Product Administration Guide > Customizable Product Rule Designer >

Creating a Configuration Rule

Observe the following guidelines when creating rules:

• Create at least one rule early in the process of building a customizable product. The presence of a configuration rule, even if it is inactive, causes eConfigurator to check the product for errors more rigorously when you go to validate mode.
• Avoid writing rules that use large quantities until you have verified the logic of the rule. For example, write a rule that refers 10 items and check it before changing the rule to refer to 10,000 items. This prevents needless solution searches if the basic logic of the rule is incorrect.
• If the customizable product will be designated as a class-product, consider not giving names to its rules. This prevents inadvertent override of rules by customizable products that inherit the class-product's rules and have native rules of the same name.
• Test each rule after you create it. Consider inactivating rules that are unrelated to the new rule to facilitate troubleshooting. Test rules by starting a configuration session and selecting the affected items. To start a configuration session, from the Rules List menu, choose Validate.

To create a configuration rule

1. Navigate to Product Administration.
2. Select and lock the desired customizable product.

   If you omit this step, the most recently released version of the customizable product is loaded in the Rule Designer, and you cannot create rules.

3. Click the Configuration Designer tab.

   The Rule Designer Rules List appears. It lists all the configuration rules that have been created for this customizable product.

4. Click New Rule.

   The "Pick a rule" tab appears and lists the rule templates available for creating rules. The Rule Statement tab displays the syntax of the currently-selected rule.

5. Select the desired rule template in "Pick a rule", and click Continue.

   The Rule Statement and "Insert a" tabs appear. The Rule Statement tab contains the rule template you selected. The "Insert a" tab lists the item groups available for the currently-selected variable in the rule.

   To return to the display of all the Web templates, click Back. To exit and return to the Rules List, click Cancel.

6. In Rule Statement, click the first variable you want to work on.

   Variables are enclosed in square brackets. When you click a variable, it turns red to indicate it is selected.

7. In the "Insert a" list, select the item grouping containing the item you want to insert. In the dialog box, choose the desired item.

   When selecting products, click the product's select button. If you click the product name, the dialog box displays product information.

   The variable in the rule template is replaced by the item.

8. Repeat these steps for each variable until you have built the desired rule.
9. Click Save Rule to save the rule.

   The Save button becomes active when you have selected values for all the variables in the rule. Clicking the Save button causes the Save Rule form to appear.

10. Fill out the fields in the Save Rule form. All fields are optional. Then click Save.

    The rule displays in the Rules List.

11. Open the Rules List menu and click Validate.

    This starts a configuration session. Verify that the rule works correctly.