I have a customization in the works where we are setting a paint color on the order, and that is being queried and added to a BAQ which feeds our process to print the part prints so it can get stamped onto the prints when they are produced for the job.
One of the pieces that needs to get put in place is a list of available colors. I am going to use User codes for that since it easily works itself into the drop downs that will be needed in order entry.
One of the features that this customization will have is to print the paint color, both in words, and the actual font color to be a rough approximation of the color. For that I am going to add an extended field in user codes to pick the display color.
What I would like to explore, is how can I get those 60 or so display colors to show up like some sort of color pallet? Something like shapes that have the colors set in a grid, or?? The extended field will have some color code that excel can use, whether it’s the 2 digit codes, or a hex code, and then will get brought through on the query.
So user work flow would look like this. We get a new order from a customer that we need a new to us color. We’ll call it Acme Red. The order entry person sees that this is new for us, so they go the the user code screen (I’ll probably make a customized one just for this purpose) and they pick the type as paint color, and then add a code for Acme Red. Then, on that customized screen, then would choose the display color for that out my generic list of colors “Red”. That selection would have the hex code needed for the rest of the process. Now that the customer specific color is created, the order entry person can select that color in the order header (via a dropdown of a custom field).
So I would like to see if I can make the colors on my generic list show some sort of color swatch when they choose it on the user code screen. Is that something that’s possible?
Is this something that’s possible? Maybe I’ll play around and see if I can get the color picker to work.
We do a lot of coloured product and I have created a few similar things. We use a UD table for the colour list, and one of the fields is used for a hex approximation. On the screens, where relevant, it’s used to alter the BackColor property of a control, including the screen where they enter it in the first place.
We also use hex colour as fills in certain grid cells, which means you can create a BAQ of colours if you like, each showing the relevant shade, and use that for selection.
So everywhere you describe changes the color after selection right? That’s a step in the right direction. I’m wondering if there is a way to show the colors during selection.
It’s close. Need is an overstatement here. Realistically, we could get by without any fancy color coding, and just have the names of the paint color. Setting after picking is perfectly acceptable, and 100 times better than no color at all. I’m just trying to see if I can make things even easier (for the users) than that. A color picker type thing is probably overkill, but if I can try to figure it out, I might learn something in the process, and if I over reach to start with, I can scale back and still end up with something good.
I think with our system I could conjure up a data grid with name and the actual colour displayed, and have users select by double-clicking a line. But there’s a fair bit of background work to get to the point we’re at there. Let me know if there’s any particular bits that might help - I have to leave the office until tomorrow now, though.
I just downloaded this windows form sample from infragistics (from the link already posted). It’s a pretty cool program that shows you the controls and then gives you a way to view the code. The color picker is one of them. Now I just have to see if I can figure out how it works, and if I can get this into epicor. (I’m kind of guessing no, but we’ll see I guess)
