An Overview of Catalog Structure
A Commerce Server 2002 catalog consists of three main parts:
- Catalog definition. A description of the categories and product properties for a catalog. The definition lists all the categories, products, and properties allowed in any given catalog. The catalog definition is available to all catalogs in the site.
- Base catalog. A single instance of the catalog definition that contains data.
- Virtual catalog. A catalog that references the product data in one or more base catalogs. Products are represented only once in the database, regardless of how many virtual catalogs they appear in.
The following table shows a sample catalog definition, Clothes, and then a single instance of the Clothes catalog definition with data for the catalog Sports Clothes.
| Catalog definition | Base catalog: Sports Clothes |
|---|---|
Category Definition: Department
Category Properties Name Description Image_filename Image_width Image_height |
Category: Sport Shirts Department
|
Product Definition: Shirts
Product Properties: Name Manufacturer Price Product Variant Properties: Size Color SKU |
Product: Ace Soccer Shirt
|
To help you understand Commerce Server catalogs, the following topics explain catalogs starting from what you see on a Web site, such as a Sports Clothes catalog, and then progressing to the underlying structure, that is, the catalog definition.
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