FF&EZ allows you to attach a single image to each product specification.  This works well with most specifications if you follow the "object-component" model explained in the introduction.  In that case, each "complex" object is made of one or more products, with each product having its own image.  The basic "Illustration Sheet" report format uses this structure to print all of the images for a particular object.

However, you may need to write only a single specification that actually describes more than one product.  This might happen when the vendor for a chair will supply the fabrics for it without need for a separate purchase order (so a separate fabric specification isn't needed).  In that case, the specification's single image would not be sufficient to show both the chair and the fabric (or fabrics).

FF&EZ provides a simple solution for this situation that not only allows you to attach another image, but allows you to attach as many images as you need.  This is done by creating special "image-only" specifications and attaching them to the object as secondary components, just like a "real" specification.  An image-only specification is used only for adding extra images and the system will never create an order for it nor include it separately in any quotes.  To create one, you simply select the "Image only" option on the Specification screen when you create the additional image spec: 

Selecting the "Image only" option creates a special type of spec in which only certain fields are available. The specification is automatically excluded from any ordering activity.

When this option is selected, most of the other specification fields will be disabled, since they are not used for this type of specification.  The following fields will still be usable:

• Spec ID
• Type/Product
• Material Spec checkbox
• Unit of Measure (because it's a required field)
• Vendor ID (also a required field)
• Catalog/Model # (because it is used in naming images and is useful in more clearly identifying the product to which the image refers.)
• Size
• Weight
• Color
• Mat'l / Finish
• Repeat
• The "Design Status" and Notes fields that involve basic status information

The other description fields and pricing fields are not available, and if you change an existing specification to an image-only type, the system will warn you and then zero out the cost and pricing fields.  This is a safety feature to remind you that this type of specification will not be ordered (or exported as ordering data) by the system — helping to prevent a mistake caused by entering pricing on a specification of this type. Any existing descriptive entries will not be blanked, but in the current version these do not print (a future version may allow a longer description for use with an "Existing Conditions" report format).

The fields that remain enabled are used to 1) provide a brief description of what the image contains without too much duplication of what is in the main specification, and 2) provide the information needed for FF&EZ's automatic image naming system: 

• The Spec ID you use for this type of spec can be anything, but we suggest that you use something that relates to the primary specification for which additional images are needed.  For instance, if COM fabric is included in the spec description for CHR001, you still have the option of using FAB001 or FAB023 as a spec ID or you could use CHR001.1 (note, though, that this doesn't negate the usual recommendation of using a less "connected" Spec ID for specs that might be used on more than one object).
• You will enter the manufacturing vendor and model number as you would when creating a fully separate specification, since this is useful in identifying the image (as well as naming it according to FF&EZ's conventions).
• Images attached to this type of specification will appear on the "Illustration Sheet" report format just like any secondary specification, however the descriptive information and format changes slightly to make it appear to be more of an extension of the main specification.  These images will also appear on the "Materials Reference" report.

Specs marked as "Image only" will appear automatically only on reports where the images of secondary specs would normally appear.  That is, they will appear on the "Illustration Sheet" and the "Materials Reference" reports, but not the "Object Detail" reports.

• Some object-oriented reports will include an option to include "Image only" specs for review purposes.  We do not recommend that "standard" reports printed with this option be distributed to clients or vendors, since they repeat what should already be in the main spec description and could cause confusion.
• Image-only specifications are attached to an object in the same way as any other specification, using the tools on the Object List screen or the Object command on the Specification List screen.
• You can mix both types of specifications on the same object (although an object's "main" specification should always be a normal one).  This means that you can supply multiple images for secondary components, also by stacking them in the order you prefer (using the controls on the Object Screen).