A feature represents a characteristic of a product. It will have a number of options that allow users to determine a configuration for the product. Features may describe material or finish options, sizes, and orientations, etc. Note that features are only referenced by products; they exist independently of them. As a result, the same feature may be referenced by many products.

Features have the following attributes:

• Code / Key – Every feature must have a unique code to distinguish it from other features. These codes are rarely (if ever) presented to the users of the catalogue.
• Description – Features may have a brief description. This is what is displayed to the user when a product is viewed in detail. Note that if the feature the product belongs to has multiple languages enabled, a description may be set for every language enabled.
• Functional Selection – If a feature is marked as functional, then the code of a chosen option will appear as part of the product’s code.
• SKU Selection – If a feature is marked as an SKU selection, then the code of a chosen option will alter which product is actually used.
• Multiple Selection – If a feature is marked as multiple selection, then several of its options may be chosen, simultaneously. Without this set, only one option may be chosen at any given time. It is useful when there are 2 or more nested features with identical codes.
• Optional Selection – If a feature is marked as an optional selection, then one of the product will not require an option to be chosen for the product to be valid.
• Default Option – If the feature is not marked as either multiple or optional selection, it may have a default option set. This determines which of the feature’s options are chosen by default.
• Omit on Order – A feature may be marked to have it ignored when a bill of materials is generated for the product. These features typically are used to represent minor cosmetic details that do not affect the actual configuration of the product.
• Material Applications – A feature may have any number of material applications assigned to it. Note that, where applicable, material applications on a feature’s options or subfeatures will override the feature’s, if a conflict occurs. For more information on material applications, see the section covering them.