We are pleased to announce the general availability of our Tagging solution version 2.
In this release we have added two major functions – Parent Tags and Synonyms - more on each of these below.
Parent Tags
A Tag can now be designated as a ‘Parent’ which allows categorization of Tags. You are able to specify a parent tag name or names for a given Tag entry box on a record form and then only Tags in with this parent will be shown in the search results. Tags created when a parent is specified will be created and automatically assigned to this parent. See example form below with 3 tag entry boxes each with a parent tag specified:
To restrict Tag entry to a specific parent, specify the parent in the Custom Parameters section of the web resource form – this works for Tag Clouds too where you can specify to only show a Tag Cloud for the specified parent tag:
The allowable parameters for Parents are:
- parent – default is for Tag search results to show all Tags. Setting the parent parameter allows you to specify one or more Tags that have been designated as “parents” (i.e. they can have child tags associated to them). Multiple values can be specified and are separated by a comma. When a parent is specified new tags that are created have this parent defined. If there is more than one parent specified then new tags are created with a parent of the first parent specified in the list.
- excludeparent – default is for Tag search results to show all Tags. This option allows you exclude specific Tags which have the defined parent or parents. Multiple values can be specified and are specified by a comma. New Tags are created without a parent defined.
- allowparentselection – default is ‘false’. Set to ‘true’ to enable Tags which have been defined as parents for selection in the search results.
You can specify a deep hierarchical tree for your tags, however when specifying a parent in the custom parameters the Tag search results will use all Tags that are below the specified parent.
Synonyms
A Tag can now have a list of comma separated synonyms associated with the Tag. When a user is typing in the Tag form area, if any of the synonyms match, the Tag will be available for selection in the Tag search results.
Download Tagging version 2 now!
The updated installation and user guide is available here.
This has always been one of my favourite add-ins but didn’t suit every customer in its previous form: one or two customers in the past decided not to adopt it previously because of the inability to set filters on the controls for certain categories of tag.
This update really makes a big difference. This new version now really hits that sweet spot and I should be able to persuade more customers to adopt it now. The synonym element will also be useful because most of my customers don’t want the free-for-all user creation of tags (they prefer to keep that as an admin function). Synonyms will therefore better assist users in locating the correct available tags and will support that locked down approach nicely.
Well done.
Andy
Thank you for the positive feedback Andy! Any further suggestions are very welcome.
Best wishes,
Bruce
Agreed these new features are terrific – nice job!
Adding a Notes field to the Tag entity – notes for Tag creator and associators. Might be useful to have a tooltip appear over the tag, displaying some explanatory or background info on that tag and its use.