1. Implementing Product Management
  2. Precedence of Applying Attribute Values to Items

Precedence of Applying Attribute Values to Items

When an item is created, the attribute value for an item is determined by the following precedence:
  1. The value from the item template is applied. It's applicable only if the attribute was configured to use the Defaulted option for Usage in the Manage Item Statuses task.

    The Defaulted option indicates that the status attributes can be updated independently of the status. So, when such attributes are applied by the template, the values will change. However, when the option for Usage indicates that the status attributes are Inherited, the status attribute values can't be updated by applying the template.

  2. The effect of the value based on the Item Status field is applied.
  3. The value entered by the end user is applied. The value may be entered through the UI, FBDI, import maps, web services, or REST APIs.
  4. The value derived from rules is applied.

For example, assume that:

  • The defined item status MyActive sets the value of the attribute Stocked to Yes and the Usage to Defaulted. It also sets Taxable to Yes with Usage set to Inherited.

  • An item template named MyTemplate sets the value of the attribute Stocked to No and Taxable to No. This doesn't set the Status.

  • An item template named MyTemplateWithStatus sets the value of the Status to MyActive, Stocked to No, and Taxable to No.

Example 1:

At runtime:

  1. An item is created by using the item template named MyTemplate. The value of Stocked is set to No and Taxable is set to No.

  2. The user edits the item and sets the Item Status field to MyActive. The value of Stocked and Taxable changes to Yes.

  3. The user can now change the value of Stocked to No because this attribute is set to Defaulted for MyActive item status. However, the value of the Taxable attribute can't be changed independently because this attribute is set to Inherited for MyActive item status.

Example 2:

  1. An item is created by using the item template named MyTemplateWithStatus. The value of Stocked is set to No and Taxable is set to No in the beginning.

  2. The user edits the item and sets the Item Status field to MyActive. The value of Stocked and Taxable changes to Yes.

Setting the status for a template adds complexities associated with status and inter dependent attributes. Oracle doesn't recommend to set the status for a template. The preceding example provides the sequence of applying the status, template, and user defined attribute values.