I've just updated our help on defining new products. Here it is:
Configuring products with the RealTimeDesigner
Your RealTimeDesigner system is installed with several test products - please do not delete them until you have time to review how they are each set up. They are an excellent reference for setting up your own products.
Step 1 - On paper, organize your products into Categories.
Step 2 - Cick "PRODUCT OPTIONS -> Manage/Define Products Categories" and make an entry for each of your categories. Enter a number in the SHOW ORDER or SORT ORDER column to control the display order of the categories. You can upload a thumbnail image for each category, but it is not required - just be consistent. Click ADD NEW after entering a category.
Step 3 - Click "PRODUCT OPTIONS -> Manage/Define Products" to begin entering your products. From the pulldown shown, select a PRODUCT CATEGORY to work within.
Step 4 - Enter the product name in the "Name/direct link (*)" column. If you have an online catalog with this product described, enter the URL in the "External Catalog Url" column. You may upload a thumbnail image for the product if you'd like. When complete, click the ADD NEW button. Complete this for each product n that category. When you are done entering products in that category, click on the "Select Product Category:" button at the top of the page to begin entering product in another category.
Step 5 - When you are done defining all of your products, you must then configure each product. From the "Manage/Define Products" screen, select a product category. You will see 4 buttons to the right of each product. EDIT - CONFIGURE - DELETE - CLONE - Click on the CONFIGURE button. You will now see a page with 12 links in an orange box. Each of these links controls a different aspect of the product configuration. Here's a brief description of each:
Configure Generator - this is where you set what drawing tools are available for the product.
Configure External Border - set the border around the drawing area.
Configure Background Colors - colors you allow for the background of the product.(Default All)
Configure Colors - what drawing colors you allow for the product.(Default All)
Configure Sizes - Set the sizes of allowed for each product. (much more later)
Configure Defaults - set the default colors, fonts, etc for the product. (check closely)
Configure Fonts - set which fonts are available for the product. (Default All)
Configure Cliparts - set which clipart categories are used for thie product. (Default All)
Configure Pricing Structure - build pricing tables. (much more later)
Configure Pricing - Set prices, but can't alter table structure.
Clone Pricing Structure - copies your pricing from one product to another.
Disallowed General Templates - excludes template categories from being used by a product.
Click on each link to see the defaults for each. Configure Sizes and Configure Pricing Structure are described in detail below.
Step 6 - Define Product Sizes. There are many options to defining sizes. First, determine whether the product has only one size, a small group of sizes, or an entire range of sizes. The options to choose from are FIXED or RANGED. For fixed sizes, you can have 1 or many defined sizes. For a range, you define the minimum and maximum values along with a default value and a increment value.
Here's some examples of each:
1 Fixed Size: 2x3.5 inch Business Card; 11 ounce Mug; a particular style of Key Chain
Many Fixed Sizes: Bumper Stickers available in several sizes; various sized Note Pads
Ranged Sizes: Vinyl Banners available from 1x1 to 5x25 feet, available in 1 foot increments
Once you have selected and saved whether your product is of the FIXED SIZE or RANGED SIZE type, click on the appropriate link located above the word "GENERAL".
For ranged sizes, you simply enter the minimum and maximum values along with a default value and a increment value for both the height and width. You can create a very large assortment of size possibilities with this one screen. Users will be prompted to pick a value for height and width from a pulldown showng the possible choices. Generally the default screen size of 600x600 is a good setting.
For Fixed sizes, you can only define one size per line, but you can have as many lines as you wish. Later when you enable pricing, the price will be calculated based on the size of the product. If pricing for your product is not directly related to the size, you can set a size override in the PRICING FAKESIZE column. The pricing tables will look at the value in the PRICING FAKESIZE column rather than the Height x Width if this column is any value other than zero. If you leave the NAME TO SHOW column blank, the name will appear as combination of the Width x Height and Part Number. If you fill in the NAME TO SHOW, it will appear in place of the selected size. If you are drawing over a photo of a 11 oz. mug, the photo may scale to 8 inches by 8 inches, but the mug is really only about 4 inches. Use the NAME TO SHOW to place the text "11 OZ CERAMIC MUG" so that the 8x8 drawing area is not displayed in this place. If your product has more than 1 side which is decorated, use the SIDES column to select the number of sides you wish to define.
The VIEW FIXED SIZES & EXTRA OPTIONS button gives you access to setting up background photos, margins and other advanced features of the fixed size products. Refer to the test products to see more detail of the settings. There is a wide variety of multiple sides and multiple background products.
