a tag for include common scene into different versions

[vbatcnam]

Hi :) Is there a keyword that allows you to include a tag-referenced scene that would be included during compilation?
I write two different versions of my novel with common scenes and others specific to the version. I want to put a tag that will include what is common to my two versions.
If this is not yet possible, how do you organize yourself to test different characteristics than the ones you initially chose?

[vkbo]

Hmm, the only way to do this is to define two build jobs in the build settings, and turn on and off individual scene documents. There is no way to filter on tags. Part of the problem is that tags and references are relative to headings, not documents, so it isn't clear cut how to do it.

But maybe it could be a useful feature to allow to build multiple versions from a single source. There are a few use cases for this I can think of as well. I will give this some thought.

[vbatcnam]

Great! Thank you for your answer.
I created scenes that I call "alternative" in order to visualize them more easily and to check or uncheck them during compilation.

[vkbo]

Oh, and a bonus here when using the already existing syntax is that the version doesn't have to be a number. It can be any string, and you can even use multiple versions for a single section if it fits in with more than one version. Also, the autocomplete should make it easy enough to use.

[peter88213]

Wouldn't “variant” perhaps be a better choice of wording to avoid confusion with a possible versioning?

[vbatcnam]

do you want to keep your options open so that you can decide later what goes into the final version?

=> Yes that's exactly it

One solution I've seen elsewhere is the ability to filter by tags when exporting manuscripts.

=> Yes that's exactly what I'm looking for

I sometimes have a sentence in a paragraph that will appear or not depending on the variant.
For exemple : The young woman [variant=death]feels nothing,[/variant] [variant=!death]feels beats too fast,[/variant] but she remains impassive, not wanting to panic the child.
.

[peter88213]

Now I understand your use case. I was actually thinking of “tags” to flag entire scenes.
Anyway, I find writing inline markup quite time-consuming and cluttered. Wouldn't it be a solution to write variants in the form of whole paragraphs and then ignore them for the time being?

[vkbo]

I sometimes have a sentence in a paragraph that will appear or not depending on the variant. For exemple : The young woman [variant=death]feels nothing,[/variant] [variant=!death]feels beats too fast,[/variant] but she remains impassive, not wanting to panic the child.

Well, that's quite a level of granularity there. But it can be done. Especially since it's a non-intrusive feature. I.e. can be ignored by writers that don't need it and stay out of the way.

I find writing inline markup quite time-consuming and cluttered.

Well, I would add it to the menu, or even the editor button bar. So writing it is less cumbersome. I have also considered extending the auto-complete feature to trigger in-text for the character [ for shortcodes, and possible also tags in the characters and locations list. For instance, in my current WIP, my main character is named Zoë, and the "ë" is a little annoying to type. If the auto-complete triggers for [, it can also trigger for the = for relevant shortcodes, like here.

In any case, there is no reason why @variant: death couldn't be applied to a whole section under a heading. You can also use level four headings to toggle this section by section. Level four headings have no intrinsic structural meaning in novelWriter. Their original intended usage is exactly to alter meta data within scenes. The headers themselves are by default filtered out of the manuscript.