Hi SD Team,

I would like to standardize the format of several product attributes like date, serial number, IP address.
I've seen that a Format field is available under Tools / Settings / Personalization / Settings / Product Attributes when adding such a attribute.
But I can't find any explanation in the online help how to format a product attribute.
Is there an other resource that explain how to apply an input format to a product attribute ?

Thank you,
Hughes

Hi Hughes.

For formatting follow the standard set by Excel e.g. if you want to format a number so that it always displays 3 digits set format as 000, then 1, 21 and 99 will display as 001, 021 and 099 respectively.

I'm not sure how you would expect to format IP Address, because each element can have 1, 2 or 3 digits e.g. 8.8.8.8 or 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.255.255, but never 192.168.000.001, plus you'd have to set the delimiter so I'm not sure I see the benefit of formatting because you would have to exactly type in the the numbers and points, exactly as they have to be displayed.

But, you can set very sophisticated formatting using Excel's principles so, for example, using the format SKU-000.000, if you were to enter the number 12.3 it would display as "SKU-012.300".

I hope this is helpful.


Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com

Hi Rob,

The value I enter in the format field is not persistent.
Format field is blank when I return to Tools / Personalization interface.

Hughes

Hi Hughes,

You may be right, but the formatting you have set will still work in Attributes.


Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com

Hi Rob,

Not a single Format is not applied after an Update Attribute Values, even for a new added product into a drawing.
Is there a way to delete a product attribute (of all products in the project) previously added in Tools | Personalization | Settings ? Update Attribute Values doesn't remove a deleted Product Attribute under Tools | Personalization | Settings.

Hughes

Hi Hughes,

The purpose of Edit | Update Attribute Values is to re-synchronize the project against the current values of Attributes stored in the Product Attributes Spreadsheet.  It does not re-align Attribute placeholders with those found in Tools | Personalization | Settings.

Also, please be aware that Attributes, once they exist in a project, cannot be deleted.  It has been assumed that, once set, the Attribute structure would be fixed and not require design-time changes - part of the problem may be that you are transitioning from how things stand initially, and where you want to get to.

That said, it may be possible that you are attempting to use Attributes in a way that is beyond their original design, and outside of the scenarios for which we have tested.  We may need to work together to achieve your objective.

On that thought, perhaps you can share a project file with us - just email it to techsupport@stardraw.com - and describe the exact objectives you want to achieve.  In this way we can help you get to where you want to be and, if further development is required, we can treat this as a specific feature request. 




Kind regards,
Rob Robinson
Stardraw.com