Catalogue entries (store category items)

A catalogue entry (the Store Category Item record) places one item in one category of a store, so that the item appears in that store's Product Catalogue and, once published, on its storefront. It sits between the item master and the buyer: you create the Store and its Store Categories first, add entries to the categories, and the catalogue, the selling scope and the storefront publication are then built from those entries.

Overview

An entry is a light record. Its job is to answer "which item, in which category" and to carry the presentation that the item master doesn't: a marketing name and description, highlights, a rating, a "new" flag, a sort position and, for kits, a parent entry. Prices, stock, units of measure and taxes are never stored on the entry for ordering. They always come from the item and the Sales pricing rules, as described in Catalogue and pricing.

The same item can have entries in several categories or several stores. Each entry is separate, so you can name and describe the item differently in each store.

When to use it

• Add an entry when an item should appear in a store's catalogue.
• Delete the entry when the store should stop showing the item. The item itself is not affected.
• Create entries with a Parent Store Category Item to build a kit whose parts are picked from a picture (see Kits).

How xMatix handles it

Each surface reads a different set of entry fields:

Two consequences are worth knowing before you build a store:

• Fields on the shipped form are not the fields the storefront uses most. The shipped New and record forms show Name, Description, Store Category, Parent Store Category Item, Item, SKU, Rating and Add In Latest. Marketing Name, Marketing Description, Highlights, Price, MRP Of Item, Rating Reviews and Sequence Number are on no shipped form. An administrator adds them to the layout when the store needs them (see Configuration).
• Kit parts count as entries too. A part entry that has a Store Category is published to the storefront as a product of its own, and its item joins the selling scope. There is a trade-off, though: the kit card's "N components" strip counts only the parts that have a category, so a kit whose parts have none shows no strip.

Prerequisites

• The Commerce app, and a security profile with access to the Store Category Item records (see Permissions).
• A Store with at least one Store Category (Commerce → Stores → open the store → Related tab).
• The items you want to list, already created in the item master.

Procedure

Step 1 — Open the category

Open Commerce → Stores and select the store. On the store's Related tab, open the store category the item belongs in. The category's Related tab lists its entries.

Catalogue entries have no menu entry of their own, so you always reach them through their store and category.

Step 2 — Add an entry

In the category's entry list, select New. The Store Category is already filled in with the category you came from. Fill in:

• Name — required. Entries are not numbered automatically, so type a name; the item's name or code is the usual choice.
• Item — the item this entry sells. Choose it carefully: an entry with no item adds nothing to the catalogue or the selling scope.
• SKU — optional. The SKU list is not narrowed to the chosen item, so check that the SKU belongs to it.
• Description, Rating and Add In Latest as needed (see Fields).

Save. The entry appears in the category's list, and the item appears in the store's Product Catalogue the next time the catalogue is opened.

Step 3 — Change an entry

In the category's list, select the entry's name to open it. On the record page, click a value in the Key Information panel to change it in place, then save. The shipped record header's Edit button doesn't open a form, so use the in-place editing.

To move an item to another category, change its Store Category. To turn an entry into a kit part, set Parent Store Category Item to the kit's entry.

Step 4 — Add pictures

The record page has a files panel. Upload the product picture there. The catalogue card shows the newest image file, and the storefront takes the entry's image files when the store is published. For a kit, the same picture is the assembly picture that the Polygon Partition card maps into regions; see Set up a kit's regions.

Step 5 — Copy an entry

Select Clone in the record header. xMatix creates a copy named "original name (Copy)" with the same field values. The copy has no pictures, no parts and no regions of its own. Change its Item or Store Category as needed.

Step 6 — Remove an entry

Open the entry and select Delete in the record header, then confirm. The category's list on the shipped layout has no row actions, so you delete from the record page. The item disappears from the store's catalogue and selling scope. It stays on the storefront until the store's catalogue is published again. The item record and every document that used it are unchanged.

Step 7 — Publish to the storefront

Entry changes reach a public storefront only when the store's catalogue is published again, because the storefront reads a published snapshot. See Direct-to-consumer selling.

Fields

Fields on the shipped New and record forms, in form order:

Fields that are on no shipped form but are used when an administrator adds them:

How To, Ingredients, Know More, Price Of Item, Reviews, Tag, User Count, Quantity and Currency ISO Code can be stored on an entry, but neither the catalogue nor the storefront shows them. The storefront always uses the store's currency.

Business rules

• Name is the only required field. Entries are not numbered automatically.
• The same item can be listed in several categories. On catalogue cards, the item appears once, and the first entry found supplies the marketing name, rating and badge.
• There is no duplicate check. Two entries for the same item in the same category are both kept, and both are published to the storefront.
• Show in Catalog on a category narrows the catalogue's category filter only. Once any category in the store has it switched on, categories without it (and everything under them) disappear from the filter. Their products still appear under All and in the selling scope, and they are still published.
• Deleting an entry never changes the item or any document.

