Quest Ladder
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Quest Ladder / Smart add-ons
Smart add-ons: logic and repeats inside a question
When a question needs a list, a table or a sentence whose length depends on the numbers generated.
A value is a value. This is a value that assembles itself.
What they are for
A variable places one value. Sometimes a question needs something whose shape depends on the values: a list of five terms when n is five, a table with a row per item, a sentence that says and before the last of however many things there are.
A smart add-on is a small named routine that produces that content. You build it once in the Smart add-on library, then insert it anywhere — the question text, a hint, a solution step, an active learning block — and it expands in place.
Each is an accordion row in the library: open one to edit it, close it to work on another. Add smart add-on creates one, and Duplicate is the fastest way to a variant.
Naming one
An add-on has a Display name for you, an Internal id used in the token that inserts it, and an optional Purpose. Keep the id short: it is what you will read inside a block of question text when you come back to it.
The ten step kinds
An add-on is a list of steps that run in order. Five are the everyday ones.
| Step | Does |
|---|---|
| Add text | Emits text, in plain, Markdown, LaTeX or code form. |
| Show many times | Repeats something a number of times — a picture, a symbol, a phrase. |
| Number sequence (one line) | Emits a run of numbers on one line, with a separator you choose. |
| If this is true… | Emits one thing or another depending on a condition. |
| Repeat for each number… | Counts from one value to another, emitting each time. |
Five more are there when you need them: Temporary calculated value, Math expression block, For each list item…, While condition holds… and Table from list.
Their fields read as plainly as their names — When this is true, Then do…, Otherwise do…, Counter name, From, To, Step size, How many?, Gap between each, Separator. You are describing the content, not writing code.
Using one
Once an add-on is saved, the Insert tray's Smart add-ons dropdown offers it. Inline in text drops the token at the cursor so it expands inside the sentence you are writing; you have to click into a text field first, and the editor tells you so if you have not.
Build the add-on, save the draft, and only then go looking for it in the tray. The dropdown reads the saved library, so an add-on you have just typed and not saved is not there yet — which reads like a bug and is not.
When not to
An add-on is worth it when the content genuinely varies in shape. When it varies only in value, a plain variable is simpler and easier to read six months later.
The in-app Manual build guide has worked examples of each step kind, and is the place to go when you want to see one assembled rather than described.