17.4 - Summarizing prices by hiding nodes

In this video we will explain how you can show subtotal prices on a parent feature in the order entry. This means that all children including the prices are added together and the total price is shown on the parent feature when you configure the model in the order entry. This can be useful if, for example, you want to show subtotal prices in your order entry or use these total prices in a subsequent calculation. So, let’s look how you can create this for your Configuration Model.

Initially, the following basic principles apply:

1. Prices of features with the node setting "hide in order entry", also known as hidden features, are automatically summed on the parent feature. 

This model has a parent feature with 3 child features. When all features are visible it looks like this in the order entry.

When we set Child 1 to "hide in order entry" the result looks like this.

As you can see the price of the hidden child feature is added to the parent feature, this way there will never be unexpected extra costs during configuration. If you hide all three child features the prices are summed automatically:

2, Prices of visible features are not added to the parent feature unless you have configured this with a formula. 

Without the use of formulas the behavior of features in the order entry will always be as shown.

3. When you sum prices of visible features to the parent with a formula you get double prices.

We take our previous model as an example. We have set with a formula on the feature node that the prices of the child features should be summed as follows:

In the order entry you now get the following result.

As you can see the prices are now shown twice, this is because both the summed prices of the children on the parent feature and the individual prices of the child features are now included in the total price calculation. To solve this problem you need to create an extra feature in the model to calculate the prices on the parent feature. You can do this like this.

In this case we use the same formula as on the Parent feature but now we put a - (minus) in front of it. Next you can make the offset feature invisible so users will not see it, but if you do this make sure that the offset feature is not a child of the "parent feature" on which you summarize the child prices. If this is the case, the price will automatically be subtracted and will be 0 (explained in point 1). 

Note: If the value of one of the children is an input the total price based on the formulas shown in point 3 will not be calculated correctly. You click here that the unit price of the child must be included and not the number. To solve this, you must add the child feature 2x as variable in the formula. 1x as unit price and 1x as number.