How to Create a Base Catalog

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This topic describes how to create a base catalog. Each base catalog must have a unique name, and each product or category in the base catalog can appear only one time per Web site.

Note

When you use Catalog Manager to create a catalog, Catalog Manager adds parent categories sequentially. However, Catalog Manager adds child categories alphabetically. This occurs because the children added to the child category have the same rank, and the sort order is the rank. Therefore, categories with the same rank are sorted by their display name. You must explicitly sequence the child categories if you want them to appear sequentially.

To start the Create New Product Catalog Wizard

  1. Click Start, point to Microsoft Commerce Server 2009 , and then click Catalog Manager.

  2. In the Catalog Manager, in the Views pane, click Catalogs.

  3. In the Tasks pane, click Create a New Catalog.

  4. On the Welcome to the Create New Product Catalog Wizard page, click Next.

To specify the catalog properties

  1. On the Catalog Properties page, do the following:

    Use this

    To do this

    Catalog Name

    Type a unique, internal name for the new catalog.

    The internal name cannot match the name of any existing catalog in the Commerce Server 2009 catalog database. You use the internal name in catalog reports. The internal name can be up to 85 characters long.

    Do not use the following characters in the internal catalog name: .[],'

    Start Date

    Type the start date for the catalog.

    The start date does not have any effect on the Web site. However, if you exchange catalogs with a trading partner, this date lets your trading partner know the first date that the catalog is valid.

    End Date

    Type the end date for the catalog.

    Your trading partners use the end date to determine the last date the catalog is valid. By default, the end date will be the current date plus three months.

    Variant ID

    Select a unique identifier for the product variants from the drop-down list.

    You use this property to uniquely identify variants in a product family. For example, the Variant ID could be the SKU or another unique identifier. The Product Variant ID property cannot be the same as the Product Unique ID property.

    If your catalog does not have any variants, leave this property empty.

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    You cannot change this value after you create the catalog.

    Product ID

    Select a unique identifier property from the drop-down list.

    You use the Product ID property to identify products in the catalog. If your products do not have variants, the Product ID could be the SKU. If your products have variants, the Product ID could be Name or Title, and the Product Variant ID would be the SKU.

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    You cannot change this value after you create the catalog.

    Currency

    Select a currency for the catalog from the drop-down list.

    The default is the U.S. dollar.

    Weight Measure

    Type the unit of weight measure for the products in this catalog, such as kilograms (kg).

  2. Click Next.

To specify the catalog custom properties

  1. On the Catalog Custom Properties page, do the following:

    Note

    Custom catalog properties are available only if you defined them in the catalog schema.

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    To do this

    Property Name

    View the custom property name.

    You cannot edit this box.

    Display Name

    View the custom display name.

    You cannot edit this box.

    Value

    Type a value for the custom property.

  2. Click Next.

To add the supported catalog languages

  1. On the Catalog Languages page, click Add to open the Language Chooser dialog box.

  2. In the Language Chooser dialog box, select the language(s) you want to add to the catalog, and then click OK.

  3. On the Catalog Languages page, do the following:

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    To do this

    Default Language

    Select the catalog language from the drop-down list.

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    You cannot remove the default language from the catalog.

    Reporting Language

    Select the language for reports from the drop-down list.

    You specify the language from the catalog that you use to populate the Data Warehouse.

  4. Click Next.

To confirm the catalog properties and complete the Create New Product Catalog Wizard

  1. On the Catalog Summary page, review the catalog properties. To make changes to the catalog property values, click Back. To create the new catalog, click Create.

  2. On the Completing the New Product Catalog Wizard page, click Finish.

See Also

Other Resources

What Is a Base Catalog?

How to Create a Base Catalog

How to Edit a Base Catalog

Managing Tasks Common to All Business Management Applications