Example

A distributor sells water purifiers. The store "Retail Range" has a category "Purifiers". The administrator has added Marketing Name, Highlights, Price and Sequence Number to the entry form.

1. In Purifiers, the catalogue manager selects New, types the name "AQ-200", picks the item AQ-200 Purifier, enters the marketing name "AquaPure 200 Countertop", the highlights "7-stage filtration, 8 L tank", sequence 10, and leaves Price at 0.
2. In a sales order for a dealer who resolves to Retail Range, the Product Catalogue now shows a card "AquaPure 200 Countertop", priced from the dealer's price list.
3. After the next publish, the storefront lists "AquaPure 200 Countertop" first in the category (sequence 10), with the highlights and the price list price. Had the manager entered a Price of 14,500, the storefront would show 14,500 instead, while the dealer catalogue would still use the price list.

Training

Practice exercise

In a sandbox, open a store with one category. Add two entries for two different items. On the first, switch on Add In Latest. Open a sales order for a customer whose partner resolves to that store and select Product Catalogue.

Expected result: both items appear as cards under All, and the first shows the NEW badge. Delete the second entry and reopen the catalogue: the second item is gone, and the item record still exists in the item master.

Quick reference

• Path: Commerce → Stores → store → Related → category → Related → entry.
• Name is required and typed; there is no automatic numbering.
• No Item means the entry adds nothing.
• Card prices always come from price lists; the entry's Price is for the storefront and kit parts.
• Marketing Name replaces the item's name everywhere buyers look.
• Sequence Number orders kit parts and the storefront, not the catalogue cards.
• Edit values in place on the record page.
• Publish the store again before expecting storefront changes.

Permissions

The shipped Sales, Sales Executive, Sales Manager, Service, Standard User and System Admin profiles have full access to Store Category Item records. Clone needs a separate action grant, which the shipped Sales Executive, Standard User and System Admin profiles have. Without the grant, the clone is refused.

A user also needs the Commerce app, or another way to open the store, to reach the entries. Access is set in Setup → Access Control → Profiles; see Security profiles.

Configuration

• Add marketing fields to the form. Open Setup → Design Studio → Entities → Store Category Item → Layouts, edit the create layout and the view layout, and add the fields the store needs (Marketing Name, Marketing Description, Highlights, Price, MRP Of Item, Rating Reviews, Sequence Number). New uses the create layout. The record page uses the view layout. See Design a form layout.
• Category visibility. Switch Show in Catalog on the store categories (see Business rules).
• Which partners see the store. Partner Store links, or the partner account or account group on the store; see Partner Store links.
• Prices. Price lists and discount groups; see Price lists.
• Kit region editing. Admin Mode on the Polygon Partition widget; see Who can change regions.

Common problems

I added an entry but the item isn't in the catalogue

Check that the entry has an Item and a Store Category, and that the category belongs to the store the document's partner resolves to. If the catalogue shows "Showing all products, not this account's range", the partner resolves to no store at all; see Catalogue and pricing.

The card shows the item's name, not our marketing name

Marketing Name is not on the shipped form, so it is probably empty. Add the field to the layout (see Configuration) and fill it in.

The price I typed on the entry isn't used

Catalogue cards and order lines are priced by price lists only. The entry's Price is used on the storefront (when above 0) and for kit parts that no price list rule prices.

A product shows twice on the storefront

The store has two entries for the item, in the same category or in two categories. Delete the extra entry and publish again.

A category is hidden but its products still show

Show in Catalog hides the category from the filter only; the products still appear under All. To remove products, delete their entries.

Common questions

Does deleting an entry delete the item?

No. The entry is only the listing. Deleting it removes the item from that store's catalogue and selling scope. The item, its stock and every document that used it are unchanged. On a storefront, the item stays until the store's catalogue is published again, because the storefront serves the published snapshot rather than the live entries.

Why is the New Items tab different from the NEW badge?

They use different rules. The NEW badge on a card shows when the entry has Add In Latest switched on, or when the item was created in the last 30 days. The New Items tab lists items created in the last 60 days and doesn't look at Add In Latest. To feature a product that isn't new, switch on Add In Latest: it gets the badge, but it does not join the New Items tab.

Can one item be in several stores?

Yes. Create one entry per store category. Each entry has its own marketing name, description and storefront price, so the same item can be presented differently per store. In one store's catalogue the item still shows once, using the first entry found.

Related topics

• Catalogue and pricing
• Direct-to-consumer selling
• Selling scope
• Screens and records
• Store Category Item field reference
• Store — entity reference
• Item — entity reference
• Store Category — entity reference