Build the system
Map the colours to products and prices
Why this step
On the Colors and Materials tab add one rule per finish you sell: outside colour first, inside colour only when the combination uses different products. Set the related product and, for special finishes, the rate per square metre, then fill every bar product on the Main Profiles page, the Sliding System page on a sliding system and the Reinforcements page on uPVC. A bar with no product is never requested, purchased or planned. The article explains the four-step order in which a design picks its row.
What this does
The Colors and Materials tab of a profile system is where a colour becomes real material and a real price. Each row is a colour rule: it names the outside colour, optionally the inside colour, the finished product to put on the order line, the selling rate per square metre, and the inventory product behind every bar of the system in that finish. The design analysis reads these rows whenever a design on this system is calculated.
Two things follow from that. A colour that has no row on the system is not offered for it in the designer at all. And a bar whose product is empty on the matching row is not recognised in the component list, so it is never requested from stock, purchased or planned.
Before you start
- The system's identity and defaults set, as described in the article on setting up a profile system.
- The frame colours you sell already defined under System › Profiles & Glass › Frame Colours.
- The profile products created in the product catalogue: one product per section and finish that your team actually orders and cuts, with the supplier's code as its internal reference.
Steps
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01
Open the system and go to the Colors and Materials tab. Read the blue banner once: it states the order in which a design picks its row.
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02
Click Add a line. Set the Outside Color; leave Inside Color empty for a single-colour row.
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03
Fill the bar products directly in the row: Frame, Sash, Mullion, and on a sliding system Sliding Frame; add Frame Reinf where the system carries steel.
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04
Open the row to reach the full rule form. Set the Related Product and, only where this finish sells at a different price, the Price Rate (per m²).
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05
On the Main Profiles page fill every bar this family uses; on a sliding or universal system also fill the Sliding System page; on uPVC fill the Reinforcements page.
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06
Repeat for every finish you sell, one row per real option. Add a second row with both colours filled only when that dual-colour combination uses different product codes.
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07
Use the Duplicate Line icon at the end of a row to copy a complete rule and change only its colour.
How a design picks its row
When a design on this system is analysed, WindoorERP looks for its row in a fixed order and stops at the first match.
| Order | Match | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Exact dual-colour match | A row where both Outside Color and Inside Color equal the design's colours. Only needed when that combination uses different product codes. |
| 2 | Outside-colour fallback | The row where Outside Color matches and Inside Color is empty. This is the standard single-colour row and the catch-all for that outside colour, whatever the inside colour is. |
| 3 | Profile default | Neither matched: the first row in the list is used regardless of colour. |
| 4 | No product | The system has no rows at all, so no product is assigned to its bars. |
So a window that is blue on both sides needs one row with the outside colour alone; repeating blue as the inside colour adds nothing. White outside and silver inside is a row of its own only if its products differ from the plain white row.
The rule list
The list is editable in place and each row can be opened as a form. The columns are the fields most rules need; the column picker at the end of the header can add Related Product and hide the others.
| Column | What it does |
|---|---|
| Outside Color | Required. The exterior colour of the profile. The key every lookup starts from. |
| Inside Color | Optional. Leave empty for the single-colour catch-all row; fill it only when this dual-colour combination requires different products. |
| Related Product | Hidden by default. The finished sales product for this system and colour; see the rule form below. |
| Rate/m² | The selling rate per square metre for this colour; 0 means use the system's default rate. |
| Frame, Sash, Mullion | The inventory products for the three main bars. |
| Sliding Frame | Shown only on a sliding or universal system. |
| Frame Reinf | The frame reinforcement product, for uPVC. |
| Duplicate Line icon | Copies the whole rule, products included, as a new row. |
The rule form
Clicking a row opens it as a dialog titled Open: Color Mapping, with the colour rule and the pricing at the top and the product pages below. Save writes the row; Discard drops the edits you made in the dialog.
