Bookshelf v7.5.3: About Class-Product Rule Inheritance

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About Class-Product Rule Inheritance

You can designate a customizable product as a class-product and then add it to a product class. When you do this, all products belonging to the class and its subclasses inherit the class-product's structure and its configuration rules. For example you define the following rule in a class-product and name the rule Rule 1:

Any item from Relationship A requires selection of any item of Relationship B

You can control how this rule is inherited by other customizable products you add to the class containing the class-product. You do this by inserting a rule in these products that has the same name as the one in the class-product.

For example, you have a product class containing a class-product. The class-product contains Rule 1, as shown above. The class also contains three customizable products, CP1, CP2, and CP3. Table 22 shows how inheritance of Rule 1 from the class-product works.

Table 22. Rule Inheritance

Customizable Product

Native Rule

Result

CP1

No rule named Rule 1

Inherits rule from the class-product.

CP2

Rule 1: X excludes Y

Native Rule 1 (X excludes Y within CP2) overrides inheritance of Rule 1 from the class-product. If CP2 is selected, Rule 1 in the class product is not enforced in CP2.

CP3

Rule 1: " "

Blank native Rule 1 overrides inheritance of Rule 1 from the class-product. Rule 1 in the class product is not enforced in CP3.

You can use named rules to control how rules are inherited from class-products.

If you want a customizable product to inherit a named rule from a class-product, the customizable product must not contain a rule of the same name.

If you want only some customizable products to inherit a named rule from a class product, define a blank named rule with the same name in the customizable products where you do not want inheritance to occur.

If a rule in a class-product has no name, it cannot be overridden by a rule in a customizable product that inherits the structure of the class product.

Table 22. Rule Inheritance
Customizable Product	Native Rule	Result
CP1	No rule named Rule 1	Inherits rule from the class-product.
CP2	Rule 1: X excludes Y	Native Rule 1 (X excludes Y within CP2) overrides inheritance of Rule 1 from the class-product. If CP2 is selected, Rule 1 in the class product is not enforced in CP2.
CP3	Rule 1: " "	Blank native Rule 1 overrides inheritance of Rule 1 from the class-product. Rule 1 in the class product is not enforced in CP3.

Product Administration Guide
Published: 23 June 2003