The Fact Sheet Fusion Interface

Components of a fact sheet

A fact sheet is usually comprised of headings, text and multimedia. Fact Sheet Fusion is designed to create standardized fact sheets; by this we mean that each fact sheet has a similar look and feel in its design and each fact sheet is built using a common set (or subset) of topic headings.

To develop a Fact Sheet Fusion project a list of topic headings is entered along with a list of entities*. For each entity, text is entered for each topic heading, and these topic headings, along with corresponding text, are integrated for each entity when being transformed into the final fact sheet.

* An entity is the object for which the fact sheet is being created. An entity can be anything such as an insect, fish or plant species, a medical disorder, or any other series of objects that are described according to specific topics.

To make a fact sheet more informative images, and other media (videos, sounds, PDF, Office documents) can be linked to entities. These images are then included with the text at the time of fact sheet creation.

The presentation and structure of a fact sheet is determined by the specific template the user selects. The template dictates every aspect of the fact sheet such as the layout, color scheme, the positioning of topics and images, font sizes etc.

See Templates help topic for further information.

Main Toolbar

Preview

The preview button automatically exports the selected entity as a fact sheet using the current export settings. Once the export has completed, the fact sheet will be loaded into the default web browser or PDF reader (depending on the export output type). If the minimum export settings have not yet been entered the export dialog will be automatically opened. The export settings then need to be adjusted before the preview can be completed.

Export

The Export button will open the Export dialog allowing you to adjust the various export settings and perform a full export your fact sheets. See the Export help topic for further information on exporting fact sheets.

Glossary Manager

The Glossary Manager button opens the Glossary Manager dialog allowing you to enter glossary sets, terms and definitions for your fact sheets. See the Glossary Manager help topic for further information.

Media Manager

The Media Manager button will open the Media Manager dialog where you can add, edit and remove media associated with the fact sheets. See the Media Manager help topic for further information.

Image Watermark Manager

The Image Watermark Manager button opens the Image Watermark Manager dialog where you can manage the image watermarks and their default settings for your project. See the Image Watermark Manager help topic for further information.

Menus

File Menu

The file menu allows you to open a different Project (Ctrl+P) within the currently opened Fusion database, open a different Fusion Database (Ctrl+O) containing other projects, or to Import content from HTML or MS Word files.

Edit Menu

The edit menu gives you access to the Glossary (Ctrl+G), Media Library (Ctrl+M), Watermarks (Ctrl+W), Global Find & Replace (Ctrl+F), Global Topic Clean and Preferences.

Topics Menu

The Topic menu gives you access to actions available for managing Topics. Menu items will only be available if they are able to perform the action. For example, the Delete option would be unavailable if no topics are present. For more information on Topics please see the Topics help section below.

Entities Menu

The Entities menu gives you access to actions available for managing Entities. Menu items will only be available if they are able to perform the action. For example, the Delete option would be unavailable if no entities are present. For more information on Entities please see the Entities help section below.

Help Menu

The help menu gives access to this help file and to the about dialog, where version information and the log file is accessible. You can also check for updates to Fact Sheet Fusion that may have become available.

Topics

Topics within Fact Sheet Fusion are generic headings for the Fact Sheets. The topic text is then displayed for the respective Topic heading. If a Topic for a given entity contains no topic text then the topic will be excluded from the fact sheet. It is also possible to include the topic text, without the Topic being present as a heading.

Adding Topics

To add a new topic to the Topic list, first give focus to the Topic list by clicking on it. You can tell when the Topic has focus as its background will change color. Adding a new Topic can be done in several ways.



1. Via the Topic Menu...Add (Ctrl + T)
2. Via the pop-up context menu accessible by right clicking within the Topic list.
3. Via the Import (Ins) option (available via the Topic menu or the context menu).



Tip: You can browse to load text into the import dialog from a file by using the folder button.

Editing Topics

To edit an existing topic, select that topic by clicking on it (or use the up or down arrow keys to navigate to it). Then you can select the edit option (via the Topic menu or context menu), or simply press Ctrl + E. Make the desired changes and click the update button to complete the task.

Deleting Topics

To delete a topic, first select it by clicking on it (or use the up or down arrow keys to navigate to it). Then select the delete option from the Topic menu or context menu, or simply press the delete key. You will need to confirm that you wish to delete the topic.



Deleting a Topic will also automatically remove all text and media references (but it will not delete the media files) from the Topic.

Note: There is no undo for this action.

Sorting Topics

You can sort topics in two ways. You can either sort all the topics automatically in to ascending or descending order via the Topic Sort sub menu or context menu. Alternatively, you can manually sort the Topics using Drag and Drop.

