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Management Center tools
Each tool within the Management Center is responsible for managing a set of objects (for example, creating, editing, and saving an object). The Management Center supports five tools: the Catalogs tool, the Promotions tool, the Marketing tool, the Asset tool, and the Tasks tool. A developer can also create a custom tool so that business users can manage store tasks more efficiently.
Each tool within the Management Center is a Business Object Editor, which is the main widget within the Management Center framework, and it includes the various low level widgets that make up the framework. The Business Object Editor is defined in the wcfBusinessObjectEditor class and includes the following elements:
- Menu bar. The Management Center includes four menus within the menu bar: File, Edit, View, and Help. All actions supported by the Management Center are within the menu bar.
- Toolbar. Click a button on the toolbar to quickly perform a task. The toolbar actions are a subset of the most common tasks you can perform using the Management Center.
- Store list. Switch to another store by selecting the down arrow next to the current store name. This list also contains a search option, which you can use to find a store.
- Find area. Search for objects by typing a keyword and selecting a search object type from a list. You can also select the advanced search option to refine the search.
- Explorer filter. Filter the explorer view to display the top-level object (for example, the screen capture shows the explorer filter within the Catalogs tool, which is filtered to show only the master catalog categories).
- Explorer view. The explorer view allows you to navigate through the objects with which to work. The entire frame is the explorer view. You can expand and collapse the nodes in the explorer tree to view and work with objects. For example, you can expand a catalog until you reach the SKU level. The selected node in the explorer view controls what displays in the main work area (for example, if you click the SKUs node for the catalog, then a list of SKUs for the catalog displays in the main work area. Likewise, if you click a specific SKU within the hierarchy, then details of that SKU display).
The explorer view always includes the Search Results node (to allow you to return to a list of results at any time) and Active Work node (to show the objects you currently have open).
- Main work area. The Management Center main work area is controlled by what you have selected in the explorer view and is displayed in the middle (largest) area of the user interface. The main work area can display information in three views: list view, properties view, or calendar view. You can also split the main work area (horizontally or vertically) so that you can see two views at once.
- List view. One of the three views displayed in the main work area. A list view lists objects in the form of a table. You can view the list and select a specific row to see more details. You can also reorder, hide, or show columns. If information is editable, you can click the cell and edit on the spot.
- Properties view. One of the three views displayed in the main work area. A properties view shows details about an object and is where you can edit the object. The properties view can contain entry fields, check boxes, radio buttons, lists, tables, pull-down sections, and tabs. You access the properties view from either selecting to create a new instance of an object, or by selecting an existing object from a list view.
- Utilities view. The utilities view allows you to locate and use objects that to reference or use with the current object, without navigating away from the current view. For example, while editing a product, to include a reference to another product as a cross-sell item. Use the utilities view to search for merchandise association items, and then drag an item from the utilities view to merchandising association tab of the source product. The utilities view includes three functions: search (to find objects by a system search), browse (to find objects by looking through a directory structure or hierarchy), and clipboard (a container to hold objects for later use).
Related concepts
Management Center user interface
Related tasks
Customize the Management Center shell
Customize an existing Management Center tool
Create a new tool for the Management Center