Reduce Start Times When You Have Large Option Classes

Enable a placeholder item for an option class, and Oracle Configurator will replace the optional items in the option class with a single placeholder item.

Using a placeholder reduces the amount of time it takes Configurator to start when your configurator model has large option classes.

Also, if the model doesn't have any user-defined attributes or supplemental attributes, then Configurator won't attempt to load them into memory at run time.

Assume you already have a model item named zCZ_CAR4DRSDN, the model item contains an option class component named zCZ_CARINTOPT, and you want to reduce the overall start time for the model.

Try it.

1. Get the privileges that you need to edit items in the Product Information Management work area.
2. Go to the Product Information Management work area.
3. On the Product Information Management page, click Tasks > Manage Items.
4. On the Manage Items page, search for the zCZ_CAR4DRSDN item.
5. In the search results, click your item.
6. On the Edit Item page, click Structures, then click Primary.
7. On the Item Structure page, click View, then make sure the Component Order Management option contains a checkmark.
8. Select the row that has zCZ_CARINTOPT in the Item attribute, then click Actions > Edit.
9. On the Edit Components dialog, set the value, then click OK.

   Attribute	Value
   Use Placeholder	Contains a checkmark.

10. On the Edit Item Structure page, click Done.

Manage Attribute Values for an Option Class That You Have Enabled as Placeholder

If the Use Placeholder option contains a check mark on the option class, then Configurator won't apply some of the constraints that you specify for the components that are in that option class. It won't apply constraints that you specify for the item in Product Information Management for these attributes:

• Decimal Flag
• Default Quantity
• Minimum Quantity
• Maximum Quantity

Note

• If you enable this placeholder for more than one instance of the same option class in your model structure, then all the instances of this option class must have the same value for each of these attributes.
• This feature uses values from the option class for these attributes, so all items that are in the option class will use values from the option class at runtime regardless of each item's definition for these attributes.
• If you enable the placeholder, and then disable it, then you must change the value for each of these attribute for the option class and for all the items that are in the option class so that the values are consistent with each other.
• To avoid inconsistent behavior, you must make sure that the definition of each instance of the same option class in your model structure is the same.

Guidelines

• We recommend that you use the fully qualified path for the item in your order import.
• Each item in your option class must be a standard item. Your option class must not include another option class and it must not reference another configurator model.

If the maximum quantity for your option class is greater than one, and if you:

• Enable the placeholder. Configurator doesn't create a new page for the option class at runtime.
• Don't enable the placeholder. Configurator creates a new page for the option class at runtime.