A Product Catalogue record is a store's filter settings: it decides which groupings the catalogue's filter panel offers for that store, and how the price and discount bands are cut. It does not hold products. The products come from the store's categories and catalogue entries, and the store itself is set up as described in Stores. You add a Product Catalogue record only when the default filters do not suit a store.
Overview
When a user opens the Product Catalogue on an order, purchase order or service order, or takes an order in the mobile app, xMatix first finds the partner's store. It then looks for a Product Catalogue record for that store and uses it to adjust the filter groupings. The same record is read by the web catalogue, mobile Take Order and the layout designer's Product Groupings setting, so all three agree.
A store does not need a Product Catalogue record. Without one, the catalogue offers the standard groupings: Brand, Max unit price with bands up to 100, 250, 500, 1,000 and 5,000, and no Discount grouping.
When to use it
- Your prices are far from the standard bands (for example, most items cost between 2,000 and 20,000), and you want the Max unit price chips to follow your own price ladder.
- You want to switch the Brand grouping off for one store, for example because every item in it is one brand.
- You want to switch the Price grouping off for one store.
- One partner company should see different filter settings from the rest of the store's partners.
How xMatix handles it
Which record is used. xMatix reads the Product Catalogue records whose Store is the resolved store. Records with no Store are never used. If one of them names the Partner Account the catalogue is opened for, that record wins. Otherwise xMatix takes a record with no Partner Account, or, failing that, the first record found. On the web, the partner is the document's Partner Account. In mobile Take Order, it is the partner of the sales executive's selling scope. If no store is resolved, or the read fails, no record is used and the standard groupings apply.
When the switches count. The switches (the boxes under Controls) only take effect once at least one of them is ticked on the record. A record with every box unticked is treated as "not configured": every grouping keeps its standard setting, and only the price and discount numbers are used. Once any box is ticked, every unticked box counts as "off". This matters because Price Filter Applicable is not on the shipped forms: ticking any box on the shipped form turns the price grouping off.
What each setting does:
| Setting | Effect on the catalogue |
|---|---|
| Make Filter | Unticked while another box is ticked: the Brand grouping is turned off. Ticked, or no box ticked: Brand is offered. |
| Price Filter Applicable | Unticked while another box is ticked: the Max unit price grouping is turned off. |
| Min Price, Max Price, Price Span | Replace the standard price bands, as long as Max Price is above 0 (see Business rules). |
| Discount Filter Applicable | Ticked: the Discount grouping is offered (percentage off MRP). Unticked or no record: Discount is off. |
| Discount Min Percentage, Discount Max Percentage, Discount Span | Replace the standard discount bands (at least 10%, 25% and 50%), as long as Discount Max Percentage is above 0. |
| Product Color, Product Filter, Product CC, Transmission, Fuel, Show Product Feature | No grouping of their own. Ticking any of them only counts as "a box is ticked", which turns off every grouping whose own box is unticked. |
| Currency ISO Code | Not used by the catalogue. Price chips use the ₹ sign. The storefront currency comes from the store's own Currency ISO Code. |
Layouts can override a switched-off grouping. The store decides what is offered by default. If the catalogue widget's Product Groupings setting in the layout designer puts a grouping on a shelf explicitly, that grouping is shown even if the store switched it off. The designer marks such a grouping Turned off for this store so the designer knows.
What it does not do. A Product Catalogue record does not decide which products or categories a store shows, does not change prices, and is not used by the storefront. Category visibility is set with Show In Catalog on each category (see Stores). Store categories also have a Product Catalogue field, but nothing reads it: the record is always found through its Store.
Prerequisites
- The store already exists (Stores).
- A security profile with access to Product Catalogue records (see Permissions).
- To change the discount settings or Price Filter Applicable, an administrator who can edit the Product Catalogue form in the layout designer (see Configuration).
Procedure
Step 1 — Open the Product Catalogue list
No shipped app has a menu entry for Product Catalogues. Open the App Launcher, type Product Catalogues in the search box and choose the entity. The list opens with the All Product Catalogue view. An administrator can also add it to an app's menu (see Configuration).
Step 2 — Create the record for a store
- Select New.
- Enter a Name (required), for example the store's name followed by "filters".
- Pick the Store. Without a Store the record is never used.
- Leave Partner Account empty for settings that apply to everyone who sells from the store. Pick a partner only for a partner-specific record (Step 4).
- To set your own price bands, enter Min Price and Max Price.
