How to use the Product Designer Inventory Assistant

How to use the Product Designer Inventory Assistant

Summary

This article explains how to use the Product Designer Inventory Assistant.

More Information

The Product Designer Inventory Assistant is a utility that can be used to perform functions that are not available in the Inventory Setup module of the Product Designer.

Open the Product Designer Inventory Assistant by first running the Inventory Setup screen. Then from the toolbar click the Assistant button.

Importing and Exporting Items

Importing Complete Items

Importing complete items allows you to import one or more inventory items along with criteria and usage formulas. With this option you can add or update inventory items in the product.

To import complete items

  1. Click Import complete items
  2. Click the browse button and select the file to import.
  3. Click the Start button.

If there are problems with any of the data during the import a message will be displayed indicating the problem and you will have the option to skip that line or cancel the import. In order to import complete items you must create a delimited text file. You can select either comma delimited files (.csv) or tab delimited files (.txt). The first line of the file must contain the column headings for the data you will be importing. For more information on the file format when importing complete items, see the section File Format for Importing Complete

Items below.

To importing item criteria formulas only

  1. Click Import item criteria formulas
  2. Click the browse button and select the file to import.
  3. Click the Start button.

If there are problems with any of the data during the import a message will be displayed indicating the problem and you will have the option to skip that line or cancel the import. In order to import formulas you must create a delimited text file. You can select either comma delimited files (.csv) or tab delimited files (.txt). The first line of the file must contain the column headings for the data you will be importing. For more information on the file format when importing criteria formulas, see the section File Format for Importing Criteria Formulas below.

To importing item usage formulas only

  1. Click Import item usage formulas
  2. Click the browse button and select the file to import.
  3. Click the Start button.

If there are problems with any of the data during the import a message will be displayed indicating the problem and you will have the option to skip that line or cancel the import. In order to import formulas you must create a delimited text file. You can select either comma delimited files (.csv) or tab delimited files (.txt). The first line of the file must contain the column headings for the data you will be importing. For more information on the file format when importing criteria formulas, see the section File Format for Importing Usage Formulas below.

To export complete items

  1. Click Export complete items
  2. Select the inventory items that you want to export.
  3. Select the file that will contain the exported data. If this file already exists it will be replaced.
  4. Click the Start button.

The file that is created will be a tab delimited file.

To export criteria formulas only

  1. Click Export item criteria formulas
  2. Select the inventory items that you want to export.
  3. Select the file that will contain the exported data. If this file already exists it will be replaced.
  4. Click the Start button.

The file that is created will be a tab delimited file.

Note: A line will be created for each inventory item even if the item does not have any criteria.

To export usage formulas only

  1. Click Export item usage formulas
  2. Select the inventory items that you want to export.
  3. Select the file that will contain the exported data. If this file already exists it will be replaced.
  4. Click the Start button.

The file that is created will be a tab delimited file.

Note: A line will be created for each inventory item even if the item does not have any criteria.

Find and Replace

Use the find and replace functions to find and replace text within inventory items. For example replacing instances of [Width] with [WidthDec].

Find and replace item categories

Use this to find inventory items with one category and replace them with another category. You can also use this function to remove categories from items.

Find and replace criteria or usage formulas.

Use these functions to find whole formulas, either criteria or usage, and replace them with new formulas.

Find and replace parts of criteria or usage formulas.

Use these functions to find text within formulas, either criteria or usage, and replace the found text with updated text. For example, find all occurs of the word [Width] in all criteria formulas and replace them with [WidthDec].

Other Functions

Deleting Items

Delete one or more inventory items. Note: Once deleted the items cannot be recovered.

File Format for Importing Complete Items

Requirements

  • Delimited text file. For comma delimited files the file extension must be .csv. For tab delimited files the file extension must be .txt.
  • The first line must contain the column headings for the data that will be imported.
  • The ItemName column heading is required.
  • Text values must be enclosed in double quotes if the data contains the delimiter. For example, to import the item Wand, 24 inch you must format the data "Wand, 24 inch".

