A name is defined by naming an element of the technical communication. Creating a projectdoc document requires the author to provide a name for that document. Once created other authors can refer to the document by this name. The same is true when adding a property to a document. The property requires a name, and optionally a value. Once added authors may reference the property within a given document by that property name.

Here is a list of elements that can be named within the domain of the projectdoc Toolbox.

By referencing a named element something needs to be applied to that element or information is fetched from that element.

Most of the defined names can be referenced by macro parameters. Some names, like CSS classes are simply matched by CSS selectors to apply styles. Other names cannot, at least currently, be referenced like property controls or macro names. These names are used internally to control the way processes are executed.

Here are some examples.

1. The 

   Static Document Link
   document Display Document Property Macro

    allows to reference a property by its name within a document referenced by its title. The 

   Static Document Link
   document Name List Macro

    allows to reference a document by its name.
2. Sections can be referenced by the 

   Static Document Link
   document Transclusion Macro

    or 

   Static Document Link
   document Transclude Documents Macro

    by its section title, unique content identifier, or content classes.
3. Macro instances and macro parameters are referenced by macros supporting

   Static Document Link
   document #Remote Control

   .

The Display Document Property Macro and its cousins are static links. They point to an element and in case the referenced elements is renamed, the reference is also altered.

For instance a minutes document refers to a participant named Janc Doe. If someone identifies Janc as a misspelling of Jane, the reference in the minutes document still holds.

Another example is the renaming of the concept of an Architecture Aspect to a Crosscutting Concern. The references are correct, but the name with which the element is referenced need to be changed.

Static links may have a different label. If a Confluence link refers to a Confluence page, the label of the link and the title of the page match. The label may be different, for instance the label team members may reference a page with title Team Member. When the title is changed, the label will not, although the link still refers to the same page.

The Name List Macro and its cousins are dynamic links. They define a property value and it is assumed that this value is correct. If there is an element that is identified by that name, a link is rendered. So the main aspect here is that a property name is associated with a value. The link is optional.

Think of a dynamic link as the name of a variable in program code. If a software developer changes the name in one location, only the name at the given location is changed. If the developer wants to change the name of the variable in every location it is mentioned, then the refactoring tool "Rename a variable" is required.

An example for the use of dynamic links is a risk severity of high, medium, and low. The property value for a document may be set to any one of these values. If the documentation architect decides that each of these values requires to be documented and all values should link to the document that defines its semantics, then these documents may be added at any time. Later these documents may be removed. The values for the property in each document are not altered by any of these actions.

The power of dynamic links is that elements can be virtually referenced. A reference can be added, e.g. by a 

Another form of dynamic link is provided by the 

Since version 4.7 of the projectdoc Toolbox naming information is stored in form of artificial properties, named

This information is especially useful for refactoring tasks. To rename an element typically requires to locate all location where this name is currently used. Then the author can decide, which name references must also be altered.

Here is a list of document properties that can be used to query for documents that define a given name.

Here is a list of document properties that can be used to query for documents that use a given name by reference.

Currently there are not many refactorings that are conducted automatically. A Confluence link, once the title of the referenced document is changed, will be automatically updated.

In all other cases, changing the name of a property, the name of a macro parameter, or the identifier or tag of a text content currently users need to find and update all referencing locations manually.

Here are some examples:

$<projectdoc Property Name References>=[My old Property Name]

$<Flags>=[Our old Value]

$<projectdoc Property Value References>=[Our old Value]

$<projectdoc Tags in Document Part References>=[my-old-tag]

$<projectdoc CSS Class References>=[our-generic-table]

Here are a couple of tips for users of the projectdoc Toolbox when working with names.

$<Doctype>=[change] AND $<Risk>=[${Name}]

Risk=high

$<Risk>=[high]

$<Risk>~(high, medium)