Dimensions
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Products can be multi dimensional. Besides the quantity of goods being placed on a document up to three other dimensions can be given to each product. To add dimensions to a product the dimension types must first be defined in the Pulldown Lists. Typical dimensions are Width, Length, Height, etc. Each dimension type can be given a description and a conversion rate. The conversion rate is the factor that the input quantity for that dimension needs to be multiplied by to convert it to the units of price for that product. As an example a sheet of particle board may be priced at $45.25 a square metre. The product has two dimensions beside the quantity being purchased:
Length - in metres with a conversion rate of 1 (ie. no conversion)
Width - In inches with a conversion rate of .0254 (ie 1 inch = 25.4 mm = .0254 metres)
Thus to buy 4 sheets which are 2 metres long and 30 inches wide would cause the following calculation:
In addition to the conversion and multiple dimension capabilities is the ability to fix a given dimension. This allows you to price all sheets by the square metre but to enter each standard sheet width as a separate product with a fixed width dimension. The price is still extended as in the example above but the user need not enter the width of the product each time. The size field on the product file is used to record this fixed dimension or in the case of non-fixed dimensions to record a default value for that dimension.
It should be noted that when a product with dimensions is sold the product description has the dimension names and quantities added to it. Thus the plank in the above example may end up with a description that reads "Plank Length: 4, Width: 3". By incorporating a scale abbreviation into the dimension description you can improve this to read "Plank Length (m): 4, Width (Inch): 3".
If a dimension is given a zero quantity (either from the product file as a fixed/default size or input by the user) then for calculation purposes the quantity will be treated as 1 but the product description will not show a quantity for that dimension. Thus if you were selling nails that are priced by the hundred but sold loose you may give them a dimension of "Per hundred". this dimension would have a conversion rate of .01 and the product would be given this as a fixed dimension with a size (quantity) of zero. The effect of this is that at sale time the user is asked only for the quantity of nails, this is multiplied by the dimension quantity which being zero is treated as 1 causing the equation Quantity x (1 x .01). This converts the loose nail quantity entered by the user into a per hundred quantity which can then be multiplied by the price. the description would print without a quantity (because the fixed dimension size was zero) and result in "Nails Per hundred".