Creating Container Attributes

Container attributes are helpful when an attribute consists of other attributes or products. Instead of writing complex product rules where attributes need to be dynamically added to a configuration, an administrator can use an attribute container. An attribute container can dynamically expand, either by a set of attributes or another product.

For example, if a user is buying several computers with different configurations, each computer can be configured in the container attribute, ensuring that each product meets specific needs. A container attribute helps situations where the user wants to add similar items, but configure each one individually. They also work well when answering repetitive questions.

A container attribute's structure resembles a table with information provided in rows. Column elements are selection fields or informative labels.

Container attribute rows can either be added or deleted manually during a product's configuration or created automatically by a rule or script.

Common examples of container attributes include the following:

• Insurance questions for each member of a family
• Configuring a rack server
• Customized engineering
• Multiple billing or shipping addresses
• Site location information

Presenting selectors for one or more attributes, the selected values can be used in CTX tags, rules, or computed fields. 

The Container attribute's columns are associated with regular attributes, user-entered values, or computed values.

Administrators can associate the Container attribute to one or more products allowing each row to represent a product in the bundle. Then, they can associate one or more columns with product properties, allowing users to manipulate selectors to determine the product's configuration. Products appear as secondary line items of the parent product.

Administrators can associate the Container attribute columns with columns from a custom table. They can write a rule to populate the container rows with values from the custom table and use container rows in the product property formula in a rule or in a script.

An Administrator can also name one column as a selector and associate the Container attribute's other columns with columns from a custom table. The column containing product codes must be named as such. The administrator can then write a rule to populate the container with data from that custom table. When the container is added to the quote, each selected row is filled with a product that matches the product code.

Let's create and use container attributes in the following exercise.