- Under Controls, leave every box unticked unless you want to switch groupings off (Step 3).
- Save.
The settings are read when the catalogue loads. The next time a user opens the catalogue for a partner of that store, the Max unit price chips follow your range. If a catalogue is already open, close it and open it again to see the change.
Step 3 — Switch the Brand or price grouping off
- Brand off, price on. The shipped form can't do this on its own. Ticking any box turns price off, because Price Filter Applicable is not on the form. An administrator first adds Price Filter Applicable to the form (see Configuration). Then tick Price Filter Applicable and leave Make Filter unticked.
- Price off, Brand on. Tick Make Filter and save.
- Both off. Tick Fuel (or any other box that has no grouping of its own) and leave Make Filter unticked.
Step 4 — Give one partner its own settings
Create a second record for the same Store and pick the partner in Partner Account. The Partner Account lookup offers active partner accounts only. Users who open the catalogue for that partner get this record. Everyone else gets the record with no partner.
Step 5 — Change or delete the record
On the record page, Edit opens the same form as New. Change the values and save. Delete removes the record. The store's catalogue then goes back to the standard groupings, unless another record exists for the store.
Fields
The New and Edit form shows these fields in this order:
| Field | What it means | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Your name for the record. | Required. Not unique, not numbered. |
| Partner Account | The partner company these settings are for. | Optional. Empty means "everyone at this store". Only active partner accounts are offered. Hidden on a single-company organisation. |
| Store | The store whose catalogue these settings apply to. | Not marked required, but a record without a Store is never used. |
| Min Price | Where the price band ladder starts. | 0 or empty means it starts at 0. It is not a lower limit on products. |
| Max Price | The top price band. | Must be above 0 for your own price bands to be used. |
| Show Product Feature (Controls) | No grouping of its own. | Ticking it counts as "a box is ticked". |
| Fuel (Controls) | No grouping of its own. | Ticking it counts as "a box is ticked". |
| Make Filter (Controls) | Offer the Brand grouping. | Only counts as "off" while another box is ticked. |
The record page also shows Currency ISO Code, Discount Span, Discount Min Percentage and Discount Max Percentage (under Key Information), Min Price and Max Price (under Price Details), and Discount Filter Applicable, Fuel and Make Filter (under Controls). The record page has no in-place editing, and the Edit form does not contain the discount fields, so on the shipped forms they can be read but not changed.
Fields that are on no shipped form: Price Filter Applicable, Price Span, Product Color, Product Filter, Product CC, Transmission, Label and External. The field reference describes each one.
Business rules
- One record per store and partner. When several records match, a record for the exact partner wins, then a record with no partner, then the first record found. Keep one record per store, plus at most one per partner, so the result is predictable.
- Price bands. With Max Price above 0, xMatix cuts the range from Min Price to Max Price into steps of Price Span and offers "up to" chips at each step, ending at Max Price. If Price Span is empty, or wider than the range, the range is cut into four equal steps. If the result would be more than 12 chips, the standard bands are used instead. For example, Min Price 0 and Max Price 2,000 give chips up to 500, 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000.
- Discount bands. These work the same way with "at least" chips. Discount Min 0, Max 40 and Span 10 give at least 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%. The discount is the gap between a product's MRP and its catalogue price, as a percentage of MRP. Products with no MRP never match a discount chip.
- Prices. The price grouping filters on the price the card shows, which comes from price lists. A product whose price is 0 (no price found) is treated as unpriced, not as free.
- No effect on orders. The settings only change the filter panel. They never change which products are shown before a filter is picked, the prices, or the lines added to a document.
Example
A distributor network sells water purifiers through the store "Purifier Range". Most products cost between 4,000 and 24,000, so the standard chips (up to 100, 250, 500, 1,000, 5,000) are useless.
- The administrator opens App Launcher → Product Catalogues → New, names the record "Purifier Range filters", picks the store Purifier Range, enters Min Price 4,000 and Max Price 24,000, leaves every Controls box unticked and saves.
- A sales executive opens a sales order for a distributor who sells from Purifier Range and selects Product Catalogue. The Max unit price grouping now offers chips up to 9,000, 14,000, 19,000 and 24,000.
- Brand is still offered, because no box is ticked.
Training
Practice exercise
In a sandbox with a store that has catalogue entries, and a partner that resolves to it:
- Open a sales order for that partner, select Product Catalogue and note the Max unit price chips. Expected: the standard bands.
- Create a Product Catalogue record for the store with Min Price 0 and Max Price 2,000, and no box ticked.
