An Offer With Standard Parameter Set

The last parameter we wanted to have in the beamer reservation offer was a reservation period. Date-wise, a period is represented by two attributes - start and end. Standard Valuemation already contains a combination of dateFrom and dateTo parameters in the form of a 'From - To Date Optional' standard parameter definition set.

A parameter definition set can be used in an offer with the following pros and cons:

• If a standard parameter definition set containing all desired parameters exists, it can be used in the offer "as is", with further editing.
• Similarly to standard parameter value sets, parameter definition sets are globally maintained. This can be a useful feature if parameter sets in multiple offers are to be unified and automatically updated.
• On the downside, standard parameter definition sets cannot be combined.
• If a standard parameter definition set does not contain all parameters needed for an offer, it needs to be converted to a local parameter definition set and expanded locally with the missing parameters.

The last point above means that the best way to create our example beamer reservation offer would have been to base it on the 'From - To Date Optional' standard parameter definition set, convert the set to local and expand it with other single parameters - see topic 'An Offer With Combined Parameters'.

As a first step, let's see how an offer based entirely on a standard parameter definition set would be created.

1. Create a new offer and fill in offer attributes as appropriate. Select the 'Parameters' check box. The 'Parameters' editor section gets added to the editor.
2. In the 'Parameters' section, click the 'Assign Standard Parameter Set' button.
3. A browser with existing parameter definition sets opens. Select a suitable set and click 'Ok'.
4. Parameters from the selected set appear in the 'Parameters' section of the offer editor.

   The parameters can be reordered but all other modifications refer to the entire parameter set. Right-click in the parameters list and select item 'Standard Set'. The following actions are available:

   • Modify Globally

     Action opens the standard parameter definition set in an editor for modification. Remember that the modification will influence all offers using the standard parameter set "as is", i.e. unmodified locally.

   • Modify Locally

     The action fills the parameters section of the offer with parameters copied from the standard set. The copies are disconnected from the original set and can be independently modified with no danger of influencing other offers. See topic 'An Offer With Combined Parameters' for details.

   • Replace by another Standard Set
   • Remove Standard Set from This Offer