Product Replacement - Page 2 - D-Tools Forum

grichards · 10-19-2010, 03:38 PM

not to over saturate the feature: but what about other fields that may remain relevant to the product replacement (i.e. custom properties)?

One reason we shy away from product replace is that we judiciously note things about particular products (or sets of products) in their custom properties. when replacing, all this information gets wiped out and if you don't have your custom properties exposed in the PDM you are none-the-wiser.

I like the ideas floating around about the accessories prompt, but i think replace needs to be a little more robust as far as notifying the user EXACTLY what they are replacing.

here's a feature i would call "Smart Replace":
the prompt after "Smart replace" shows all fields that differ from the replaced item (similar to the detail view of a product update in revision management). If there are multiple items, they are cycled through individually. The user is provided with a checkbox for each field with a preview of the data in that field so they may select those that they want to replace in the operation (this would included accessories).
The user is provided with buttons Replace (which replaces the current item displayed), Replace All (which applies the selected replacement to all items in the replacement queue), Cancel (which cancels the replacement of the Current item displayed), Cancel All (cancels the entire replacement list and reverts all products to pre-replacement settings)

the user should also be given a "Quick Replace" option, which functions exactly the same as current replace: you swap the old product for the new one and loose all information. after all, what good is software if you aren't able to shoot yourself in the foot with it?

fryeguy · 10-20-2010, 08:00 PM

I love when a discussion leads to the obvious "right" solution and grichards nailed it here. Not that I currently would get much use out of the custom properties this makes me think of the scenario where maybe an item is no longer available and is to be replaced by a new item but the price needs to remain the same becaus eof contract terms. It would be nice to have "smart replace" with the ability to see product A, product B, and the a preview of hybrid AB that would be generated by choosing a combination of properties from A and B. Great idea!

JordanC · 12-23-2010, 10:02 PM

What about adding an "Installed" option? The reason I brought this topic up in the first place was I had some wire attached to a product. Project was sold and the rough in phase completed. Ended up using a different model. I changed the model and the accessories were removed. Then I had to go back and add the pre-existing accessories, that were already installed, back into the project. Now they have a different component ID, and everything is updated from the MMPD. NOT at the correct pricing either.

I would like a feature in D-Tools that I can go through each item that has a check box as "installed", and the item is permanently locked against modification, even as an accessory, until the user removes the "installed" option. Perhaps this can even be done globaly by project by phase. IE: Rough and trim are completed, I could go to the project information that lists all phases to that paricular project, and check each phase as installed as needed. And every item in the project that is assigned to that phase locks as in the above foremention.

Truly, this has been a huge setback and downfall of D-Tools, and I am astonished this hasn't been addressed in the past.

(users are the best development team out there, and we pay for the possition :-\)

JordanC · 12-23-2010, 10:03 PM

Originally Posted by JordanC

What about adding an "Installed" option? The reason I brought this topic up in the first place was I had some wire attached to a product. Project was sold and the rough in phase completed. Ended up using a different model. I changed the model and the accessories were removed. Then I had to go back and add the pre-existing accessories, that were already installed, back into the project. Now they have a different component ID, and everything is updated from the MMPD. NOT at the correct pricing either.

I would like a feature in D-Tools that I can go through each item that has a check box as "installed", and the item is permanently locked against modification, even as an accessory, until the user removes the "installed" option. Perhaps this can even be done globaly by project by phase. IE: Rough and trim are completed, I could go to the project information that lists all phases to that paricular project, and check each phase as installed as needed. And every item in the project that is assigned to that phase locks as in the above foremention.

Truly, this has been a huge setback and downfall of D-Tools, and I am astonished this hasn't been addressed in the past.

(users are the best development team out there, and we pay for the possition :-\)

This idea is meant to work in conjunction with the parent/accessory option as discussed earlier in this thread.

fryeguy · 12-23-2010, 10:20 PM

I would again agree with the "installed" feature. It is a real pain when a product changes in a later phase of a project and replacing the product wipes out previously sold and installed accessories. With the ability to lock a phase, meaning the phase has been sold, installed and set in stone, replacing an item would trigger an event where accessories related to unlocked phases would be offered up for the updated item and locked acessories would automatically migrate to the updated item.

NareshN · 01-19-2011, 12:03 PM

SP3 has new options in Replace Product to "Keep Accesories" and "Maintain Shapes". Check SI5.5 SP3 Release Notes - D-Tools Documentation Wiki