Connect Object to Document

Explanation

This activity is used to connect one or more existing business objects to a document revision. Examples of business objects include engineering parts, inventory parts, activities, document folders, machine operations, purchase orders, suppliers, and so on. In theory, every kind of data saved in a record in IFS is a business object.

Prerequisites

• A business object must exist.
• A document revision will in most cases exist. However, a new document revision can be created and connected from the business object.

System Effects

Once a document revision is connected to a business object, you can navigate to the object by selecting the object, right-clicking and clicking Object Details from the Document Revision/Objects tab. From the Document Object Connections window you can navigate to the document revision using the zoom functionality (Shift + F9) in the Revision field. From the business object's window, you can navigate to the connected document by clicking the Attachments tab in the context pane and selecting the Documents link.

Window

Document Revision
Document Object Connections
File Import
Document Revisions

Related Window Descriptions

Document Revision
Document Revision/Objects
Document Object Connections
File Import
Document Revisions
 

Procedure

Use one of the following procedures to connect an object to your document.

Connect Object to Document using the Document Revision window - Option 1:

1. Open the Document Revision window.
2. Query for a document revision and click the Objects tab.
3. Click New to create a new row. The Connect Object dialog box opens.
4. From the Object field's list, select an object type to populate the dialog box with available business objects. 
5. Select one or more of the business objects and click OK to close the dialog box and enter that object in the new row.
6. Enter a value in the Association Category field and/or edit the value in the Update Revision field.
7. Click Save to connect the business object to the document revision.

Connect Object to Document using the Document Revision window - Option 2:

1. Open the Document Revision window.
2. Query for a document revision and click the Connect Object tab.
3. In the Object ID field for the object type you want to connect, enter the necessary object details as shown in the Expected Key field. If an object requires more than one value to be entered, the values must be separated, either by a period, a comma, a semicolon or a colon character (use the same one between all the values.) In the Expected Key field, the necessary values are always shown with a period, but you can use any of the four supported separator characters. In rare cases, the value to be entered contains one of these separator characters. In such a scenario, you must pick a separator that is not part of one of the values. If it gets too complex, you can use the list of values to search for and select an object instead.
4. Click Save to connect the selected business object to the document revision. When the data is saved, the value will disappear from the Object ID field and the object will appear under the Objects tab.
5. More information on how to use the functionality under the Connect Object tab can be found in the About Quick Object Connect documentation.

Connect Object to Document using the Document Object Connections window:

1. Open the Document Object Connections window.
2. Click New to create a new row. The Select Object(s) to be inserted dialog box opens.
3. From the Object field's list, select an object type to populate the dialog box with available business objects. 
4. Select one of the business objects and click OK to close the dialog box and enter that object in the new row.
5. Enter values in the Document Class, Document Number, Document Sheet, and Document Revision fields.
6. Enter a value in the Association Category field and/or edit the value in the Update Revision field.
7. Click Save to connect the document revision to the business object.

Connect Object to Document from the Object (using the Documents link in the Attachment Panel):

1. Query for a business object in the window where you usually work with that type of business object or in a window from which you can connect documents.
2. Click the Attachments tab in the context pane.
3. Click the Documents link.
4. Right-click anywhere in the lower window and click Attach.
5. Populate the resulting Attach Document dialog box.    
6. Select the rows for one or more of the documents and click OK.
7. Click OK on the message that appears. The connected documents will be visible in the lower window.  

Create a New Document and Connect it to the Object:

1. Query for a business object in the window where you usually work with that type of business object or in a window from which you can connect documents.
2. Click the Attachments tab in the context pane.
3. Click the Documents link.
4. Right-click anywhere in the lower window and click New. Alternatively, drag and drop the file(s) to Attachments.
5. Based on the default value entered for ATTACH_CREATE_NEW_FORM in Document Basic/ Document Default Values form, either Create New Document dialog or Create Documents dialog or Create Document Assistant will be opened.
6. Enter a value in the Document Class field using the List of Values. Once this value is entered, values for Sheet, Revision and Number Generator are automatically retrieved from basic data and displayed in those fields. Click Advanced to view these values. These values except the one for the Number Generator field can be changed in this dialog box.
7. Enter a title for your document in the Title field or click Browse beside the File Path field to select a document and obtain its title in the Title field.
8. Enter a value in the Document Number field depending upon the value inserted into the Number Generator field. If the Number Generator field value is Advanced, you may also enter values in the Booking List and Number Counter fields.
9. The default revision is automatically inserted into the Revision field. This value can be changed. A value is required in this field. 
10. If you select the Structure check box, this document becomes a structure document. If you do not select the Structure check box, this document is not a structure document and the document can have multiple sheets. 
11. Enter values for the Language Code and Format fields, as necessary.
12. Click Create or Create and Edit as required.

Connect or Create New Documents and Connect them to the Object using Document References form:

1. Query for a business object in the window where you usually work with that type of business object or in a window from which you can connect documents.
2. Click the Attachments tab in the context pane.
3. Click the Documents link. Click the More button to open the Document References overview form.
4. Right-click and click Create Document to create a new document and connect it to the business object. Alternatively, drag and drop the file(s) to Document References.
5. Right-click and click Insert Existing Documents to connect an existing document to the business object.

Connect Object to Document using the File Import window.

1. Open the File Import window and query (F3) for the electronic document file you want.
2. Select the row, right-click, and then click Document Object Connections. The Select object(s) to be inserted dialog box opens.
3. In the Object list, select the object(s) you want. Alternatively, you can query (F3) for an object.
4. Select the row(s) that contains the object(s) you want.
5. Click OK. The selected objects will now be connected to your electronic document.

Connect Documents to Multiple Objects using the Document Revisions window.

1. Open the Document Revisions window and query for the document file(s) that you want.
2. Select the rows, right-click and click Connect Object.
3. In the Object list, select the object(s) you want. Alternatively, you can query (F3) for an object.
4. Select the rows that contains the objects you want.
5. Click OK. The selected objects will now be connected to your documents.