program take over and complete the document for me?"
You can, and that's where Interviews come into play. Once you have implemented !Groups!, you are ready for the next (entirely optional) step. And that step is to gather all the <<Options/Optional>> blocks in a single location at the top of the document. That way, the questions can be asked as a group (instead of them being asked and processed individually as described on the previous page).
Beginning with the next main section of this Manual, we will introduce the 'Ask' prompts and the parent 'AskTable'. Once you understand the structure of these elements, we'll show you how they can be automatically created and manually modified to meet your needs.
Please note the following. The previous, and subsequent pages discuss document logic from its simplest to the most advanced possible implementations. One is not better than another. If you are satisfied with the simplest iterations, stop there. If you want to move to !Groups! and AskTables, do so at your own pace. Just keep these things firmly in mind.
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Implementing document logic is entirely optional. Of course, the more you implement, the more automated you can make your document for yourself and for others. But nothing is required. Take 'Pathagorizing' and automating your documents and clauses it at your own pace, and don't feel that you have to implement anything else.
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The Ask tables and the Interview Wizard draw their information from existing <<*Options and Optional*>> text blocks. Not all questions need be in the Ask Table for the system to work well.
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Everything builds on top of everything else. An Optional text block is augmented by the insertion of a "!GroupName!", not replaced by it.
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All features described in the above sections work whether you are adding simple logic to an entire document (typically called a 'template') or to individual clauses that you intend to cobble together from scratch using the Document Assembly/Clause Selection Screen routines.
