Tutorials > Management Center > Add new fields in the Catalogs tool
Customize the Catalogs tool to upload data from custom tables
This tutorial demonstrates how to customize the Management Center Catalogs tool catalog upload feature to load data into custom tables.
This tutorial continues the Warranty scenario introduced in "Adding new properties to a WebSphere Commerce service using the data service layer", where you extended the Catalog schema with warranty and care instruction information. Now, you load the warranty and care instruction data into the target database using the Catalog Upload feature.
The Catalog Upload feature is a graphical user interface that uses the Data Load utility to load catalog data into the database. Catalog Upload configuration files are in the WC_EAR/xml/config/com.ibm.commerce.catalog/dataload directory. The following configuration files are provided:
- Data load order file (wc-dataload.xml)
- This file points to the input CSV file, environment settings file, and business object configuration file.
- Environment variable file (wc-dataload-env.xml)
- This file specifies the business context information, database connection property, ID resolver, and data writer class.
- Business object files (wc-loader-business_object.xml)
- This file specifies the data reader, business object builder, and business object mediator for the business object. For example, the business object file for a catalog entry business object is wc-loader-catalog-entry.xml.
When you extend the catalog schema, edit the business object configuration file (wc-loader-business_object.xml) to map to the custom tables.
Learning objectives
After completing this tutorial, you should be able to:
- Create custom version of the Catalog Upload feature configuration files
- Create CSV files to load data from custom tables.
- Use the Catalog Upload feature to load data into custom tables.
Time required
This tutorial is expected to take 1 hour to complete. If you explore other concepts related to this tutorial, it could take longer to complete.
Skill level
Intermediate
Audience
This tutorial is intended for WebSphere Commerce developers who want to customize the Catalog Upload feature to support loading custom table data.
Prerequisites
Before beginning this tutorial ensure that you have fulfilled the following prerequisites:
- Completed the tutorial: Tutorial: Adding new fields in the Catalogs tool.
- Familiar with the topic: Upload catalogs.
- Basic understanding of the Data Load utility architectural overview.
Lessons in this tutorial
- Create custom versions of the configuration files
In this step of the tutorial, you create custom versions of the data load order and business object configuration files. - Test the customization
In this step of the tutorial, you add the warranty information and care instruction data as part of the catalog entry comma-separated value (CSV) file. You then load the categories CSV file and catalog entry CSV file using the Catalog Upload feature.