Management Center tools

Each tool within Management Center provides a set of features and functionality for managing a specific set of objects. Management Center provides multiple tools for managing different sets of business objects. As a developer, you can also create custom Management Center tools for business users to use to manage objects and tasks that are not managed with the default provided tools.

Each Management Center tool is a Business Object Editor widget, which is the main type of widget in the Management Center framework. The Business Object Editor widget includes the various low-level widgets that make up the framework. The Business Object Editor widget is defined in the BusinessObjectEditor.xml definition file. This widget includes the following elements:

Business Object Editor widget overview.
1 Management Center Tools menu
Use this menu to open the following Management Center tools:
  • Catalogs tool
  • Promotions tool
  • Marketing tool
  • Attachments tool
  • Installments tool
  • Store Management tool
  • Catalog Filter and Pricing tool
  • Workspace Management tool
  • Commerce Composer tool
HCL Commerce Version 9.1.4.0 or later
  • Analytics
  • Catalogs
  • Marketing
  • Promotions
  • Attachments
  • Manage Accounts
  • Installments
  • Commerce Composer
  • Manage Stores
    • Store Management
    • Extended Site Stores
  • Shipping
    • Shipping Jurisdictions
    • Shipping Codes
    • Shipping Modes
  • Tax
    • Tax Jurisdictions
    • Tax Codes
    • Tax Categories
  • Manage Organizations
    • Member Groups
    • Organizations
    • Users
    • Approvals
  • Workspace Management
  • System Administration
    • Transports
    • Message Types
    • Messages
    • Scheduler
    • Registries
    • Security Policies
  • Getting started
  • Aha Portal (Click here to submit an Idea)
  • Preferences

You can also open the Preferences dialog and access the Getting Started information from here.

2 Tool tabs
Each Management Center tool opens in a separate tab.
3 Banner
The banner is the top area or header of the user interface, and identifies the Management Center user, the log out link, and the branding logo. This area also displays the names of the task and workspace when you are working on a task or content.
4 Store list
Use this drop-down list to switch to another store. This list also contains a search option, which you can use to find a store.
5 Find area
Use this entry field to search for objects by typing a keyword and selecting the object type to search for from a list. You can also select the advanced search option to refine your search.
6 Menu bar
Management Center includes four menus within the menu bar: File, Edit, View, and Help. All actions that are supported by Management Center are within the menu bar.
7 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 with the Management Center.
8 Column heading
A column heading within a list view. You can also reorder, hide, or show columns for the table.
9 Explorer filter
Use this list to filter the explorer view to display the specific top-level object or objects and any child objects. For example, this image of the Catalogs tool shows the explorer filter, which is filtered to show only master catalog categories.
10 Explorer view
Use the explorer view to navigate to the objects that which you want to work. The entire frame is the explorer view. You can expand and collapse the nodes in the explorer view 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 a product for the catalog in the explorer view, a list of SKUs for the product displays in the main work area. The explorer view always includes the Search Results node, which you can use to return to a list of results at any time. The explorer view also always includes the Active Work node to show the objects that you currently have open.
11 Main work area
The Management Center main work area is controlled by what you select 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.
12 Status bar
The status bar is the bottom area or footer of the user interface, and includes messages, access to the message console, and a progress indicator.
13 Utilities view
You can use the utilities view to locate business objects that you want to reference or use with the object that you are currently working with without changing the display of the main work area. For example, you can use the utilities view to search for a merchandise association item to include as a cross-sell item for the product that you are currently editing. Then, you can drag the item from the utilities view into the merchandising association tab of the product that you are editing in the main work area. The utilities view includes three functions:
  • Find to search for objects by using a system search.
  • Browse to find objects by looking through a directory structure or hierarchy.
  • Clipboard, which is a container to hold objects for later use.
14 List view
One of the three views that can display in the main work area. A list view lists objects in the form of a table. You can view the list and then select a specific row to see more details. You can also reorder, hide, or show columns for the table. If the information in a table cell is editable, you can click the cell and edit the information. To make multiple changes throughout a table more efficiently, you can update several cells in the same column at once with the same value.
15 Properties view
One of the three views that can display in the main work area. A properties view shows details about an object. You can use this view of an object to edit the properties for 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 an instance of an object, or by selecting to open an existing object.