Importing an XML Catalog File

  • Article

A Commerce Server catalog in Extensible Markup Language (XML) file format contains both catalog definitions and product data. You can import a Commerce Server catalog XML file, and then use the Catalog Editor module to make changes to the product data.

Ee824524.note(en-US,CS.20).gif Notes

  • Your system administrator must start the full-text indexing service (Microsoft Search service) before you can import a catalog into the catalog database.
  • You cannot import a catalog that contains a product definition that has the same name as an existing product definition, but different properties.
  • Your catalog can include custom catalog attributes and property attributes.
  • If your catalog contains product variants, you must use XML to preserve your variants. Comma-separated values (CSV) files do not support product variants.
  • After importing a catalog, you or your system administrator should check the Application Event Log on the server for any errors.
  • To import catalog XML files that are larger than 1 GB, the server must have MSXML 4.0 installed.

To import an XML catalog file

  1. In Catalogs, click Catalog Editor.

  2. In the Catalogs screen, click Import on the toolbar, and then select Import XML from the drop-down list.

  3. In the Import XML Catalog dialog box, do the following:

    Use this To do this
    Specify an XML file on the server Type the name of the XML catalog file that you want to import. This XML catalog file must be located on the same computer as Commerce Server.
    Specify a locally accessible XML file Click Browse to navigate to an XML catalog file located on your Business Desk client computer.

    If the catalog is large, the import process will take several minutes to complete. It is much faster to import a catalog that is located on the server.
    Delete existing data in this catalog If you are importing a catalog that already exists in your Commerce Server catalog database, select this check box to delete the catalog data from the existing catalog before importing the new version.
    Validate XML file (do not import) Select this check box to validate the data in the XML file before you import it. If the data is not valid, an error message appears and the catalog is not imported.

  4. Click OK.

    A message appears stating that the catalog import process has started. The catalog import process may take several minutes, depending on the size of the catalog. During this time, you can use Business Desk to perform other tasks or exit Business Desk.

    If you receive a message that the XML file is not valid, contact your system administrator to determine the problem.

  5. To see the catalog after you import it, click Catalog Editor. This step refreshes the Catalog Editor screen.

  6. To publish the catalog to your Web site, click CatalogEditor, and then click Publish a catalog on the toolbar.

    For more information about publishing a catalog, see Refreshing and Publishing a Catalog.

See Also

Best Practices for Catalogs

Translating a Catalog by Exporting/Importing

Importing a CSV Catalog File

Cannot import a catalog

CatalogManager

Copyright © 2005 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.