The purpose of the Additional Options is to support the design of scripts so that only the most commonly modified variables are displayed by default, while less frequently needed variables remain hidden until needed. The goal is to keep the customer experience as simple as possible. To access Additional Options, from the Ideate Automation>Create tab, select a script, then pick next. From this dialog, which is called the Task Script Variables page, you will see the Additional Option toggle at the upper-right hand corner as shown below.
Related topic: Anatomy of an Ideate Automation Script
To make a script have fewer choices for the average user, you may want to make an existing variable display only when the Additional Options is toggled. For example, the PDF scripts display the variable for the exported PDF file name.
If the naming of your PDF exports is consistent, it may be unnecessary or even confusing to offer this choice to most users. This is a perfect example of a variable that could be ‘moved’ to Additional Options. In the example below we will use the script called IBL-Export_PDF_Combined.def
Existing text:
prompting="${combinePDF}">${revit_file:RevitFilenameNoExtension} - ${link_name}</export_file>
New text:
prompting="advanced">${revit_file:RevitFilenameNoExtension} - ${link_name}</export_file>
This newer and cleaner version of the script will no longer display the variable for the file name, but you can still see and edit the value from Additional Options.
In some cases you may want to take action to further prohibit changes within a task by hiding variables. Continuing along with the same example as above, let’s assume that never want anyone to adjust the name of the exported file. In that case you have two choices:
The second option is easiest to do and is recommended to allow for easier editing later. The first option is cleaner and results in the removal of the variable from the Confirm Task Selection page.