Managing Catalogs

Catalogs are custom-defined listings of objects belonging to one object type. A catalog displays a collection of all or some objects of an object type while a view is used to display and edit data contained in one of the objects of the object type.

Catalogs are usually accessed from the Sidebar InfoObject. Note that this chapter deals with catalogs specifically from the customizer's point of view. The practical catalog use and many other catalog possibilities are described in detail in the Valuemation Essentials section.

Catalogs perform the following basic functions:

• Objects Overview

  Catalogs provide a concise overview of business objects. They can be used to arrange, sort and filter information for maximum display efficiency. The administrator or customizer may choose to make only some of the information contained in objects of a particular business object type available to some users only. For example, using the 'Person' business object available to all users, the administrator can create several catalogs containing e-mail addresses with just names and addresses, phone lists or all contact information for persons in a particular location only etc.

• Searches

  Catalogs are also a place where searches can be conducted. The searches are performed on catalogs and their aim is to restrict the number of business objects returned by the database for the purpose of display or further processing. For details, please see this section in Valuemation Essentials.

• Entry point for object editing and other operations

  A context menu in the catalog provides important tools for working with business objects (edit, create, copy...).

Catalog Definitions and User-defined Catalogs

Using catalogs and the Catalog Customizer, it is important to understand the basic distinction between Catalog Definitions and User-defined Catalogs.

The Catalog Definition behaves like a template for all user-defined catalogs which are based on this catalog definition. If the catalog definition is edited, the changes will affect all the corresponding user-defined catalogs built on the catalog definition. Note that the catalog definition can be modified only if the Valuemation is running in the Admin mode.

• Creating and managing the Catalog Definitions is done in the Catalog browser of the Customization Browser.

Note: Sometimes the 'Catalog Definitions' are also being referred to as 'Catalogs' only with regard to the abbreviated labels in the application.

The User-defined Catalog is an instance of the catalog definition. You can define a number of user-defined catalogs, each of which can be individually customized with certain limitations specific for the user-defined catalogs.
If Valuemation is running in the User mode, a certain form of customization is also available to the end-user but it affects the users' own catalogs only and is partly limited: For example, the 'General' tab is disabled, it is not possible to add or remove columns etc. The settings made by the administrator on the catalog definition level cannot be overridden here.

• To learn more about the catalog customization in the User mode, go to the 'Catalog Customization in User Mode' topic.