Finish a profile system: glazing beads, length corrections and allowed products
What this does
Three tabs finish a profile system after its identity and its colour rules. Glazing Beads tells WindoorERP which bead product to cut for each glass thickness, so nobody picks beads in the designer. Length Corrections nudges the cut lengths the designer produces so the saw gets the figures your workshop has verified. Allowed Products restricts which sales products may use the system in the Frame Studio Designer.
The bead tab is where a wrong thickness costs the most: the analysis finds the bead line by the thickness of the glass chosen in the design, so the two figures must match exactly.
Before you start
- The bead products created in the product catalogue, one per bead section and colour.
- The glass builds defined under System › Profiles & Glass › Glass, with their exact thicknesses.
- For length corrections, a small design saved from the designer and cut lengths measured against your workshop's practice. Calibrating a system is a job of its own; this article explains the fields.
Steps
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01
Open the system and go to the Glazing Beads tab. Click Add a line and type the Glass Thickness (mm) exactly as it is on the glass record, then pick the Color.
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02
Leave Same For All Types on and choose the Bead Product (all types) when one bead glazes everything; switch it off to fill a bead per type instead.
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03
Save the record, then use the Duplicate Line icon to copy the line for the next thickness and change only the thickness and the bead.
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04
On the Length Corrections tab add one rule per component and connection whose length must move, with the signed delta in millimetres. Tick Cut Length Follows Cut-to-Cut once the rules are calibrated.
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05
Click Length Test to preview the raw and corrected cut lengths this system produces.
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06
On the Allowed Products tab add the sales products that may use this system, or leave the tab empty to leave every product unrestricted.
Glazing Beads
One line per glass thickness and colour. The designer engine cuts a different bead depending on what the bar glazes, so each line can carry a product per bead type. The bead colour is set from one side only, because a bead is always installed from one side, and it follows the profile colour on the glazing side.
| Column | What it does |
|---|---|
| Glass Thickness (mm) | Required. The thickness of the glass this line serves. It is matched against the Thickness of the glass chosen in each design, so enter it exactly as the glass record has it. |
| Color | The colour of the bead. |
| Same For All Types | On: one bead product is used whatever the bar glazes, and only Bead Product (all types) is shown. Off: the per-type columns appear. Most systems have a wider bead for fixed lights and a narrower one for the sash. |
| Bead Product (all types) | Required when Same For All Types is on. Also the fallback for any per-type field left empty when it is off. |
| Fixed Bead | Glazes a fixed light held directly by the frame or mullions. |
| Sash Bead | Glazes an opening sash. |
| Screen Bead, Panel Bead, Shade Sash Bead, Fixed Net Bead | Hidden by default; add them from the column picker. They hold the mesh in a fly-screen sash, glaze an infill panel instead of glass, glaze a sash with an integral blind, and hold a fixed insect net. |
| Notes | Hidden by default. Free text for the line. |
| Duplicate Line icon | Copies the line with all its products. The record is saved first, so a line that fails its own check stops the duplication with that check's message. |
Two checks run when a line is saved, and each refuses the save with a message. With Same For All Types on and no product: Glazing bead for 6 mm glass: pick a Bead Product, or untick "Same For All Types" and set one per bead type. With it off and no product in any column: Glazing bead for 6 mm glass: set a product for at least one bead type (or tick "Same For All Types"). The thickness in the message is the line's own.
Only bead products that exist in the catalogue can be chosen; the field does not create products.