Color Rule and Pricing
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Outside Color | Required. Same field as the list column. |
| Inside Color | Optional. Same field as the list column. |
| Related Product | The finished sales product used when this system and colour are selected. It is placed on the sales order line so users do not pick it by hand, and it is what lets a technical survey turn its measurements into a window with the drawing attached. Any sales product that represents this system and colour can be linked; the link does not stop the system being used by other products. |
| Price Rate (per m²) | The amount per square metre of opening for frames built with this system in this colour, resolved per design like the products. It feeds the sale line's Design System Amount. Leave 0 to use the system's Default Price Rate (per m²) instead, so only special finishes normally carry a rate. |
Main Profiles
The inventory products behind the bars of a hinge, folding or KFC design, and the non-sliding bars of a universal one. Choose the exact item your team orders and cuts; codes from different series must never be mixed.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Frame Product | The frame section. On systems with a different head or sill section it covers the jambs, and the next two fields cover the rest. |
| Top Frame Product | The head section when it differs from the jamb. Falls back to the frame product. |
| Bottom Frame Product | The sill or threshold section when it differs from the jamb, as on KFC systems with a separate lower profile. Falls back to the frame product. |
| Sash Product | The sash section. Where the leaf rails differ from its stiles this covers the vertical bars. |
| Sash Rail Product | The horizontal sash bars when they differ from the vertical ones. Falls back to the sash product. |
| Door Sash Product | The section of a door leaf. |
| Door Sash Rail Product | The horizontal bars of a door leaf. Falls back to the door sash, then the sash rail, then the sash product. |
| Mullion Product | The mullion section. |
| Sash Coupling Product | The coupling for French windows, two sashes meeting without a mullion between them. |
| Door Sash Coupling Product | The same for double doors. |
| Connector Product | The connector that joins two units along a shared side. |
| Converter Product | The extra profile clipped to the sash on an outward-opening aluminium system. Leave it empty on inward systems and on a variant without converter: the converter bars are only added to the cut list when this product is set. |
Sliding System
This page exists only on a system whose Application is Sliding or Universal. A sliding design needs more sections than a hinged one, and each position accepts only the product for that exact part.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Sliding Frame Product | The base profile of the sliding system. Many systems use the frame itself as the track, in which case no separate track product is needed. |
| Sliding Top Track Product | The head track when it is a different section. Falls back to the sliding frame product. |
| Sliding Bottom Track Product | The sill track, a heavier section on most sliders. Falls back to the sliding frame product. |
| Sliding Sash Product | The sliding sash section; it supplies every sash bar unless a rail or stile product below is set. |
| Sliding Sash Rail Product | The horizontal sash bars when they differ. Falls back to the sliding sash product. |
| Sliding Meeting Stile Product | The vertical bar on the side where a leaf meets another leaf. Leave empty when the system uses one stile section all round. |
| Sliding Door Sash Product | Used for a sliding door leaf. Falls back to the sliding sash product. |
| Sliding Lift Sash Product | Used for a lift-and-slide leaf. Falls back to the sliding door product, then the sliding sash product. |
| Sliding Transom Product, Sliding Rail Product, Sliding Fix Adapter Product | The transom, the running rail and the adapter that fixes a fixed pane. |
| Sliding Stile Gap Cover Product | The trim covering the gap between the two centre leaves, one piece per sliding frame cut to the sash height. Only added to the cut list when set. |
Reinforcements
The steel products for a uPVC system, one per profile: Frame Reinf, Sash Reinf, Door Sash Reinf and Mullion Reinf under Main Reinforcements; Sash Coupling Reinf, Door Sash Coupling Reinf, Connector Reinf and, on sliding systems, Sliding Frame Reinf and Sliding Sash Reinf under Coupling and Sliding Reinforcements. They are counted only when Reinforcement is ticked on the Frame Dimensions tab. Aluminium systems normally leave this page empty.
What a missing product means
A bar whose product is empty on the row a design matches is not recognised in the component list. It is not requested from inventory, not put on a purchase order and not planned in manufacturing, and nothing warns you at design time. Review the product pages after creating a system, and again after editing one: clearing a product by accident is easy to miss until the production figures come out wrong. If you notice before saving, Discard restores the original products.
Troubleshooting
A colour is not offered for this system in the designer: it has no row on this tab. Add a row with that Outside Color; a colour that exists under Frame Colours is not enough on its own.
A dual-colour design was analysed with the products of the single-colour row: there is no row with both colours filled, so the outside-colour catch-all was used. That is correct when the products are the same; add the dual row only if they differ.
A design in a colour with no row of its own still got products: the profile default applied, that is the first row in the list. Check that the first row is the one you want as the default.
The price did not change for a special finish: its row has Price Rate (per m²) at 0, so the system's default rate applied.
The analysis lists no frame or no sash for a design: the matching row has that product empty. Fill it and re-run the analysis.
Converter bars appear on an inward system, or are missing on an outward one: Converter Product is set where it should be empty, or the other way round.
Common mistakes
- Repeating the outside colour as the inside colour on a single-colour window. The catch-all row already covers it.
- Adding a dual-colour row for every combination when the products are identical to the single-colour row.
- Filling Price Rate (per m²) on every row instead of relying on the system's default rate.
- Mixing product codes from two series on one row because the sections look alike.
- Leaving a required bar empty and expecting the analysis to complain. It stays silent and the store never sees the bar.
Checkpoint
Every finish you sell has a row, and Frame, Sash and Mullion carry a product on each of them.