Tip: Topic sort order is important as the order defined in the Topic list is the order topics appear within the fact sheet.

Topic Properties

When you give focus to a Topic its properties will be listed within the Properties section of the interface located top right. When you give focus to a Topic property you will see a small help topic listed at the bottom of the properties describing its function.

General
Topic Name - You can edit the Topic name via the properties or as described above.

Topic Order - This is set by the Topic list and is a read only property.

Exclusions
Exclude - You can exclude the topic from the export process by setting this property to true.

Exclude as Heading - The Topic name will be excluded as a heading though the topics text will still be output within the fact sheet.

Exclude Entities - Exclude cross-linking of any entities found within the text of this Topic during the export process.

Exclude Glossary - Exclude the cross-linking of glossary terms found with in the text of this topic during the export process.

Overrides
Topic Heading Color - Normally the export template will define the color (and style) of the Topic headings within the fact sheet. However you can override this with your preferred color. This color will be applied to this topic heading in all fact sheets that it appears.



Custom Style - Normally the export template will define the style and formatting of the topic heading. However you can completely override the export templates style sheet by defining your own in-line styles.
The styles defined should follow the same rules for applying an HTML in-line style. E.g. An in-line style on a heading tag:

<h1 style="color:#333;text-transform:uppercase;border:none;">My Topic</h1>

The Custom Style should only define the style definitions, not the tags. i.e. The highlighted section below from the example above:

<h1 style="color:#333;text-transform:uppercase;border:none;">My Topic</h1>

Entities

Adding Entities

To add a new Entity to the Entity list, first give focus to the Entity list by clicking on it. You can tell when the Entity has focus as its background will change color. Adding a new Entity can be done in several ways:



1. Via the Entities Menu...Add (Ctrl + E)
2. Via the pop-up context menu accessible by right clicking within the Entity list.
3. Via the Import (Ins) option (available via the Entities menu or the context menu). You can also elect to add the entities to an existing or new Subset automatically. To do this either select an existing Subset from the dropdown menu or type in the name of a new Subset.

Tip 1: You can use this import process to automatically add entities to a subset, even if they already exist in the current project.

Tip 2: You can browse to load text into the import dialog from a file by using the folder button.

Note: When an entity is created a corresponding Media Category of the same name will also be created, if it doesn't exist.

Editing Entities

To edit an existing entity select the entity by clicking on it (or use the up or down arrow keys to navigate to it). Then you can select the edit option (via the Entities menu or context menu), or simply press Ctrl+E. Make the desired changes and click the update button to complete the task.



Note: When an entity is renamed, it's corresponding Media Category will also be renamed.

Deleting Entities

To delete an Entity, first select it by clicking on it (or use the up or down arrow keys to navigate to it). Then select the delete option from the Entities menu or context menu, or simply press the delete key. You will need to confirm that you wish to delete the Entity.



Deleting a Entity will also automatically remove all Topic text and media references (but will not delete the media files) from the Entity.

Note: There is no undo for this action.

Sorting Entities

By default Fact Sheet Fusion will list the Entities in the order you enter them. However you can sort Entities in two ways. You can either sort all the Entities automatically in to ascending or descending order via the Entities Sort sub menu or context menu. Or you can manually sort the Entities using Drag and Drop.

Entity Properties

When you give focus to an Entity its properties will be listed within the Properties section of the interface located top right. When you give focus to an Entity property you will get a small help topic listed at the bottom of the properties describing its function.

General
Entity Name - You can edit the Entity name in the properties panel or as described above.

Alternative Names - This property allows you to assign alternative names associated with the Entity. For example, common names, synonyms etc. See the Alternative Names help topic for further information.

Tip: You can access the Alternative Name dialog by using the shortcut key combination (Ctrl + Right Arrow) for the selected Entity.

Entity Order - The sort order of the entities is controlled by the Entity list. See the Sorting options for Entities above.

Entity Parent - You may select another entity as the parent of the selected entity. This can be used when grouping and listing entities, for example, within the index page.

Author - You may enter the author of the entity fact sheet here. The author information can be exported out into the fact sheet meta-data or wherever it is supported in the export template.

Tip: The author field allows for token replacement. E.g. [EntityName] and [Topic:<topic name>].

Author Notes - These are private notes relating to the entity. They will not be included as a part of the export process.

Tip: The Author Notes field allows for token replacement. E.g. [EntityName] and [Topic:<topic name>].

