ECLASS Advanced Editor Screen

The ECLASS Advanced Editor Screen in the Web UI is designed to allow users to maintain products already linked to the ECLASS Advanced hierarchy and link existing or new products to one more version of the ECLASS Advanced hierarchy. The ECLASS Advanced Editor Screen enables the users to add and remove blocks, modify product data attributes, and approve products all within the Web UI.

For more information on importing ECLASS data into STEP, refer to the ECLASS Classification Importer section of the documentation here

Important: The ECLASS Advanced Editor does not auto-save changes made to products. It is recommended to frequently save changes made to products to ensure data is not lost. The user will be prompted every 'X' minute(s) based on the configuration (capped at 20 minutes) to save any unsaved data. In the example below, every 5 minutes a dialog is displayed prompting the user to save any unsaved data.

Additionally, if the user attempts to leave the page without saving data, the 'Unsaved Changes' dialog will display prompting users to stay on the page. When the user selects 'Cancel' to stay on the page, they still must save any changes made to the product by clicking save.

To access the ECLASS Advanced Editor Screen, you must first have obtained an ECLASS Advanced commercial license, 'X.ECLASSADVANCED' system license, and the eclass-advanced add-on component. Once the proper licenses, component, and privileges are acquired, you must configure the ECLASS Advanced Screen. For more information on configuring the ECLASS Advanced Editor Screen refer to the ECLASS Advanced Screen documentation here.

Adding the ECLASS Advanced Editor Screen

To start using the ECLASS Advanced Editor, first create the ECLASS Advanced Editor screen and map it, or add it as a tab page on a node details page, so that it displays as needed for the relevant products. The screen is ready to use once added, and requires no additional configuration. The administrator may choose to configure the 'Link to ECLASS Advanced' button if the user(s) has privileges to link to the ECLASS Advanced Classification. For information on adding and mapping screens, refer to the [Designer Access topic in the Web User Interfaces documentation here

Linking a product to the ECLASS Advanced Classification

The ECLASS Advanced Editor Screen enables users to link products to an ECLASS Advanced Classification. To establish this link, follow the instructions described below:

  1. Select a product to link from the product hierarchy in the Global Navigation Panel.

  2. Navigate to the ECLASS Advanced Editor Screen to access the editor screen. If a product hasn’t been linked to any ECLASS Advanced Classification, a message displays that reads, 'Product not linked to ECLASS Advanced.'

  1. To link a product to the ECLASS Advanced Classification, click the 'Link to ECLASS Advanced' button. A dialog displays titled 'Link to ECLASS Advanced Application Class.' The dialog will have the ECLASS Advanced versions displayed under 'Browse' based on ECLASS Advanced versions imported into STEP and user privileges.

  1. Within the relevant ECLASS version displayed in the dialog, navigate to the desired application class to be linked with the product. Only those application classes that are valid for the relevant product are available to select. When you select the desired application class, the 'Link' button is enabled.

  2. To establish the link from the product to the ECLASS hierarchy, click the 'Link' button in the dialog.

Once the 'Link' button has been clicked, the dialog closes. Once the system has successfully fetched all relevant application class attributes and aspects being applied to the product, the screen reloads.

Linked Product View

In the screenshot of the ECLASS Advanced Editor Screen shown above, the important elements of that screen will display with an associated number. Below is a list of the relevant screen elements displayed in the ECLASS Advanced Editor Screen describing their purpose, numbered according to the corresponding numbers in the screenshot:

  1. ECLASS Advanced Version dropdown - A dropdown that allows the user to select which ECLASS Advanced version data to display. If a selected object is linked to a specific ECLASS Advanced version, that version will display as an option on this dropdown.

  2. Remove link - A button that allows you to remove a product from a linked ECLASS Advanced application class.

  3. Approve ECLASS - A button that allows the user to approve saved changes to a product and corresponding aspects and blocks.

  4. Aspect - A grouping of attributes related to the object that are not descriptors of the object itself.

  5. Save - A button that allows the user to save changes made to a product.

  6. Link to ECLASS Advanced - A button that allows the user to link a product to one or more ECLASS Advanced versions.

Linking products to multiple versions

Users can link a product to multiple ECLASS Advanced versions.

