How You Synchronize UIs with Structure

The changes to product item structure in the Product Information Management work area must be reflected in user interfaces for the affected snapshots and models.

When a product item changes, you refresh snapshots for that item. These changes can affect the item-based structure of any corresponding configurator models created from those snapshots, and consequently affect any user interfaces created for those models.

To account for model changes, you must create a new workspace and add the affected model and the updated snapshots to that workspace. UIs aren't automatically refreshed to synchronize with all model structure changes. The following list explains what you need to know, or to do, to keep your UIs current with the product changes in the Product Information Management work area.

• When a UI is initially generated, it includes by default all the nodes in the model. If model nodes have been deleted, or have become ineffective (meaning that they represent items that are end-dated as of run time), they're automatically filtered out of your UI without further action by you. They aren't displayed at run time, and display conditions using such nodes are ignored.

• If new option classes, model references, or individual items are added to the existing model and should be visible in the UI, then you must add them individually to the existing UI.

  However, the existing UI continues to work without any changes for the following additions:

  • New items that are added to an existing option class.

  • New options that are added to an existing option feature.

  • New transactional attributes that are added to an existing item (excepting the model item itself).

• If the product changes from a snapshot refresh involve changes such as instantiation type, or minimum and maximum quantities, then existing UIs will continue to function, but may not provide the best user experience, and may allow the creation of invalid configurations, or prevent the creation of certain configurations that would be valid.

• If you modify the configuration's behavior for a node, then you might need to change the type of control template that renders the node. Assume your option class originally allowed the user to select only one value in an option, but now allows the user to select more than option. You might need to change the control template for the node's page from a radio button group to a check box group.

• If you resequence the nodes in a supplemental structure in the model, and if Configurator explicitly displays them in the UI, then you must resequence them in the existing UI. You don't need to worry about the option nodes of an option feature because resequencing doesn't affect them.