Symbols and symbol lists

Symbols represent variable data that is resolved at the time the template is added to the document - at the time the DOCUMENT CREATE or DOCUMENT INSERT is issued.

The application program needs to define values for the symbols that will be substituted when the template is used. These values can be defined on the DOCUMENT CREATE or the DOCUMENT SET commands. These commands both take a SYMBOLLIST operand which allows several symbols to be defined in a single command. You can also define individual symbols by using the SYMBOL and VALUE operands on the DOCUMENT SET command.

When you are planning your use of symbols and templates, note that:

When a template containing symbols has been inserted into a document, you cannot change the substituted values of those symbols in the document that is being composed. If you set different values for the symbols, the new values will be used the next time that the template is inserted into a document. Your changes will not affect the values that have already been inserted into the document.

2.	If you insert a template before the symbols contained in it are set, the symbols will never be substituted. This can occur if you create a document from a template without specifying a symbol list.

3.	Symbol substitution does not occur in html comments.