Quick Start Guide

From SimplePDM wiki

The following guide is in a form of a tutorial that will cover the process of creating contents and linking them to each other. In a less technical lingo this means:

• Uploading a style file (pattern file you created in your CAD software).
• Adding some information to those style files - such as their production state; or who is assigned to them at the current moment.
• Upload content that is related to that style - things like the technical illustration or a Marker file.

In the end of this tutorial you should know how to create a product portfolio (a collection of information that it's final output is a product).

Contents 1 Create Style Content 2 Create Content Linked To The Style Content 3 Summary 4 See Also

Create Style Content

The first content will add to our group, which will of course be kept private from any unauthorized members, is the style content. Pick up any of the patterns you are currently working on. We will demonstrate using a jacket pattern file.

1. After logging in into the system with your username and password, on the left hand side you will see the navigation menu. Under Create content click on Style. You should now see Add style content form. Enter the title of the content. This will usually be the serial number or code of the style. Our jacket is called jacket-100. Note that the title field is unique, which means you can't have the same title on two different content.
2. Select who this style should be assigned to. If you are the only member in your group, this field is not important, however it is still there waiting for the day you will decide to add other members, and delegate your work to them.
3. Tags help you categorize your content. The tagging system allows you to define your own vocabularies and terms. You can decide by yourself what is the best way to categorize your content and by doing so, it will allow you to quickly find your content, even with complex queries. For example, you can quickly find all the styles that were done in summer 2009, made out of cotton and denim with metal buttons - all thanks to the power of the tagging system. Your group has a default vocabulary already defined for it which is Season, so you can choose the season your style belongs to. You don't need to define all your vocabularies and terms from day one, you can always go back later and add them.
4. The icon image is not a required field, but is handy. If you have a real picture of the style, for example a catalog picture, you can use it. This image will appear as the icon of this content and allow you to visually recognize it. You may also leave this empty and let the automatic tasks (which will soon briefly discuss) populate it for you with a thumbnail image of your patterns.
5. Description. Don't be tempted to enter your fabric information here. You should use the tagging system for it, as it will allow simplePDM robot to understand your jacket is made out of wool.
6. Finally - the style file. Add you file here and it will be saved for you and your groups members. Even if you'll later on edit the style content and add a new file, the previous one will not be deleted, thanks to the content revisions system.
7. Our jacket is not yet ready for production, it still needs some work, so we'll keep it on Draft.
8. We'll skip Content reference and learn about it in the next section.
9. Keep automatic tasks enabled. simplePDM robot can recognize many style file formats and, for instance, convert them to other CAD formats (for collaboration) or populate the icon image or generate the pieces table among other tasks. Learn more about it in the Automatic Tasks page.
10. Click on the Save button, and wait until the form is submitted. Once it is done, you will be redirected to your content view. Click on the simplePDM icon on the top left of your screen - this will take you to your group's home page. Notice that the "Welcome to your new group!" message is gone and was replaced with the your first content - the style content.

Create Content Linked To The Style Content

In the last section we created a style content. We will now continue by adding a second content, but this time of an image type. We'll use a catalog image of the jacket.

1. Under Create content click on Image. You would probably notice that this form is almost identical to the style content.
2. Add a title, we'll give a descriptive name such as catalog image jacket and pants.
3. Add an image file (png, jpeg format).
4. Content reference - this field helps us connecting different contents together. But before we learn how to do it, let's understand why we need to do it. As you've seen, the title of our image is "catalog image jacket and pants". As the name implies the image shows both jacket and a pair of pants. However we will not need to upload the same image twice - (one for the jacket and one for the pants). We can upload the image just once, and link it (i.e. reference it) to the jacket style, and later on to the pants style. The advantage is this: Imagine you took a picture of a model that wears three different garments - jacket, pants and a scarf. Later you linked that image to all three styles. After that a college of yours noticed that the image is a little blurry and suggested replacing it. Well, the good thing is that now you have to replace the image only once - and all three styles that were referenced by the image content, will be updated automatically. In other words, working with separate and atomic elements that can be linked and referenced to each other, allows building product portfolio, that are easy to maintain. Ok, so now we can learn how to reference other content. In the Content reference field start typing the title of your style (we will type jacke) and as soon you do that, you will notice that simplePDM helps you by auto-completing the title. Once you choose the title of your content (currently the only content you have in your group), you will see your title [nid:x]. The [nid:x] (X is a number) shows the unique number of this content in simplePDM. If you would like to know more about it visit the Node ID page.
5. Click on the Save button. When the form is submitted you will see the content view and will notice that Content reference field is populated with a link to the style.
6. Click on the link, and you will be taken to the style view. Look at the block on the right, that is called Referrers - you should recognize your image content there.
7. You can continue and add another image or maybe a Marker or Spec contents, and link all of them to the style. Go back to the style view, and you will see all the style's related content.
8. When you finished adding the different contents go back to your home page (the simplePDM icon), and see the table of all the contents you just created.

Summary

You have learned how to add content and how to link different contents to each other. You now have enough knowledge to start building your own product portfolios. Note that while the system allows you to reference a style to other content, usually it is considered best practice to reference other content to the style, as this will place the style in the center of your product portfolio.

See Also

• Case Tracker
• SimplePDM Uploader