Fields - Inheritance Options

You can assign a field set to a certain topic, and/or all of its subtopics, or just to its direct subtopics (only one level deep). This mechanism is called inheritance and can be used for a hierarchy of topics (the tree in the Topics screen).

You determine the inheritance when you assign field sets to topics

(see Field Set - Assign Directly to Topic). Below is a further explanation of inheritance.

Inheritance Options

Topic

This option assigns the field set(s) solely to the selected topic. There is no further inheritance.

Topic and Subtopics

This option assigns the field set(s) to the selected topic and its direct subtopics. The subtopics below that will not be assigned the field set(s).

Subtopics

This option assigns the field set(s) to the direct subtopics of the selected topic. The selected topic and the deeper level subtopics are not assigned the field set(s).

Branch

This option assigns the field set to the selected topic and all of its subtopics, no matter how many levels of subtopics there are.

Inheritance Status

If you have selected a topic in the Topics screen and open the Assign Field Sets window via the Administration tab in the Administrative Tools section, you can see the inheritance status below Inherit. This can be one of the options mentioned above, or, in case of a subtopic, it can have the following status:

· Inherited from above: when it is a subtopic.

· Inherited from original: when the topic is a coupled copy of another topic with fields, then the coupled copy also has fields. These fields are read only. Maintenance needs to be performed in the original topic (see also: Couple Copy Topic).

· Inherited from topic type: when the field set is assigned to the topic type

(see Field Set - Assign to Topic Type)

Note: Copying inheritance
When an inheritance is set on a mother topic with child topics and a child topic is cut/copied, the fields will not be copied too.

Note: Modifying and undoing inheritance
It is possible to modify an inheritance set to a topic. The modification can be made undone.