Rack Master

1Purpose #

Defines the physical storage locations inside a warehouse — racks, shelves and bins. Racks nest, so a rack can contain sub-racks and a bin can sit inside a shelf, which lets a location be described as precisely as the warehouse needs.

The rack is a label for a place. What is actually on it is recorded in Rack-wise Stock.

2Step by step #

Racks name the physical storage places — aisle, shelf, bin — stock is put away in.

1. Press Add (F3) and type the Rack Name * — a code people can walk to, like A-03-2 .
2. Pick a parent rack to nest it (bin inside shelf inside aisle), or leave it top-level.
3. Press Save (F5) and confirm. Products can now adopt it as their default rack, and rack stock can be maintained against it.

3How to use it #

1. Click a rack in the Structure tree to open it.
2. Find (F2): flat search by name or description — quicker than expanding a deep tree.
3. Add (F3): create a rack. Leave Parent Rack blank for a top-level one.
4. Modify (F4): edit the loaded rack, including moving it under a different parent.
5. Delete: remove the current rack (view mode), with confirmation.
6. Save (F5) / Cancel (Esc) commit or discard the edit.

4Field details #

• Rack ID — read-only. Assigned by the database when the rack is first saved.
• Rack Name — required, and unique. The label printed on picking and stock-take sheets, so keep it short and unambiguous.
• Parent Rack — optional. Leave blank for a top-level rack; pick a parent to nest this one inside it. A rack cannot be its own parent or be nested inside one of its own descendants — the pick-list hides those to prevent a loop.
• Description — optional free text; a note about the location.

5Why is the parent pick-list short? #

• It lists every other rack, shown as its full path (e.g. Main Store › Aisle 3 ) so similarly named bins can be told apart.
• While modifying, the rack itself and everything beneath it are removed from the list — a rack cannot be moved inside its own subtree.
• Nothing at all? No other rack exists yet; save this one first, then it becomes available as a parent.

6Rules and integrity #

• Rack name is required, and must be unique among racks sharing the same parent — two bins in different racks may share a name.
• A rack cannot be its own parent, nor sit under one of its own descendants; both are refused before saving.
• Deleting a rack that still has children is refused — delete or move the children first, or the tree loses them.
• Racks are chosen on products (the item's Prime Location / rack) and on branch opening stock; deleting one that is in use can leave those records pointing nowhere.

7Shortcut keys #

• F2 — Find: open the lookup and pick an existing record.
• F3 — Add: start a new record.
• F4 — Modify: put the loaded record into edit.
• F5 — Save.
• Esc — Cancel the edit, or close the open dialog.
• Enter — move to the next field. On the last field it triggers Save, and after saving the focus returns to Add so the next record can be keyed straight away.
• Tab — move to the next field without the Save-on-last-field behaviour.

Shortcuts belong to whichever copy of the page has focus, so a second tab of this page does not steal them. While this master is open embedded inside another page's Create dialog, its keys apply there instead.