Understand automatic hardware selection

5 min read Updated 2026-08-31 WindoorERP 19.0

What this does

Explains how WindoorERP picks the hardware for each sash by itself — which handle, hinges, locking points and accessories a panel gets, based on what that panel actually is.

Nobody chooses hardware sash by sash. A rule set is maintained once in the back office, and the design analysis applies it to every sash in every job.

Before you start

Nothing, to understand it. Changing the rules needs administrator access to the hardware configuration.
The design drawn and its sashes set, since selection is driven by each sash's size, weight, opening and handing.
Know that the rules are per brand and series — a job specified in one manufacturer's hardware uses that manufacturer's rules.

Steps

A hardware set with its rules

01
Draw the design and set each sash's opening type and handing.
02
Save and run the design analysis.
03
Read the accessories the analysis produced, sash by sash.
04
If something is wrong, correct the rule in the back office rather than the result — the result is regenerated on every analysis.
05
Re-run the analysis and confirm the selection changed as intended.

How the selection is structured

Brand	The hardware manufacturer.
Series	A range within that brand, tied to an application — hinged, sliding, folding. This is what a design resolves against for its own opening family.
Hardware Set	The collection of rules that decides what a sash receives.
Rule	One line: if a sash matches these conditions, add this item, this many.

Sash type is a condition on a rule, not a level of its own. One set covers every sash type in its series, and each rule says which sashes it applies to.

What a rule can test

Size	Minimum and maximum width, height and area. This is how a bigger sash gets a heavier hinge.
Weight	Minimum and maximum sash weight — the usual driver for hinge and stay selection.
Opening family and mode	Which opening type the rule applies to, and how the sash operates.
Handing and opening direction	Whether the rule applies to a left or right hung sash, and which way it opens.
Sash family	Whether the panel is a window sash or a door leaf.
Features	Multi-lock points, anti-theft, water baffle, guard, pass-through door — the specification options a job may carry.
Security class	A minimum rating the hardware must meet.
Role / slot	What the item is for — handle, hinge, lock — so a sash gets one of each rather than several handles.
Quantity and quantity mode	A fixed count, a count taken from the design, or a per-metre calculation for things like weatherstrip.
Handed variant	Whether to substitute the left- or right-handed version of the item.
Sequence	The order rules are evaluated in.

Why the result is not editable

The accessories on an analysis are generated, not stored decisions. Re-running the analysis regenerates them, so anything typed over the result is lost at the next run.

That is deliberate: it means a thousand sashes are specified consistently, and a corrected rule fixes every future job rather than one line. It also means the fix for a wrong item is always upstream.

When the selection is wrong, ask which rule matched and why. The answer is nearly always a range boundary — a sash just over a weight limit, or just under an area threshold.

Troubleshooting

A sash got no hardware	No rule matched it. Check the ranges against that sash's actual width, height, area and weight.
A sash got two handles	Two rules match the same role. Narrow one range, or fix the sequence.
The wrong hinge on a heavy sash	A weight boundary. The sash sits on the wrong side of a minimum or maximum.
My correction disappeared	You edited the analysis result. Correct the rule instead.
Nothing at all was selected	No series resolved for that opening family, or the design has no brand and series set.
A left-hand sash got a right-hand item	The rule's handing condition, or the handed-variant setting on it.
Quantities look wrong on long items	The rule uses a per-metre basis; check what it measures against.

Common mistakes

Editing the analysis result instead of the rule, and losing it at the next run.
Assuming no hardware means a fault. It usually means no rule matched.
Writing rules with overlapping ranges, so two items compete for one slot.
Setting a rule with no upper bound, so it captures every sash above the minimum.
Expecting the designer to choose hardware. Selection happens in the analysis, not on the canvas.

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