Article records and technical data
An accessory article is the shared product record behind stock, purchases, documents, reservations, and installations. Create it once for a manufacturer and catalogue article, then record quantities or individual items against it. This chapter covers the article identity and the type-specific data in stable RailKeeper v0.1.20.3.
Access rights and persistence
Admin and Editor users can create and edit article records. Viewer and Planner users can inspect them, but article fields remain read-only. A Planner can create or cancel a reservation in the otherwise read-only dialog; that does not grant permission to change the article itself. The Messe role has no general accessories access.
The dialog separates Article, Stock, Purchase & documents, the article-type tab, and, when data exists, Usage & history. The main Save changes action persists the article form, including the article type, technical fields, inventory strategy, and minimum stock. Stock movements, purchases, documents, reservations, and installations use their own actions and can already be stored while other article fields remain unsaved. Finish or deliberately discard a draft before starting one of those immediate writes.
Closing the dialog with changed article fields, pending searched images, or an unfinished subform opens a discard confirmation. In create mode, stock and related resources cannot be persisted until the core article has been saved once.
Create an article
- Open Accessories and select Create article.
- On Article, select a manufacturer, article type, and subtype, then enter the name.
- Add catalogue identity, gauges, scale, package quantity, stock unit, and optional reference data.
- Complete the tab named after the selected article type where technical data is known.
- On Stock, choose the inventory strategy and minimum stock. The detailed consequences are covered in Stock, purchases, and documents.
- Select Save changes and resolve any marked tab or duplicate warning.
The required fields are manufacturer, name, subtype, stock unit, and a positive whole package quantity. Minimum stock must be a whole number of zero or more. Technical numbers must respect the displayed range and increment. A comma is accepted as the decimal separator.
RailKeeper assigns the article inventory number only during the successful create transaction. It uses the active Artikel inventory-number scheme, whose default format produces values such as RK-ART-000001. A failed create does not consume the reserved number. The field cannot be entered or changed in the article dialog. If no active scheme exists, creating the article is blocked until an administrator repairs the inventory-number configuration.
For a new record, RailKeeper selects the first active configured article type. If no active article type is available, creation remains blocked. The initial values are package quantity 1, stock unit Piece, minimum stock 0, inventory strategy Quantity, and manufacturer status Unknown.
Common field reference
| Field | Stable behavior |
|---|---|
| Inventory number | Assigned automatically from the Artikel scheme and read-only. |
| Manufacturer | Required active master-data selection. A stored inactive or historical value remains visible but cannot be newly selected. |
| Article number | Optional manufacturer or catalogue number. When present, it activates the duplicate check together with manufacturer. |
| Name | Required article name. |
| EAN / GTIN | Optional barcode value and an independent article-search criterion. |
| Manufacturer status | Announced, Available, Discontinued, or Unknown. |
| Article type | Track, Signal, Decoder, Electrical / control, Building / equipment, Landscape consumable, Lighting, or Other, subject to active configuration. |
| Subtype | Required configured subtype belonging to the selected article type. An unchanged historical subtype remains readable and preservable. |
| Gauges | Zero or more active gauge master-data values. Existing inactive values remain displayed. |
| Scale | Optional text. While automatically managed, it follows the first selected active gauge that defines a scale. |
| Package quantity | Required positive whole number describing how many stock units a package contains. |
| Stock unit | Required active master-data value, for example Piece. Existing inactive values remain displayed. |
| Description | Optional free text. |
| Manufacturer URL | Optional manufacturer reference. It is not filled by the stable accessory result picker. |
| Product URL | Optional product reference. Search results can fill it only from an HTTP or HTTPS source. |
| Alternative article numbers | Optional values separated by commas or line breaks. Empty entries are removed. |
| Keywords | Optional comma- or line-break-separated terms. Automatic suggestions combine name, manufacturer, article type, and subtype without case-insensitive duplicates. |
| Compatibility notes | Optional free text for supported systems or products. |
| Internal notes | Optional local notes. |
Leading and trailing whitespace is removed from ordinary text fields. Manually changing Scale or Keywords stops the respective automatic suggestion for the current edit session. The automation runs in create and edit mode, never in read-only view.
