Rendering FHIR resources

The IG editor lets you embed Simplifier content (resource trees, tables, raw resources, and more) using placeholder widgets. Type a widget in the editor, then refresh the preview with Ctrl + Enter or the Refresh button to make it visible.

Reference a resource by its canonical URL (recommended, as the link keeps working when the guide is exported or duplicated) or by its filepath. The rendered content comes from the guide’s scope, which you set in the IG settings.

Finding resources (Intellisense)

Simplifier has an Intellisense that helps you find what you want to reference. It is triggered automatically after you type a command, for example {{tree:. Pick which suggestions you get from the Intellisense menu in the editor toolbar. The menu has two sections: one for resources and one for pages.

Resources (used by widgets such as {{tree:, {{table: and {{link:):

Canonical (default): all canonical URLs in your guide’s scope.
Names: the names of the resources in your guide’s scope.
Files: all files in your scope, together with your package dependencies.

Pages (used by the {{pagelink: and {{page: widgets):

Paths (default): the filepaths of the pages in your guide.
Topics: the topics set in the YAML headers of your pages. Pages without a topic are not suggested. Linking by topic is the recommended way to reference pages (see Linking to pages).

The list filters as you keep typing. Cycle through the resource modes by pressing Ctrl + I, or by pressing F1 and choosing ‘Change intellisense mode’. The selected modes only change what Intellisense suggests; every valid render syntax works regardless.

Widgets

The following widgets embed Simplifier content. Most take a canonical URL (or a resource id for examples):

{{tree:canonicalUrl}} renders a StructureDefinition as a tree, as seen on the resource overview tab.
{{table:canonicalUrl}} renders the resource table.
{{dict:canonicalUrl}} renders the dictionary: a table with the extended details of every element of a profile.
{{json:canonicalUrl}} / {{xml:canonicalUrl}} render the resource as JSON or XML (the narrative is removed before rendering).
{{narrative:canonicalUrl}} renders the resource’s narrative. If the narrative is empty, the widget renders nothing.
{{metadata:canonicalUrl}} renders a consistent table of metadata fields (see Metadata).
{{link:canonicalUrl}} links to the resource page on Simplifier. Add a title with {{link:canonicalUrl, title:'Base Patient'}}.
{{namingsystems:ProjectName}} lists all naming systems of a project in a table.
{{render:canonicalUrl}} renders and parses any file type; {{source:canonicalUrl}} renders any file unparsed (preserving indentation and line breaks).
{{index:root}} / {{index:current}} add an index (see Index).

Tree and render properties

The tree widget accepts properties that control how it renders:

Form: show the diff, snap, or hybrid form of the resource.

{{tree:http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/Patient, diff}}
{{tree:http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/Patient, snap}}
{{tree:http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/Patient, hybrid}}

buttons: show diff, snap, and hybrid buttons so the reader can switch between them.
```
{{tree:http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/Patient, buttons}}
```

expand: fully expand the tree, or give a number for the level of expansion.

{{tree:http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/Patient, expand}}
{{tree:http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/Patient, expand: 2}}

lang: switch the rendering to the given language, if available.

{{tree:http://hl7.be/fhir/be/StructureDefinition/Patient, lang: fr-BE}}

Metadata

The metadata widget renders a table of metadata fields for the referenced resource:

{{metadata:http://acme.org/StructureDefinition/profile-patient, render-metadata-title}}

The supported fields depend on the resource type:

Conformance resources: url, version, publisher, status, experimental, description, purpose, useContext, contact
MessageDefinition: title, event, category
StructureDefinition: context (for extensions)

If no fields are specified, all non-empty fields are rendered in the FHIR-defined order. If fields are specified ({{metadata:canonicalUrl, url, version, publisher}}), only those are rendered, in the order listed. The optional render-metadata-title flag also displays a title with the resource type and name.

Index

The index widget renders a navigable index:

{{index:root}} indexes the entire IG.
{{index:current}} indexes the currently selected element.
{{index:Home}} (any page URL key) indexes that specific page.

Add levels:<nr> to control how many levels of sub-folders and pages are included in the table of contents. For example, {{index:root, levels:2}} only lists two levels deep, hiding anything nested further below.

Tabs

You can group widgets into tabs on a guide page:

<tabs>
    <tab title="Overview">
      {{tree:http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/Patient}}
    </tab>
    <tab title="Xml" active="true">
      {{xml:http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/Patient}}
    </tab>
</tabs>

By default the first tab is active; use active="true" to activate another. Tabs can be customized further on the Team plan and up.

FQL

Where the widgets above render a fixed view of a resource, FQL gives you full control over what you surface. You write a query against the resources in your scope and pick exactly the elements you want: a single field, a computed value, or a whole table of profiles. Anything in the FHIR resources is reachable, so you are not limited to the fields a widget happens to expose. For the full language, see our FQL documentation, and Examples for queries you can paste into a guide page.

FQL tables

The default output is a table, which is useful for overviews of the resources in your guide:

<fql>
    from
        StructureDefinition
    select
        name, type, kind, url
    order by
        name
</fql>

Inline FQL values

With output="inline" the query renders its value as plain text instead of a table, so you can weave live resource data into a sentence. Combine this with hidden template pages (see Page setup and reuse) to reuse one query across every resource page.

Create a hidden page fql-get-resource-base.page.md with a topic and a single inline query. The %canonical page variable resolves to the canonical URL of the page that includes it:

---
topic: fql-get-resource-base
---
<fql output="inline">
    for Resource
    where url=%canonical
    select baseDefinition
</fql>

Do the same for the description in fql-get-resource-description.page.md:

---
topic: fql-get-resource-description
---
<fql output="inline">
    for Resource
    where url=%canonical
    select description
</fql>

Then include them anywhere in your text with the {{page:}} placeholder:

This profile is based on {{page:fql-get-resource-base}} and is described as:
{{page:fql-get-resource-description}}

Because the queries use output="inline", the values appear in the running sentence rather than as a separate block. The text stays in sync with the resources: change the profile’s description and the page follows.

You can save FQL statements for reuse across pages and projects: the IG editor can save custom snippets to a .snippet.md file, usable on every page in that project and shareable across projects.

You can also keep a query in a .fql file and render it with {{render:my-query.fql, output:inline}}.