Review - Mark the entity as needing review. E.g. For further editing. Marking an Entity for review will give you the option of excluding the entity in the export process. See the Export Entity Options help topic for further information.

Description -  The description field is a short summary of the entity fact sheet. It can be used in the Fact Sheet meta-data or wherever it is supported in the export template.

Tip: The Description field allows for token replacement. E.g. [EntityName] and [Topic:<topic name>].

Specialized
Unique Identifier - The unique identifier is a code (number, text or combination thereof) such as an LSID or database ID that can be used where supported in specialized export templates. For example, it could be used as a part of a query string to filter or to return additional information from an online system.

Exclusions
Exclude - If set to true the entity will be excluded from the export process and no fact sheet will be created, unless overridden by Export options.

Exclude as Heading - Normally most export templates place the entity name at the top of the fact sheet to identify its content. However, if needed, you can mark the entity name to be excluded as a heading, if the export template supports this.

Exclude Entities - This property allows you to exclude the cross-linking of other entities found within the entities topics.

Exclude Glossary - This property allows you to exclude the cross-linking of glossary terms found within the entities topics.

Overrides
Entity Heading Color - Normally the export template will define the color (and style) of the Entity headings within the fact sheet. However you can override this with your preferred color.



Custom Style - Normally the export template will define the style and formatting of the Entity heading. However you can completely override the export templates style sheet by defining your own in-line styles.
The styles defined should follow the same rules for applying a HTML in-line style. e.g. An in-line style on a heading tag:

<h1 style="color:#333;text-transform:uppercase;border:none;">My Entity</h1>

The Custom Style should only define the style definitions, not the tags. i.e. The highlighted section below from the example above:

<h1 style="color:#333;text-transform:uppercase;border:none;">My Entity</h1>

Subsets

Please see Subsets for further information.

Services

Please see Services for further information.

Reports

Please see Reports for further information.

Export

Export Fact Sheets

Please see Exporting Fact Sheets for further information.

Entity Names to File

This takes the currently listed entities and saves them to a text file. Once the file has been created you will be asked where to save it.

Entity Names to Clipboard

This takes the current listed entities and saves them to the clipboard where you can for example paste them into another document etc.

Filtering Entities

When dealing with a large number of entities it's often useful to temporarily filter the list. You can do this via the filter option found at the top of the entity list. To access the filter options click on the dropdown list.

Tip: If the entity list is selected use the following keyboard shortcut to access the filter option: Ctrl + spacebar.

Two filter options are available:

• Text filter: Enter search criteria (text) you wish to match within the entity list and their alternative names, if present.
  
  Note: If a match is made on an alternative name the associated Entity will be listed, not the alternative name. This can give the appearance the entity listed didn't match the criteria you entered in the filter.
  
  
• Subset filter: Selected subset(s) will filter the entities list based on the entities contained within the subset(s).

Example filter option	Filter result on the entities list

If filter criteria and subsets have both selected they will work in conjunction with each other. That is the entities are restricted to the selected subset(s), which are in turn restricted by the filter text.

Once Filter criteria has been entered and/or subsets selected click on the filter button (or press return). This will apply the filter. If the filter dropdown is closed without selecting to filter (i.e. clicking the filter button), the filter options will not be applied.

To clear the filters remove filter criteria and un-select all subsets then click the filter button.

Media

One or more media items can be linked to Entity Topics (An Entity Topic is the combination of the selected Entity and Topic) or directly to the Entity. Normally media that is attached to an entities topic is shown within the section relating to that topic in the fact sheet, while media attached to the entity are shown either at the top or bottom of the fact sheet. The layout of the media will vary depending on the export template selected. You can flip between the Entity Images and Topic Images using the tabs at the bottom of the media panel.

For more information on media please see the Media topic or the Media Manager topic.

Properties

The Properties panel located at the top right of the main interface will show the properties of the currently selected item within the interface (e.g. Topics, Entities and Media). Properties can be edited by clicking on the property value on the right hand side of the property label. Depending on the type of property it may be as simple as choosing between true or false, or selecting from a drop down list. For other properties it may be more complex, requiring free form text. Each property when selected will show a help snippet at the bottom of the property panel, describing what it does. The property panel width can be adjusted by selecting the left hand border and dragging to the desired size. The height of the properties panel can also be adjusted by selecting the border below the help snippet and dragging it to the preferred height. For more details about each property please see the relevant help section (i.e. Entity Properties, Topic Properties, Media Properties)

Closing the Main Editing Interface

Closing the main editing interface will return you to the databases available projects. From there you can elect to open another project or open a different database.