Length Corrections
The rules nudge the cut lengths the designer engine produces, per component and connection type. Leave a criterion empty to match any value. When several rules match a bar the most specific one wins, subtype before connection type before component type, and ties are broken by sequence. Deltas are signed millimetres added to the engine's length; the saw kerf configured in the production settings is applied on top.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Cut Length Follows Cut-to-Cut | Reports the corrected cut-to-cut value as the bar's cut length instead of the engine's raw length. Cut-to-cut is measured to the frame edge and the mullion centre, so it depends only on where the bars sit; the raw length is the clear daylight the engine computed, which shifts with how the drawing was split. Tick it once the rules are calibrated against cut-to-cut, so the cut length, the length in metres and the purchase quantities all follow the verified figure. Bars with no matching rule are left alone. |
| Drag handle | Sets the Sequence, the tie-break between rules of equal specificity; the lowest applies first. |
| Component Type | Frame, Sash, Glass, Mullion Frame, Mullion Sash, Glazing Bead, Fold Sash, Slide Sash, Steel Liner, Connector or Other. Empty matches any type. For Glass, the orientation selects which panel dimension the delta adjusts. |
| Connection Type | The bar's connection at its ends: None-None, None-Frame, None-Mullion, Frame-Frame, Frame-Mullion, Mullion-Mullion, SideTrack-SideTrack, SideTrack-Frame, SideTrack-Mullion or UpDownTrack. Empty matches any connection. |
| Orientation | Horizontal (Width) or Vertical (Height); empty matches both. For a glass rule it selects the glass width or height. |
| Sash Family | Door or Window / Fixed; empty matches both. Use it to give door sashes and door glass a different deduction from windows sharing the same subtype. |
| Component Subtype | Hidden by default. The exact bar subtype string from the designer, for example doubleSashMullion. The most specific criterion. |
| Cut-to-Cut Δ (mm) | Signed millimetres added to the cut-to-cut length of matching bars, or to the chosen panel dimension for a glass rule. |
| Raw Length Δ (mm) | Signed millimetres added to the raw bar length of matching bars. |
| Note | Free text, for the source of the figure. |
| Active | Hidden by default. Switch a rule off without deleting it. |
| Duplicate Line icon | Copies the rule. |
Under Test This System, the Length Test button runs a sample design through the analysis arithmetic and shows the cut lengths this system produces, raw next to corrected. Paste a full design save from the designer into Test Design JSON to use your own small window as the sample.
Allowed Products
The products listed here offer this system in their Frame Studio Designer. A product with an empty allowed-profiles list is unrestricted and can use every system; adding a product here restricts it to its listed systems only. The link is the same one shown on the product form as Allowed System Profiles, so it can be managed from either side; see the article on linking a product to the FrameStudio designer.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Internal Reference | The product's internal reference. |
| Name | The product's name. |
| Design Type | The product's design type; only products drawn in the designer make sense here. |
| Sales Price | The product's list price. |
| Add a line | Picks an existing product; the link removes with the cross at the end of the row. |
This is how profiles of different origins stay apart. A German window product allows the German hinge series and its sliding partner; a Chinese or Turkish product allows its own series; each product keeps its own price, and an estimator can never put a series on a product it was not meant for.
Troubleshooting
A design gets no bead for its glass: no bead line has that exact Glass Thickness (mm). Compare the figure with the glass record's Thickness and add or correct the line.
A line will not save: read the message. It names the thickness and tells you either to pick the Bead Product (all types) or to set at least one per-type product.
Duplicate Line stops with a bead message: the record is saved before the copy, and an unfinished line fails its check. Complete the line, then duplicate.
A rule never changes anything: another rule matches the same bars more specifically, or the criteria are narrower than the bar. Empty the criteria you are unsure of and use Length Test to see which figures move.
The cut length in the analysis still shows the engine's raw figure after adding rules: Cut Length Follows Cut-to-Cut is off, so the corrected cut-to-cut value is not the reported cut length.
A product does not offer this system in the designer: the product has other systems listed and this one is not among them. Add the product here, or add this system on the product's Allowed System Profiles.
Common mistakes
- Typing a rounded thickness on the bead line while the glass record carries the exact one, so no line ever matches.
- Switching Same For All Types off on every line when one bead really does glaze everything, and then leaving the per-type columns half filled.
- Writing overlapping correction rules and expecting both to apply. Only the most specific one does.
- Ticking Cut Length Follows Cut-to-Cut before the rules are verified against the saw.
- Adding one product to Allowed Products as a reminder, which silently restricts that product to this single system.
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