By magnus - 5/1/2022 11:02:20 AM
hi !
is there a way to rename generic products, such as generic racks ?
There the 3 gray fields, thas are selectable .
"Description"
"Manufacturer"'
"Model Number"
But are they editable ?
Thanks in advance from Sweden
// Magnus
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By Rob Robinson - 5/1/2022 11:21:46 AM
Hi Magnus,
Library products are not editable, but you can create a User Defined Product from any Product and edit the UDP any way you want.
In the Product Browser rightclick on the Product you want to use and select "Create User Defined Product from Product".
See also the movie "Adding New Products", #09 at https://www1.stardraw.com/stardraw2/sd7/movies
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By magnus - 5/1/2022 11:32:38 AM
+xHi Magnus, Library products are not editable, but you can create a User Defined Product from any Product and edit the UDP any way you want. In the Product Browser rightclick on the Product you want to use and select " Create User Defined Product from Product". See also the movie "Adding New Products", #09 at https://www1.stardraw.com/stardraw2/sd7/movies
Thanx ! 
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By Hughes - 7/16/2022 3:15:59 PM
Hi Rob,
Once a UDP is created and placed in a drawing.
If I rightclick "Edit product" from Product Browser window to modify its Description, Manufacturer or Model Number, the new values are not populated to existing versions of that UDP previously placed in a drawing.
Even if the symbol is deleted and replaced from the Available Symbol palette.
While modifications made via rightclick "Edit symbol" are updated if the symbol is deleted and replaced from the Available symbol palette.
Is there a way to update without having to remove this UDP from the project and re-import it from Product Browser window because this leads to the lost of all Attributes ?
Thank You,
Hughes
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By Rob Robinson - 7/18/2022 10:10:25 AM
Hi Hughes,
Thanks for your post. We will investigate why the Manufacturer/Model Number/Description is not updated when deleting a symbol from a drawing and dragging it back in from the Available Symbols Palette; this looks like it might be a bug.
Our development wishlist includes a feature whereby a product in a project could be replaced with another product, while maintaining Attribute values. This will become available in a future release.
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By Rob Robinson - 7/20/2022 2:49:50 PM
Hi Hughes,
Just to follow up after looking at your question in depth; the behavior shown is by design.
When working in a drawing and with the Available Symbols Palette we are operating at a symbol level. This is why changes to the symbol are supported.
However, the product has a higher level of existence in the project so changes cannot be made in the way you describe to Attributes, particularly since they revolve around the identity of the product. The particular product instance already exists elsewhere in the project, and may be in other drawings, so it would be bad to change the identity of the product instance i.e. its Manufacturer, Model Number and Description - this would lead to inconsistencies and, possibly, confusion.
This is just for information; the correct solution for what we believe you want to do is a new feature to allow the substitution of one product for another, throughout the project, and this is on our roadmap.
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By Hughes - 1/8/2023 1:22:05 PM
Hi Rob,
I'd like to re-open this topic because:
if I well understand your previous explanation that
" ...it would be bad to change the identity of the product instance i.e. its Manufacturer, Model Number and Description...",
I notice that the behavior is not following this rule for the Description label:
When Description is changed via Product Browser / UDP / (right click) Edit Product, then for any existing instance of that UDP in the project, the Description is changed when any symbol is placed, removed then re-placed in a drawing. But Description in Properties panel is unchanged.
And to go further, once a symbol of that UDP is modified via Product Browser / UDP / (right click) Edit Symbol, if the Description is once again changed, it is no more updated even if a new instance is dragged from Product Browser or added in the Dashboard Products palette.
So if I'm not mistaken, the intended behavior should be:
As soon as an UPD is dragged in a drawing or added in the Dashboard Products palette, product identity (Manufacturer, Model Number and Description) of all Symbols of that instance in the project should remain as it is and attributes are preserved when Symbols are placed, removed then re-placed in drawings.
A new instance (dragged from Product Browser or added in the Dashboard Products palette) of a UDP will inherit the latest product identity from the library with blank attributes.
But in all cases (new instance and existing instances), when a Symbol is placed or removed then re-placed, the design of this symbol is retrieved from the library and reflects the possible changes of the Symbol leaving Attributes unchanged.
Did I correctly perceived the way it works ? If so, why Description doesn't follow the same behavior than Manufacturer and Model Number do?
Related topic : http://forums.stardraw.com/Topic18944.aspx
Thank You,
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By Rob Robinson - 1/8/2023 1:33:47 PM
Hi Hughes,
If I understand your question correctly, the behavior depends on how the UDP Symbol has been authored.
If the text fields are substitution fields i.e. "[Manufacturer]", "[Model Number]", "[Description]" then the text will be substituted with the values of those Attributes.
But if the text in the base UDP symbol is just raw text values e.g. "Acme Electronics", "RR-0108", "Widget" then those values will persist because they are not bound to an Attribute.
i hope this is helpful.
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By Hughes - 1/8/2023 2:53:00 PM
Hi Rob,
Thank you for replying so fast.
My question is not related to what's dynamic or static in a symbol design but to what's is dynamic or static within a product identity.
I understand that three fields are not editable at the symbol level: Manufacturer, Model Number and Description.
Those three fields are only editable through the UDP editing product window.
And once again, if I well understand your words, when a UDP is imported into a project, those three fields have to be persistent for that instance of the UDP no matter what happened to the 'parent' UDP in the library. Only a new instance of a UDP taken from the library will come with the latest product identity information.
The behavior I told about in my previous post is that only two of those three fields are well preserved for symbols of an existing UDP in a project: Manufacturer and Model Number.
The third field Description is updated for any symbol of an existing UDP in a project.
Is that the intended behavior ?
I'm not talking about a [Description] attribute but the Description label.
Regards,
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By Hughes - 1/8/2023 3:52:43 PM
Hi Rob,
I sent 've send an email with a video showing the update of the Description label for an existing UDP in a project.
Regards,
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By Rob Robinson - 1/8/2023 6:40:36 PM
Hi Hughes,
Thanks for sending the video - we understand the behavior, which is by design.
Description is a hardcoded value set into the symbol by the UDP Wizard. The reason it is set as hardcoded text is because the text in a library symbol may be different from the value used in the Description attribute of the product.
As an example, in the Stardraw library the Crestron product AMP-8075 has the description "Avia 8-Channel Power Amplifier, 75W/Ch., 4/8 Ohm or 70V, North America & Japan, 100-120V", which is useful for identifying and selecting the product, but this much text would not fit into a symbol well so a shortened label is used, "8 Channel Amp".
To keep things simple in the UDP Wizard the decision was taken, quite a while ago, to hardcode rather than bind that text to an Attribute.
I hope this helps to explain what's happening, although I can understand - in the particular case that you have reported - that it may seem un-intuitive.
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By Hughes - 1/10/2023 6:53:10 PM
Hi Rob,
Thank you for the explanation.
Regards,
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