Available Column Headings

  • ID
  • ItemName
  • FriendlyName
  • Category
  • UnitOfMeasureType
  • UnitOfMeasureSubType
  • Description
  • Notes
  • Criteria1
  • Criteria2
  • Criteria3
  • Usage1
  • UsageCriteria1
  • Usage2
  • UsageCriteria2
  • Usage3
  • UsageCriteria3

Notes

  • Use the ID column only if you are replacing items. You will most likely never have to do this.
  • The ItemName column is required.
  • The maximum length for an inventory item name is 64 characters.
  • The maximum length for a friendly name is 64 characters.
  • The maximum length for the category is 48 characters.
  • The maximum length for the description is 255 characters.
  • UnitOfMeasureType and UnitOfMeasureSubType are numeric values. See the section UnitOfMeasureType Values and UnitOfMeasureSubType Values below.
  • Only three criteria formulas can be imported for each inventory item. Importing any formulas will erase all existing formulas for the respective item.
  • Only three usage formulas can be imported for each inventory item. Importing any usage formulas will erase all existing formulas for the respective item.
  • Usage Criteria formulas can only be imported if the usage formula is also imported.

File Format for Importing Criteria Formulas

Requirements

  • Delimited text file. For comma delimited files the file extension must be .csv. For tab delimited files the file extension must be .txt.
  • The first line must contain the column headings for the data that will be imported.
  • The ItemName column heading is required.
  • Text values must be enclosed in double quotes if the data contains the delimiter.

Available Column Headings

  • ItemName
  • Criteria1
  • Criteria2
  • Criteria3

Notes

  • The ItemName column is required.
  • The maximum length for an inventory item name is 64 characters.
  • Only three criteria formulas can be imported for each inventory item. Importing any formulas will erase all existing formulas for the respective item.

File Format for Importing Usage Formulas

Requirements

  • Delimited text file. For comma delimited files the file extension must be .csv. For tab delimited files the file extension must be .txt.
  • The first line must contain the column headings for the data that will be imported.
  • The ItemName column heading is required.
  • Text values must be enclosed in double quotes if the data contains the delimiter.

Available Column Headings

  • ItemName
  • Usage1
  • UsageCriteria1
  • Usage2
  • UsageCriteria2
  • Usage3
  • UsageCriteria3

Notes

  • · The ItemName column is required.
  • · The maximum length for an inventory item name is 64 characters.
  • · Only three usage formulas can be imported for each inventory item. Importing any
  • usage formulas will erase all existing formulas for the respective item.
  • · Usage Criteria formulas can only be imported if the usage formula is also imported.

UnitOfMeasureType Values

  • · Distance = 1
  • · Area = 4
  • · Volume = 5
  • · Mass = 6
  • · Piece = 7

UnitOfMeasureSubType Values

Distance Values

  • · Millimeters = 0
  • · Centimeters = 1
  • · Meters = 2
  • · Kilometers = 3
  • · Inches = 4
  • · Feet = 5
  • · Yards = 6
  • · Miles = 7

Area Values

  • · Square Centimeters = 0
  • · Square Meters = 1
  • · Square Inches = 4
  • · Square Feet = 5

Volume Values

  • · Milliliters = 0
  • · Liters = 1
  • · Pints = 2
  • · Quarts = 3
  • · Gallons = 4

Mass Values

  • · Grams = 0
  • · Kilograms = 1
  • · Ounces = 3
  • · Pounds = 4
  • · Tons = 6

Piece Values

  • · Piece = 0
  • · Each = 1
  • · Pair = 2
  • · Box = 3
  • · Bag = 4
  • · Roll = 5

APPLIES TO

  • Product Designer 4.2

    • Related Articles

    • Overview of Inventory Control

      Summary This article provides a broad overview of the steps and detail required to successfully implement Inventory Control within the Solatech Window Covering Software package. More Information Most people tend to oversimplify the requirements for ...

    • Unable to Open Products in Product Designer

      Symptoms On trying to open a product using Product Designer, the system reports the file needs to be upgraded. Clicking OK to allow the upgrade, the system returns the following message: Unable to open the file '...'. Check to make sure that the file ...

    • How to optimize styles for inventory

      Summary This article explains how to optimize a style for the inventory control module of the Solatech Window Covering Software. More Information When a product is setup with a large number of inventory items there may be a delay when processing ...

    • Product designer runs but will not restore to a usable window; it stays on the taskbar

      Symptoms When Product Designer is run its icon will appear on the taskbar but it cannot be restored to a usable window. Cause This is caused when Product Designer is closed while it is minimized. This can occur while minimizing Product Designer and ...

    • How to Check for Product Updates in SalesPro

      Summary This article will describe how to check for product updates from SalesPRO. Please note that this requires internet access. Instructions To check for product updates, navigate to the Maintenance tab. Click Product Updates. In the Product ...