add documentation on handling of external references (#898)

Author: Logende

README.md

@@ -99,8 +99,12 @@ Explore how to use MetaConfigurator with real-world examples:
 
 *   **[Code Generation](./documentation_user/examples/code_generation)** – Learn how to generate code in multiple programming languages from JSON schemas.
 
+*   **[Schema Selection List](./documentation_user/examples/schema_selection_list)** – Learn how to provide your users with a pre-defined list of schemas to choose from; useful for organizations.
+
 *   **[AI Assistance](./documentation_user/examples/ai_assistance)** – Learn how to use AI-assisted features for schema and data creation/editing, as well as data transformation.
 
+*   **[External References](./documentation_user/examples/external_references)** – Learn how to handle external references in MetaConfigurator.
+
 
 
 📚 Read the full [User Documentation](./documentation_user).

documentation_user/README.md

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 * [Code Generation](examples/code_generation) (Shows how to generate code in multiple programming languages from JSON schemas)
 * [Schema Selection List](examples/schema_selection_list) (Provide your users a pre-defined list of schemas to choose from; useful for organizations)
 * [AI Assistance](examples/ai_assistance) (Shows how to use AI-assisted features for schema and data creation/editing, as well as data transformation)
+* [External References](examples/external_references) (Shows how to handle external references in MetaConfigurator)
 
 ## Load a Schema
 

documentation_user/examples/external_references/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+Handling external references in MetaConfigurator
+================================================
+
+While MetaConfigurator primarily focuses on the local JSON schema and data files, it provides basic support for external references.
+External references allow you to include content from other files or URLs into your schema or data, enabling modularity and reuse.
+
+Currently, the data tab and validation by default ignore external references, but the schema tab provides options to resolve all or some external references or bundle all content within the same schema with one click.
+Once resolved, also the data tab and validation will take the content of the reference into account, as it is now part of the schema.
+
+Resolving References in the Schema Tab
+--------------------------------------
+
+In the menu bar of the schema tab, there is a set of `utility` options for resolving all references or bundling a whole schema, as well as an inverse option (extract all inlined schema elements into definitions and replace them with references).
+
+![Reference Utilities](./ref_utility.png)
+
+Furthermore, the schema diagram visualizes external references as nodes with a blue color frame and provides a button to resolve the reference directly in the diagram.
+
+![Reference in Diagram](./ref_diagram.png)