To link an ECLASS Advanced-linked product to an additional ECLASS hierarchy version, select a product and follow the same steps above for linking to an ECLASS Advanced Application Class. The versions of ECLASS that are already linked to the product will not be available to link with as those versions are already linked to the product.

Linked ECLASS versions display in a dropdown menu on the left side of the page.

After linking a product to an ECLASS version, the attributes, aspects, and blocks will display on the page. Users can use the 'expand/collapse section’ link or arrow on the left of the section to expand a particular aspect(s) or block(s) to access the attributes.

Removing a link

If the user desires to unlink a product from an ECLASS Advanced version, click the 'Remove link' button on the right side of the screen. A confirmation dialog will display asking the user, 'Are you sure you want to remove the 'ECLASS Advanced application class' application class link from version 'ECLASS version' for this product? Please note that this action will delete all the associated aspects and blocks.' Users can use the 'expand/collapse section’ link or arrow on the left of the section to expand a particular aspect(s) or block(s) to access the attributes. Click the 'Remove' button in the confirmation dialog to unlink the product. After the user clicks the 'Remove' button, the product will be unlinked, and all linked objects (aspects and blocks) created during the maintenance process will be deleted. The page will reload with the current active ECLASS Advanced version, if one still exists otherwise, the page will display 'Product not linked to ECLASS Advanced'.

Adding and Editing blocks

To add blocks in the ECLASS Advanced Editor Screen, follow the steps described below:

  1. Expand an aspect to display the attributes.

  2. Click the plus sign '+' across from the cardinality attribute.

The user can also edit, remove, or add values to attributes in the editor screen. To do so, click the field across from the attribute to edit the data.

Every attribute has a validation base type and it cannot be changed in the editor. For example, if the validation base type for an attribute is 'Number', text cannot be added to this field. Whenever a user tries to add invalid data in an attribute, a message is displayed below the field explaining why the input is invalid and asking the user to remove the invalid data. The ‘Save’ button at the bottom of the page will be disabled if any invalid data exists on the page, and it will be enabled when data has been altered and is valid on the page. Click the 'Save' button to keep any changes made to the product data.

Support for Cardinality - Adding more blocks

Users can add more blocks inside an application class or aspect for a product based on the cardinality attribute. For example, at the bottom of the product page, under the aspect section labeled 'Add on Documentation', users can add multiple 'Additional Information' blocks.

  1. Click the plus sign '+' to the right of 'number of documentations' cardinality attribute to add an 'Additional Information' block.

  2. Click the arrow on the left of the newly added 'Additional Information' block to expand and add details into the expanded fields. The 'Save' button will be enabled when changes are made to the product.

  3. Click 'Save' to save your changes.

Support for Polymorphism - Adding more blocks of a specific block subtype

The ECLASS Advanced Editor screen supports polymorphism as well. Users can add more blocks of a specific block subtype when they click on the ‘+’ against the attribute which allows both cardinality and polymorphism. The example below describes how a polymorphic 'Connector’ block is added to the 'CAx connector and function’ aspect against the attribute ‘number of connectors’:

  1. Click the 'expand section' link or arrow to expand the 'CAx connector and function' aspect.

  2. To add a connector, click the plus sign to the right '+' of the ‘number of connectors’ attribute and a dialog box will display. The dialog box will list the types of 'Connections' available to add this to the aspect:

  3. Select a 'Connection Type' to enable 'Add.' Click 'Add' to add the selected ‘Connection’ type block to the ‘CAx connector and function’ aspect.

Note: Data containers are rendered as blocks in the ECLASS Advanced Editor Screen. Data containers cannot be added in the editor. To add a new container, add a new block containing a data container which means only a single data container will be added against the newly added block.

New blocks are moved to the top of the list of blocks. Blocks are listed newest to oldest, from top to bottom.

Approving ECLASS Products

To approve product changes, the user must have approval privileges. To enable the 'Approve ECLASS' button, all changes must be saved. The 'Approve ECLASS' button is only available on the ECLASS Advanced Editor Screen. When the user clicks the 'Approve' button, a background process runs that approves the changes affecting the product, blocks, and aspects.