A Warning attribute identifies that the configuration has ended up in a disallowed state and informs the user. These kinds of rules can be arbitrarily complex and are often used in composite configuration scenarios. Triggered warning attributes prevent the promotion of a configuration's state.
An attribute used as a rule
A warning attribute is an attribute that is used like a rule. Therefor warning attributes are created like any attribute and are found in the product's list of attributes, not among the rules.
Settings for warning attributes
The settings below are important to consider for a warning attribute:
Setting name |
Description |
|---|---|
Sum type |
Recommended to be set to New line separated. In this way the same warning attribute can be linked multiple times to a product with different triggers and messages. If many instances of the attribute are triggered a common message with line separation of individual messages can be generated. |
Value type |
Must be String. |
Is warning |
Must be checked. |
Resolve warning mandatory from state |
Defines from which state it's mandatory to resolve the warning. Promote to this state or higher is not allowed with the warning triggered. If the configuration already is in the specified state, then save of the configuration is not allowed as long as the warning is triggered. |
Title |
Title can often be left blank for warning attributes to let the message that is generated by the Value expression use the full space when the warning is displayed in an attribute panel. |
Inclusion expression (Product / Attribute link) |
Defines the trigger for the warning. |
Value expression (Product / Attribute link) |
Defines the message for the warning. |
Sum with previous value (Product / Attribute link) |
Must be checked if the same warning attribute is linked multiple times to a product. |
Display warning messages
Warning messages are automatically displayed in pop-up dialogs when promotion of a configuration's state or save of a configuration isn't allowed due to a triggered warning attribute. However, it's also useful to show warning messages in the user interface in such a way that the user is notified about the problems directly after warning attributes have been triggered.
To display a warning message, use an attribute panel and place it close to the parameters that can trigger the warning or on a separated tab that is shown all the time. Make sure to check Hide attributes with empty values for the attribute panel so that empty (non-triggered) messages are not shown.
