Step 4: Create a New Base Catalog

After you define product and category definitions for your new catalog, you add products to the catalog. You can then categorize your products to let users search and navigate the catalog on your site.

Before you can add products, you must first create a new catalog instance that will hold the products.

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, and then click Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.
2. In the Microsoft Development Environment [design] – Start Page screen, click Open Project.
3. In the Open Project dialog box, select the NorthwindTraders project, and then click Open.
4. In the NorthwindTraders – Microsoft Visual C# .NET [design] – Default.aspx window, click Project on the toolbar, point to Commerce Server Project, and then select Business Desk.
5. In Catalogs, click Catalog Editor.
6. In the Catalogs screen, click on the toolbar, and then select New Base Catalog from the drop-down list.
7. In the Catalog Properties - New Base Catalog screen, in the Catalog Properties section, do the following:

   Use this	To do this
   Name	Type ResidentialSiding.
   Start date	Type the start date for the catalog. This date does not have any effect on your Web site. However, if you exchange catalogs with a trading partner, your trading partner uses the Start date to determine when the catalog is valid.
   End date	Type the end date for the catalog. Your trading partners use this date to determine the last date the catalog is valid. By default this is the current date plus three months. For example, if you create your catalog in December, the catalog end date will be March.
   Currency	Select US Dollar - USD as the currency for the catalog from the drop-down list.
   Product unique ID	Select ProductBaseName as the unique identifier from the drop-down list.
   Product variant unique ID	Select SKU as the unique identifier from the drop-down list for the product variants.

8. In the Catalog Languages section, do the following:

   Use this	To do this
   Add	Select the languages that the catalog will support. A catalog can support up to 10 languages. You can add five languages, save the catalog, and then add five more. For this step, add English - United States.
   Default Language	Select English - United States from the drop-down list as the default language for your catalog. If you do not specify a default language, Commerce Server uses the same language as the Microsoft Windows operating system on your Business Desk client computer.
   Reporting Language	Select English - United States from the drop-down list as the language to be used for the properties that will be stored in the Data Warehouse. This language will be used for reports and analysis.

9. To enter the display name for the catalog, in the Language box, select the English - United States language, and then click Edit.
10. In the Display name box, type Building Materials as the name for the catalog. This is the catalog name that will appear on your Web site.
11. Click Accept.
12. To save the catalog and return to the Catalogs screen, click on the toolbar.

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