Manufacturers, article types, subtypes, gauges, stock units, and custom fields come from master data. RailKeeper preserves an unchanged inactive value on an existing article, but does not allow it to be newly added or changed. This makes historical records editable without silently replacing their classification.
Choose article type and technical data
The last main tab is named after the selected article type. Its fields are optional unless the local master-data configuration says otherwise, but every entered value is validated. Whole-number fields use increment 1; other non-negative numbers have no fixed increment unless listed below.
| Article type | Stable technical fields |
|---|---|
| Track | Track system; length and radius in mm; angle 0 to 360° in 0.1° steps; direction Left, Right, or Symmetric; frog angle 0 to 180° in 0.1° steps; sleeper type; rail height in mm; Roadbed; non-negative whole connection count; Digital ready. |
| Signal | Prototype; epochs I to VI; aspects Stop, Proceed, Caution, and Shunting; non-negative whole LED count; height in mm; non-negative AC and DC operating voltage; mounting Surface, Flush, Mast, or Wall; drive Manual, Motor, Servo, or Solenoid; Integrated decoder; control module. |
| Decoder | Interface Wired, NEM 651, NEM 652, PluX16, PluX22, 21MTC, or Next18; protocols DCC, Motorola, Selectrix, mfx, and RailCom; non-negative whole function outputs and servo outputs; non-negative motor, output, and total current in mA; RailCom; SUSI; dimensions; firmware. |
| Electrical / control | Non-negative input voltage, output voltage, current in A, and power in W; non-negative whole channel count; protocols DCC, Motorola, Selectrix, LocoNet, CAN, and S88; connectors Screw, Plug, RJ45, Bus, and Wire; protections Short circuit, Overload, Temperature, and Reverse polarity; compatible article types Track, Signal, Decoder, and Lighting. |
| Building / equipment | Epochs I to VI; dimensions; footprint; material; construction type Kit, Finished model, or Semi-finished kit; non-negative whole part count; difficulty Easy, Medium, or Advanced; lighting options Interior lighting, Platform lighting, Street lighting, and Effect lighting; Floor plan available. |
| Landscape consumable | Material; color; season; non-negative content; content unit Piece, Pack, Meter, Gram, or Milliliter; fibre or grain size; coverage; suitable scales Z, N, TT, H0, 0, 1, and G; safety notes. |
| Lighting | Light color; non-negative color temperature in K, voltage in V, and current in mA; power type AC, DC, or AC or DC; non-negative whole LED count; Dimmable; dimensions; mounting Surface, Flush, Mast, or Wall. |
| Other | Active configured custom fields. Supported kinds are text, number, yes/no, date, single selection, and multiple selection. Selection fields appear only when they have configured choices. |
Boolean fields distinguish an explicit Yes or No from no stored value. Multiple-selection fields reject unknown or repeated choices. Negative values, values outside a listed range, and values that do not match a listed increment prevent saving and mark the article-type tab.
Changing the article type clears the subtype. If the change would discard the subtype, a technical value, or an unfinished number, RailKeeper asks for confirmation. Compatible fields with the same key and data type remain; incompatible fields are removed only after confirmation. Cancel the confirmation to keep the current type and values.
For Other, the fields are defined by active accessory_custom_field master data. A historical custom value whose definition has become inactive or disappeared is preserved only while it remains unchanged. It cannot be newly added or edited.
Use barcode and article-data search
The Article tab offers the same reviewed-result workflow used by vehicle article search, with accessory-specific inputs and target fields. The normal search is available when either:
- EAN is present; or
- manufacturer and the first selected gauge are present, together with either article number or name.
RailKeeper sends manufacturer, article number, name, the first gauge, current common fields, and the current technical attributes to the configured search sources. If article search is disabled in Settings, the command stops without changing the article.