- Close and reopen the catalogue. Expected: chips up to 500, 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000.
- Edit the record, tick Make Filter and save. Reopen the catalogue. Expected: Brand is still offered, but the price grouping is gone, because Price Filter Applicable is unticked.
- Untick Make Filter and tick Fuel. Expected: both Brand and price are gone.
Quick reference
- A Product Catalogue record is a store's filter settings, not a product list.
- It is found through its Store; a record without a Store is ignored.
- A record for the exact Partner Account wins over the store-wide one.
- With no box ticked, only the price and discount numbers are used.
- Once any box is ticked, every unticked box is "off", including Price Filter Applicable, which is not on the form.
- Max Price above 0 turns on your own price bands; Price Span empty means four equal steps.
- Discount is off unless Discount Filter Applicable is ticked, which needs a form change.
- A layout's explicit Product Groupings placement overrides a store's "off".
Permissions
Product Catalogue access follows the entity permissions on the user's security profile. The shipped System Admin, Sales, Sales Manager, Sales Executive and Standard User profiles have full access, so they can view, create, edit and delete these records. A user whose profile can't read Product Catalogue records still gets a working catalogue, with the standard groupings. Change access under security profiles.
Configuration
- Menu entry. To give administrators a menu entry, go to Setup → Design Studio → Apps, open the app (for example Commerce) and use Manage Items to add Product Catalogues. See Create an entity for the same step.
- Form fields. The shipped forms are the Product Catalogue Create form (used for New and Edit), the Product Catalogue View record page and a hover preview. To make the discount settings, Price Filter Applicable or Price Span editable, add them to the Create form in the layout designer (Design a form layout).
- List views. All Product Catalogue and Product Catalogue can be copied and changed like any list view.
- Where each grouping sits. The order of groupings, and whether each one sits in the header, the banner or the filter panel, is set per layout in the catalogue widget's Product Groupings setting, not on this record.
- Category chips. Set with Show In Catalog on the store's categories (Stores).
- Org shape. On a single-company organisation, the Partner Account field is hidden, and the store-wide record is the only one that applies.
Common problems
I ticked Make Filter and the price filter disappeared
Once any box is ticked, every unticked box counts as "off", and Price Filter Applicable is not on the shipped form, so it is always unticked. Either untick every box, or have an administrator add Price Filter Applicable to the form and tick it.
My price bands are not used
Check that Max Price is above 0, that the record names the right Store, and that the catalogue was reopened after saving. If Price Span is very small compared with the range (more than 12 chips), the standard bands are used instead. Also check whether a record for the same store names the partner: that one wins.
The Discount filter never appears
Discount is offered only when Discount Filter Applicable is ticked, and that box can't be changed on the shipped forms. Add it to the Create form, tick it, and enter the discount range. Products also need an MRP to match a discount chip.
The settings work for one partner but not another
A record with a Partner Account applies only to that partner. Other partners get the store-wide record, which may not exist or may differ. Also check that both partners resolve to the same store (How xMatix chooses a partner's store).
A grouping I switched off still shows
The catalogue's layout places that grouping on a shelf explicitly, which overrides the store. Remove it from the Product Groupings setting of that layout, or accept that this layout shows it.
Common questions
Do I need a Product Catalogue record for every store?
No. A store without one gets the standard groupings: Category, Brand, the standard price bands and the other platform groupings, with Discount off. Add a record only when a store needs different price or discount bands, or needs Brand or price switched off. Most stores never need one. The record changes only the filter panel, so leaving it out never hides products or changes prices.
Does linking a category to a Product Catalogue do anything?
No. Store categories have a Product Catalogue field, but neither the web nor the mobile catalogue reads it. The settings record is always found through its Store (and optionally the Partner Account). To control which categories appear as filter chips, use Show In Catalog on the categories instead.
What do Fuel, Transmission and the other boxes do?
They have no grouping of their own. Ticking any of them only tells xMatix that the record's switches are in use, which turns off every grouping whose own box is unticked. Ticking Fuel alone is therefore a quick way to switch off both Brand and price. To offer a grouping on an item field such as fuel type, mark that field for grouping and filtering and place it with the catalogue widget's Product Groupings setting.
Does it affect the storefront?
No. Published storefronts and partner microsites do not read Product Catalogue records. They list the store's published range with its own currency. The settings apply to the Product Catalogue on documents, mobile Take Order and the layout designer's Product Groupings preview.