product configuration

Overview

Next Design allows you to determine the variability of each product by defining the target products for product line development and selecting valid features for each product. This set of tasks is called Configuration.

The procedure for configuring target products for product line development is explained below in the following order.

• configure the product
• Select features by product
• Check consistency of feature selection state

Configure the product

Switch to Configuration Editor

To start configuring the product, follow the steps below from the project screen.

Operation procedure

1. Switch to the Configuration Editor by doing one of the following:

   • Click [Product Line] > [Configuration] displayed in the product line of the project screen.
   • Click Product Line > View > Configuration Editor from the ribbon.
   • Select [Product line navigator] in the selector at the top of the navigation, and select [Configuration] directly under the project in the product line navigator.

Add Products

Immediately after starting product line development, the target product is empty. To add a target product for product line development, follow the steps below from the product line navigator.

Operation procedure

1. In the product line navigator, click Add > Product from the Configuration context menu to A new product is added under Configuration and appears on the far right of the configuration editor.
2. Drag and drop the column titles to change the order of the products.
3. How to change the product name will be explained in the subsequent steps.

Edit product details

To edit the product name and details, follow these steps:

Operation procedure

1. Select a product in the product line navigator.
2. View and edit the detail view of the product.

Duplicate a product

To clone an existing product with the same configuration settings as another product, from the product line navigator:

Operation procedure

1. In the product line navigator, select the existing product to be duplicated from the products directly under [Configuration].
2. Click [Product Line] > [Configuration] > [Clone] from the ribbon to add the cloned product after the existing product.
3. Return to the configuration editor by clicking Product Line > View > Configuration Editor from the ribbon, and you will see the cloned product on the far right of it.
4. Edit the cloned product's name, etc. as described in "Edit product details" above.

Delete Product

To delete an existing product, from the product line navigator:

Operation procedure

1. Select the product to be deleted from the products directly under [Configuration] in the product line navigator.
2. Do one of the following to remove the product:
   • Click [Product Line] > [Configuration] > [Delete] on the ribbon.
   • Click Delete from the context menu.

Select features by product

Select Features

To select valid features by product, do the following:

Operation procedure

1. Select [Configuration] directly under the project in the product line navigator to switch to the configuration editor.
2. Check and select the valid ones for each feature of the product.

note

• In the initial state of the product, the following features are selected.
  • Mandatory feature
  • Features whose property [Set as initial selection state] is checked

reference

• Please refer to the following description for checking and changing the feature property [Set as initial selection state].

  product line development > feature model definition > define feature model structure set the initial selection state of features in

caution

• If the parent feature is deselected and then reselected, the descendant features will be reset to their initial state.
• When the parent feature is selected, check the selection of descendant features as well.
• Note that even mandatory features can change their selection state.

Filter products to display

To limit the products displayed in the configuration editor to only some, follow the steps below.

Operation procedure

1. Hide some products by doing one of the following:

   • Right-click the product column title and execute the Hide this Column command from the context menu.
   • Uncheck the products you want to hide in the Product Selector below the product line navigator.

2. To unhide the hidden products, check the products you want to unhide in the Product Selector.

To pin the product column to the left so that it is always visible, do the following:

Operation procedure

1. Drag and drop the product column titles to change the order so that the products you want to always display are on the left side.
2. Right-click the product column title and run the Fix to this Column command from the context menu.
3. To unfix the column, right-click on the name column title and execute the Fix to this Column command from the context menu.

Check feature selection state consistency

Check Consistency

To check the integrity of the feature selection state, do the following:

Operation procedure

1. Click [View] > [Pane] > [Error List] on the ribbon to display the error list.
2. Click Product Line > Configuration > Check Consistency on the ribbon.
3. If there is an error, it will be displayed in the error list and also on the configuration editor.
4. Correct the feature selection state by referring to the error message.
5. After making corrections, perform validation again to confirm that the error has been resolved.

Cancel error display

To cancel the error display, follow the steps below.

Operation procedure

1. Do one of the following:
   • From the ribbon, click [Product Line] > [Configuration] > [Check Consistency], [▼] at the bottom, and click [Clear Error].
   • Click the Clear Error Contents button on the Error List toolbar.