The result dialog can apply manufacturer, article number, name, EAN, scale, description, product URL, and gauge. A manufacturer or gauge is selectable only when it matches an active known master- data value. A selected gauge is added to the existing gauges. Invalid common values and non-HTTP(S) product URLs are ignored. In stable v0.1.20.3, selectable technical result fields are exposed only for Track articles; other article types can apply the common result groups but not their technical attributes.
Fields whose current form value is empty start selected in the review. Existing values are not preselected for replacement. Images are never selected automatically. Select only trusted values, then apply them to the local draft. Nothing is saved until the article save succeeds.
Barcode opens the scanner with the current EAN. A non-empty scanned or manually entered value replaces the local EAN and immediately starts an EAN-only search. Camera permission and manual-entry behavior are described in Article search, web documents, and spare parts.
Selected search images are queued. After the core article saves, RailKeeper imports them one after another. The first successful image becomes primary only when the article has no primary accessory image. A failed image does not roll back the article or earlier images, and later queued images are still attempted. The dialog remains open with the first import error and keeps failed images pending; close it only after deciding whether to retry or discard them.
Review duplicate candidates
When article number is not empty, saving first checks for an exact manufacturer and article-number match after trimming and without case sensitivity. The current article is excluded while editing. Name, EAN, gauge, and subtype do not change this match.
If candidates exist, RailKeeper lists them before writing. Select Cancel to return to the draft or Save anyway to create or update the captured values. This warning permits intentional variants; it is not a merge and does not transfer stock, documents, or usage from another article.
Edit without losing data
Open Edit article, change the draft, and use the main Save changes action. Validation moves to the first affected tab in this order: Article, Stock, Purchase & documents, then the article-type tab. Red tab markers identify tabs that still contain invalid values.
Changing inventory strategy is allowed only when all existing inventory and allocation data remain representable. In particular, RailKeeper blocks a change from quantity-capable tracking to individual-only while quantity stock, quantity reservations, or quantity installations exist. It also blocks removing individual tracking while individual items or their reservation, installation, or condition history exists. Remove or complete those dependencies deliberately, then retry. A rejected update leaves the stored article unchanged.
If required master data or custom-field definitions fail to load, the editor marks its resources as stale and disables affected writes. Use Retry, do not replace displayed historical values from memory, and save only after the resources have loaded. If the article detail itself failed to load, close and reopen it rather than editing an incomplete fallback.
Archive, restore, or delete an article
Admin and Editor users can archive or restore an article from the overview. Both actions write immediately without a confirmation. Archived articles leave the normal list but remain available through the Archived status filter and can be restored.
Only an Admin can permanently delete an article, and RailKeeper asks for confirmation. Deletion is blocked by non-zero stock, individual items, stock movements, purchases, reservations, installations, or layout technical positions that reference the article. Article documents alone do not block deletion; their metadata is removed and RailKeeper then attempts to remove unreferenced stored blobs. Deletion has no undo, so validate a current backup first.
Resolve validation and resource errors
| Situation | Next step |
|---|---|
| Required field or number is invalid | Open the marked tab and correct every field message. |
| No inventory number can be assigned | Ask an administrator to activate or repair the Artikel inventory-number scheme. |
| Article type, subtype, or master data is unavailable | Retry resource loading. Only active configured values can be newly selected. |
| Duplicate candidates appear | Compare manufacturer and article number, then cancel or deliberately save the variant. |
| Strategy change reports a conflict | Resolve incompatible stock, items, reservations, installations, or condition history first. |
| Search cannot start | Add EAN, or complete the required manufacturer/name/article-number/gauge criteria; also verify Settings. |
| Search image import fails | The article may already be saved. Retry or discard only the failed pending images. |
| Save is forbidden | Use an Admin or Editor account. Planner reservation authority is not article-edit authority. |
Related pages
- User Guide overview
- Accessories overview
- Stock, purchases, and documents
- Allocations and usage history
- Article search, web documents, and spare parts
Documented RailKeeper version
This page documents stable RailKeeper v0.1.20.3 and was last reviewed on 2026-08-16.