Partkeepr questions

[Bas Trouw]

Hi there,

First of all, I like Partkeepr very much! I really like the hierarchical structure, which is perfect for my project.

I have few specific questions about some things i would like to do in partkeepr.
The problem is that i have zero programming skills (someone had to instal the program for me because I have never used linux or something like that).

However, when the solutions are things that require programming, I have some friends who can help me.

Im using partkeepr to structure a bigger mechanical engineering project. my parts/folders look something like this:

Project
   Assembly 1
     - Part 1a
     - Part 1b
     - Part 1c
     - Part 1d (which is a sub assembly inside assembly 1)
               - Part 1da
               - Part 1db
               - Part 1dc
   Assembly 2
      - Part 2a
      - Part 2b
      - Part 2c


Questions:
1)  Some parts in the assemblies are from the same stock. For example, part 1C could be the same as part 2B.
For my project i need to have this item show up twice in my folders, in this case the assembly 1 folder and the assembly 2 folder.

2) Is there a way to change the internal ID or a way to let me sort my items on its internal part number? The items that I have entered as new parts are now sorted by ID (which is my order of entering) or alphabetical.
 I would like to sort them in a way that i see fit.

3) The same goes for the folders. Is there a way to sort them. I have 10 folders sorted with numbers and i didn't realize that 10. comes before 2. (like i said.. programmer noob..)

4) Is there a way to "add" a subassembly as a part to your stock by finishing a recipe? If i have a recipe of part 1D, can i deduct parts 1da etc. and add a finished part 1D in my stock with a single action?

5) can i implement a barcode scanner to automaticly remove items from my stock?


I hope you guys can help me with one or more questions!

Thanks a lot!

Bas

[Felicia Hummel]

> 1)  Some parts in the assemblies are from the same stock. For example,
> part 1C could be the same as part 2B.
> For my project i need to have this item show up twice in my folders, in
> this case the assembly 1 folder and the assembly 2 folder.

What do you mean with assemblies? Are you referring to PartKeepr's
projects functionality?

> 2) Is there a way to change the internal ID or a way to let me sort my
> items on its internal part number? The items that I have entered as new
> parts are now sorted by ID (which is my order of entering) or alphabetical.
>  I would like to sort them in a way that i see fit.

Yes - customize your columns in the parts grid to add the Internal Part
Number field, then you can sort by that field.

> 3) The same goes for the folders. Is there a way to sort them. I have 10
> folders sorted with numbers and i didn't realize that 10. comes before
> 2. (like i said.. programmer noob..)

You could use 01, 02 etc up to 10, then the sort order should be correct.

> 4) Is there a way to "add" a subassembly as a part to your stock by
> finishing a recipe? If i have a recipe of part 1D, can i deduct parts
> 1da etc. and add a finished part 1D in my stock with a single action?

No, projects can't be converted in a part once completed yet. I might
understood something wrong, since I don't know if you mean assembly in
terms of PartKeepr.

When you use PartKeepr's project feature, you can simply click "Remove
parts from stock" in the project report view as soon as you are about to
build a project.

> 5) can i implement a barcode scanner to automaticly remove items from my
> stock?

Yes, see System->System Settings->Barcode Scanner Configuration.

Unfortunately there's not much documentation yet, but maybe you wish to
help the documentation effort on the PartKeepr Wiki [1]? There are also
a few pages about barcode scanner configurations [2].

All the best
Felicia

[1] http://wiki.partkeepr.org
[2] http://wiki.partkeepr.org/wiki/Barcode_Scanning

Please consider a donation on Patreon to help PartKeepr development:
https://www.patreon.com/partkeepr

[Felicia Hummel]

> Lets say i have my stock so i can make breakfast. To quickly see if i
> have enough items, i have made a folder structure like this:
>
> Breakfast (root)
>      - Omelette (assembly)
>          - eggs
>          - bacon
>          - vegetables (subassembly)
>                - tomato
>                - pepper
>          - salt
>     - Orange juice
>          - oranges
>          - sugar
>     - Pancakes
>          - flour
>          - eggs
>          - milk
> I am sorting my parts (ingredients) by the assemblies (recipes) they
> belong in. Now for the questions

Well, you'd better using the projects feature - there you can simply
tell the system that you want 5x Omlette, 2x Orange Juice and 3x
Pancakes. The system then tells you which parts you have in stock and
which parts (ingredients) are missing.

Given the food example, a better structure for the parts would be:

- Ingredients
- Vegetables
- Tomato
- Spices
- Pepper
- Animal Products
- Eggs
- Bacon

Then you create a project for each recipe (Edit->Projects). On the demo
site, there are already two demo recipes.

> 1) I am referring to reoccurring parts.. in my example i am referring to
> "eggs". I want them to show up in both my pancake and my omelette folder
> with a shared stock.
> In my pancake folder, i want to have a stock of eggs and showing that i
> need a minimum of 4 eggs in stock. In my omelette folder, i want to have
> the same stock of eggs with a minimum of 2 for example. When i add
> "eggs" they both have to update.

That's currently not possible. I'd love to implement that feature,
however, I maintain PartKeepr in my spare time and not as full-time job
(Patreon donations appreciated so it might become one).

> 2) how do i customize the colums? When I try to add a column internal
> part number is not showing up in the options.
> Also is it possible to make custom sorting options?

See [1]. You can save your configuration as a preset. However, a current
drawback is that you have to re-select the preset on each login, this
will be solved in a future version.

> 4) again referring to my breakfast example:
> When i finish my recipe pancakes or something.. i want to make it show
> up as a finished part in the breakfast root directory,
> I would like to automaticly add the finished product of a recipe or
> project run as a new "assembled" part so i could maybe use that part
> again in another recipe
> By finishing my project run for "pancakes" once, i would like to have my
> eggs, flour and milk deducted from my stock, while automatically adding
> a new part "1 serving of pancakes" to my stock

It's possible to deduct the parts from stock, but currently it's not
possible to automatically create "1 serving of pancakes" - you'd need to
do this manually.

All the best
Felicia

[1]

http://wiki.partkeepr.org/wiki/New_and_Noteworthy/1.3.0#Column_Customization