Management Center: Previewing a store

Operate > IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce > Use the Management Center

Preview a store

Preview the store to ensure that content changes made in Management Center show up in the store as expected. You can use the store preview feature in production, authoring, and staging environments.

Procedure

Open the Management Center.

From the Management Center menu, select the name of any tool. You must have a tool open to use the store preview feature.

Select File > Store Preview.

On the Store Preview Options window, enter the following options:

Option Description
Store Address Select the store home page, or enter the store URL of the first page that to see in the preview. For example, enter a product display URL.
Store Alias This read-only field contains the alias for the selected store page, if applicable.

Optional: Under the Options heading, enter the following options

Option Description
Current date and time Use the system's date and time in the preview.
Specify date and time Enter a specific date and time. For example, you can enter a date two months in the future to test if a promotion displays on that date as expected.
Time in preview does not change as real time elapses Maintains the same date and time in the preview. For example, if the preview starts on July 6, 2009 at 11:15 a.m. and five minutes elapse, the date and time in the preview remains July 6, 2009 at 11:15 a.m.
Time in preview elapses as real time elapses Allows time to elapse in the preview. For example, if the preview starts on July 6, 2009 at 11:15 a.m. and five minutes elapse, the date and time in the preview is July 6, 2009 at 11:20 a.m.
Product recommendations A store developer can enable an inventory filter for Web activities so that catalog entry recommendations display in e-Marketing Spots display only if the inventory level for the catalog entry is above a configured amount. With this customization in place, you can set options to facilitate testing the catalog entry recommendations. Choose one of the following options:

Use inventory levels in the database

If the database says that the inventory level is higher than the specified inventory threshold, the catalog entry recommendation displays; otherwise it does not display.

Set all inventory filter results to true

The store preview behaves as if there is available inventory and the catalog entry recommendation displays. The data in the database is not considered.

Set all inventory filter results to false

Preview behaves as if there is no available inventory and the catalog entry recommendation does not display. The data in the database is not considered.

Click Launch Store Preview. The preview store opens in a separate window.
When previewing a store from within a workspace, attempting to process an order in the previewed store might cause errors that prevent you from completing the order.

Related concepts

Store preview

Related tasks

Set up filters to control whether to display marketing information in an e-Marketing Spot

+
Search Tips | Advanced Search

Option	Description
Store Address	Select the store home page, or enter the store URL of the first page that to see in the preview. For example, enter a product display URL.
Store Alias	This read-only field contains the alias for the selected store page, if applicable.

Option	Description
Current date and time	Use the system's date and time in the preview.
Specify date and time	Enter a specific date and time. For example, you can enter a date two months in the future to test if a promotion displays on that date as expected.
Time in preview does not change as real time elapses	Maintains the same date and time in the preview. For example, if the preview starts on July 6, 2009 at 11:15 a.m. and five minutes elapse, the date and time in the preview remains July 6, 2009 at 11:15 a.m.
Time in preview elapses as real time elapses	Allows time to elapse in the preview. For example, if the preview starts on July 6, 2009 at 11:15 a.m. and five minutes elapse, the date and time in the preview is July 6, 2009 at 11:20 a.m.
Product recommendations	A store developer can enable an inventory filter for Web activities so that catalog entry recommendations display in e-Marketing Spots display only if the inventory level for the catalog entry is above a configured amount. With this customization in place, you can set options to facilitate testing the catalog entry recommendations. Choose one of the following options: Use inventory levels in the database If the database says that the inventory level is higher than the specified inventory threshold, the catalog entry recommendation displays; otherwise it does not display. Set all inventory filter results to true The store preview behaves as if there is available inventory and the catalog entry recommendation displays. The data in the database is not considered. Set all inventory filter results to false Preview behaves as if there is no available inventory and the catalog entry recommendation does not display. The data in the database is not considered.