Search for a variant item

Before starting this process, ensure you have created a variant item for the top level. Typically, this has a completely defined saved option set with a value or a range of values specified for all options. Alternatively, you can start with an incomplete saved option set and use an iterative process to populate the lower level generic items. You should replace all the generic items with variant items.

Note You can automatically create variant items for an entire generic structure. Likewise, relationships such as Connected To are carried forward from the generic component to the variant item. To search for an existing variant item (for example, to make a substitution), open the top-level variant item by clicking the Open button and choosing Tools→Variants→Search. Teamcenter displays the Variant Item Search dialog box. When you perform a variant item search, Teamcenter applies the current Structure Manager revision rule to the generic structure and configures the revisions accordingly. If Tools→Variants→Only Configure Root is not selected, the dialog box shows options for the root module only. If it is selected, you can use it to identify reuse for any module represented by a selected line in the structure. After you specify the search requirements, execute a query for matching variant items by clicking the Search button. Teamcenter displays the search results at the bottom of the dialog box showing the matching variant items. Search results in which one variant item matches the criteria are shown in the following example. If the query is successful, the identifiers and names of variant items whose values match the search criteria populate the list next to the Search button. The search only finds linked variant items—unlinked variant items may have structure changes and would therefore not be applicable. If the variant item search is successful, Teamcenter loads the first variant item returned by the query and shows its values in the Value Found column. If you select a different variant item from the list, Teamcenter loads it and updates the Value Found column. You can then click the Replace button to replace the selected item with the variant item.