Sentences and scenarios is the building blocks of the template. Learn more about what they are and what they do.
Without sentences and scenarios, there will be no template and no text. They are the foundation of the text and the building blocks in which you build your template.
Let us look further into their functions.
What is a sentence?
A sentence is basically an element in the template. It is not wrong to consider it as a sentence in its general meaning; a set of words. But it is actually a bit more complicated than that. Hang in, we will elaborate and it will all make sense.
A sentence can appear as a placeholder containing scenarios and variants.
A sentence can appear as a marker for a line break or a section break.
And if that was not enough, a sentence can also contain several sentences which contain several scenarios, variants, and breaks.
This is actually how you build the template; by making sentences containing scenarios, variants, and breaks.
It may look complicated but it does not have to be. Just consider every sentence as a way to represent a new part of the final text and therefore also a new element in the template.
Still confused? Let us try to look at the scenarios.
What is a scenario?
In the dictionary, a scenario is described as a postulated sequence or development of events. This definition can also be used about the scenarios when building your template.
Every scenario is a sequence in the template representing a particular outcome. The different scenarios make it possible to embrace all the potential outcomes in your data.
A scenario will always be a part of a sentence and contains the text variants the software uses to write your final text.
There can be countless scenarios in one sentence and countless variants within each scenario. But the software will only choose one of the scenarios and one of the variants as there can only be one output for every sentence.
It may sound a bit complicated but it is actually really smart once you get the hang of it.
Let us show you an example.
In this case, the purpose is to say something about the appearance of a product. The sentence has five different scenarios which match the possible outcomes of colors and materials from the data.
Regardless of the product, information about the product's appearance will be important for the reader. The text must therefore reflect the specific color or material of the product they are reading about. It will not be relevant to read about the color white if the product they are looking at has another color.
But how does the software know which scenario to choose? You tell it!
Scenarios with conditions
By setting different conditions in each scenario the software will automatically find the scenario that matches the product. It only takes a few clicks since it is all based on the available data.
The conditions will make sure that the software writes your text about the color white every time the data says that the color of the product is white. But if the product has another color or material it will take one of the other scenarios.
But be aware! If non of the scenarios matches the data, the software will skip this sentence and there will be no next about the color or material. So make sure to check that you have made all the possible scenarios.
Scenarios without conditions
Do you want to make a sentence that appears on all your products? Then you only need one scenario with no conditions. Scenarios without conditions will as a standard appear no matter the data input.
There is only one exception; if you have inserted a variable in the text where there is no data output. Then the software will skip the sentence. But you do not have to think more about this right now. You will learn much more about this when reading about "adding variables".
As you see in the example above information about the size is relevant for all the products in this specific category. As there are no conditions the software will choose between the different variants and show a text output for all the products in this category.
This means that the scenarios, with or without conditions, actually become the guideline of the template telling the software what to write based on the data it has received. Clever right?
So now you have learned about what sentences and scenarios are and what they do in the software. We hope that it is all starting to make more sense!
If not, we recommend that you do some further reading from our Help Center. Check out the articles in "Get to know the software" or "Create your template".
But if you are tired of reading, maybe you should just try it out? The best way to learn is to use it!