Group Child Dialogs in a Parent Dialog

When you add two or more child dialogs to a parent dialog, you can group the child dialogs so users can more easily specify which dialog they want to answer. When you group child dialogs, HotDocs places a check box or option button in front of the child dialog icon. When this check box or option button is selected, HotDocs places the child dialog in the interview outline so that its contents can be answered. Otherwise, HotDocs will treat the child dialog as if it doesn't exist—even if there are required variables in it. In the interview, users can either select the check box or option button and then click the child dialog icon, or they can click the child dialog icon, which automatically selects the check box or option and then displays the child dialog.

If child dialogs are not grouped, each child dialog will appear in the interview outline, regardless of whether the dialog is optional to answer. If the user does not answer every question in every dialog, HotDocs will report in the End of Interview dialog that there are unanswered questions.

To group child dialogs in a dialog

1. Create the parent dialog as well as the dialogs you want to insert. (See Gather Questions into a Custom Dialog.)
2. Once your dialogs are created, edit the parent dialog and add the child dialogs to it. (See Edit a Custom Dialog and Insert Dialogs Into Dialogs.)
3. While editing the parent dialog, click the Options tab. The window changes to show options for working with the dialog.
4. Click the Selection grouping drop-down button and select Select One or Select All That Apply.

When child dialogs are grouped, you can use a SET instruction to automatically select a child dialog for answering. Doing this will automatically add the correct child dialog to the interview outline. You can also test whether a child dialog has been selected for answering by using a True/False expression.