Expertsystemen

Information sources

The goal of the information sources is to add information to a question (or, less common, a text). This information can be plain text, a website-url or both. You can name information sources so that you can re-use them later on.

desktop web

In the desktop version of xxllnc Expertsystemen, the information source manager is located under [Layout > Link information].

The information source manager has groups which consists of a list of information sources. Each group has one or more information sources that each have a description and the information itself. For the information you can select any of the three tabs available and enter the relevant information.

You may add the following types of information sources:

• Internet: link that opens in a new page;
• Free text: text that the user can see, how is depended on the presentation layer;
• Embedded internet: link that will be shown ’embedded’ on the same web page.

An example is given below:

As you can see, we added a new group of information called ‘Random information’. This group consists of two information sources: one internet source that links to Wikipedia, and one free text source about non-disclosure agreements. You can use the on the left to add a new group and the one on the right to add a new information source to the group.

Each question or text rule has a toggle to turn on an information source.

When toggling the information source on, you can type descriptive text or fill in a link URL.

Pressing save will add this text or link to the present question.

If you want to re-use this information source, press the heart icon. This adds the information source to the favorites list.

Since this is the first favorite, it will now start showing the list of favorites to the left. The heart icon turning from outlined to filled indicates we are now using a favorite instead of a local one. You may also want to give the favorite a recognisable name, which you can do now in the right-hand panel.

Other questions in the same model may share favorites.

In the case you want to create a local, detached, copy of a favorite, simply press the heart icon again. The favorite will remain present.

Deleting a favorite is done via the trashbin icon next to it in the list.

Note: Nothing is truly saved until you confirm the changes with the [Save] button. Editing favorites and information sources, and even deleting them, can be cancelled.

An information source can consist of multiple (sub) items. At the bottom of the right hand panel is the [+ Add item] button, which lets you add more sub items.

You may delete each but the last one of the subitems with the trashbin button on the right of each item.

When you run your model in the Preview tab ([g] then [p]), a question mark button appears next to the question. Clicking it will toggle the information.

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Information sources when publishing

Of course a model is eventually published. When publishing, most information sources will be linked to from an icon depicting e.g. a question mark or ‘i’ for ‘info’ next to the relevant question. However, depending on your wishes or requirements, you can use your own branding or contact us for more information.

Information item per radio or checklist option

By default, information sources are attached to a question, not to its items.

If you add the metadata info-per-option=1 to a radiogroup or checklist for its information, information source items will be matched by name (should be exactly the same as the item key).

These information sources are shown inline, per each option. Mouse users can toggle it with a button, and to keyboard users it will be revealed on focus. Info for selected options is always shown.

This metadata will remove all matching informationsources from the list, so if there is none left, the question itself will have no information source at all.

If you add the metadata info-per-option=drop-others any remaining info items for the same list will be discarded. This can be useful if the list does not always contain all options from the information source.

Dynamic values inside information sources

Session variables

Just as on-screen text and text fragment can use dynamic values from the case, so do information sources.

Use the familiar caret syntax: ^graph.node.data or ^{graph.node.data}. Be careful with what you quote though - do not trust user input without having the input properly validated and sanitised.

Variables are resolved from within the node containing the information source.

Current date and time

One can use the current date and time by typing an AT sign (@) followed by a time code within quotation marks (").

For example, @"mm-dd-yyyy" will be translated to ‘01-23-2025’, if the current date is the 23rd of January.

The full list of time code translations is as follows:

y

Year last 2 digits

yy

Year last 2 digits

yyyy

Year last 4 digits

m

Month number no-leading 0

mm

Month number as 2 digits

mmm

Month using ShortDayNames (Jan)

mmmm

Month using LongDayNames (January)

mmmm

Month using ShortDayNames (Jan)

d

Day number no-leading 0

dd

Day number as 2 digits

ddd

Day using ShortDayNames (Sun)

dddd

Day using LongDayNames  (Sunday)

ddddd

Day in ShortDateFormat

dddddd

Day in LongDateFormat

h

Hour of the day, with no-leading 0

hh

Hour of the day as two digits

n

Minutes of the day with no-leading 0

nn

Minutes of the day as two digits