Alternate Text List Editor

The Alternate Text List Editor enables you to create and edit an alternate text list component that you can use to provide alternate text options for a Multiple Choice variable.

To access the Alternate Text List Editor, you can:

In Component Studio, at the top of the main components list, click the components filter drop-down menu and select Alternate Text Lists. You can access the Alternate Text List Editor by opening an existing alternate text list or creating a new one by clicking the New Alternate Text List button, giving the Alternate Text List a name, and clicking OK.
Click on an existing Alternate Text List component in from the components list in Component Studio
Open a Alternate Text list component in a pop-up editor by clicking the Edit Component button in the Field Editor

In this topic ShowHide

Common Tasks
Component Toolbar
Component Identity Property
Behavior Tab
Notes Tab
Tools Pane

Common Tasks

Creating an Alternate Text List Component
Selecting an Alternate Text list component for a multiple choice variable

Component Toolbar

Basic component actions appear in the component toolbar, above the component properties.

Button	What it Does
Rename	Displays the Rename Components dialog that enables you to rename your component.
Tools	Shows or hides the Tools pane on the right.
Duplicate	Displays the Duplicate Components dialog that enables you to create a copy of this component in the component file.
Delete	Displays the Delete Components dialog that enables you delete the component. You can also to view a list of templates or components who currently reference the selected component and you may have to fix after deletion.

Component Identity Property

At the top of the editor you can see the name that HotDocs uses to identify this list component.

Property Name

What it Does

Name

Enables you to view and edit the name of your variable. You can easily this property if your no other components or templates reference the variable; otherwise, this property becomes read-only.

It is not advisable to rename variables once another component or template references them, since this can cause major answer mismatches during document assembly.

If read-only, you can rename your variable using the Rename button on the toolbar.

Component names must be unique within the template and component file.

Behavior Tab

The Behavior tab provides you with properties that enable you to change the list of text values in an alternate text list:

Property Name	What it Does
Values	Enables you to add, remove or reorder list values. You can use the + and - buttons to insert and remove rows from the table. You can also add a new row by typing a value in the last row.

Notes Tab

To provide you a quick way to know if this tab contains any content, you can see a + symbol on the tab if there is a note.

As you create components, you may want to include notes to remind yourself of decisions you made when creating the component. For example, maybe you need to remember information about restrictions you applied to a Number variable, or remind yourself of the purpose of the component in the template.

The notes tab enables you to type any notes you want about the component and its role in the template.

This information is not visible in the interview; it is for the author’s reference only.

Tools Pane

On the right side of the component editor you can view a tools pane containing various (Components, Models, Referenced, or Field Editor) tabs for this component.

You can use the Tools button on the Component toolbar to show or hide the tools pane.

Used In Tab

When you select a component in the Components column of Component Studio, you can look in the Used In tab to see the list of other components or templates (if there are any) that use the component you select. Double-clicking an item in the Used In tab opens that item for editing and places focus on the first reference to the component you selected.