Adding a Category Definition

A category can have one or more properties, such as name, description, and image. These properties are defined in the category definition.

Commerce Server provides a category definition named Department that you can edit or use the way it is. You can also create other category definitions. The Department category definition includes description, image file name, image width, and image height properties. You can use the Department category definition exclusively, or you can tailor its properties to your business needs. You can also create different types of categories. For example, if you want to be able to store information about manufacturers and organize products by manufacturer, you can create a Manufacturer category definition, which would include different properties, such as Manufacturer Name, Country, Address, and Contact Person.

After you create a category definition, you can create categories based on that category definition.

The following instructions assume you have already created the property definitions that you want to add to your category definition. However, you can also create property definitions when you are adding a category definition. For more information about creating property definitions, see Adding a Property Definition.

To add a category definition

1. In Catalogs, click Catalog Designer.
   
   
2. In the Catalog Designer: Category Definitions screen, click on the toolbar, and then select Category Definitions from the drop-down list.
   
   
3. In the Catalog Designer: Category Definitions screen, click on the toolbar.
   
   
4. In Category Definitions: New screen, type a name for the new category definition in the Name box.
   
   
5. In the Category Properties section, select the property or properties you want for the new category definition from the list of Available Properties, and then click Add.

   The selected properties appear in the Assigned Properties box in the Category Properties section.

6. To change the order of the properties, select the property you want to move, and then click either Move Up or Move Down until the property is in the position you want.
   

   Click the illustration to enlarge or reduce.

   
   
   
7. To save the new category definition and return to the Catalog Designer: Category Definitions screen, click on the toolbar.

After you have created your property definitions, product definitions, and category definitions, you can create a catalog and add categories and products to it. For instructions, see Creating a Catalog.

Note

• The order in which the properties appear in the Assigned Properties box is also the order in which the properties will be displayed in your catalog.

See Also

About Catalogs

Creating a Catalog