Managing Catalog Sets by Using the Catalog API
You can determine which Commerce Server Core Systems catalog a user sees on your site by creating catalog sets. A catalog set consists of one or more catalogs that you make available to different users or organizations. You can create and display different lists of catalogs for different users, based on each user's profile.
For example, if you have a frequent buyer program that offers member discounts or incentives, you can create a catalog set with specific catalogs in it that provide information about these discounts and incentives.
Note
A catalog set is not a security mechanism. It is only an organizational tool. If you want to add security validation, you must do this in your code.
Collecting catalogs in a catalog set does not change the catalogs in any way.
Types of Catalog Sets
You can create two types of catalog sets:
Static catalog sets. A catalog set that lets you select which catalogs you want to include in the set. You can edit the catalog set at any time by using the methods in the Microsoft.CommerceServer.CatalogSets API. For more information, see How to Create a Static Catalog Set.
Dynamic catalog sets. A catalog set that is based on an expression. When you create a dynamic catalog set, any catalogs that satisfy the expression are added to the catalog set. For more information, see How to Create a Dynamic Catalog Set.
Dynamic and static catalog sets behave the same way. You can convert a dynamic catalog set to a static catalog set. The only difference between the two sets is in how you add new catalogs to the set.
Default Catalog Sets
By default, the Catalog System creates two dynamic catalog sets:
Anonymous User Default CatalogSet. Specifies the catalog set for anonymous users.
Registered User Default CatalogSet. Specifies the catalog set for authenticated users.
Although these catalog sets are dynamic, you cannot convert them to static catalog sets.
You should not delete these default catalog sets from the Catalog System. However, you can change which catalogs sets are used for registered and anonymous users by using the settings in the Web.config file. For information about how to specify these catalog sets, see catalog Element.
How to Use Catalog Sets
You can use catalog sets to retrieve the most appropriate list of catalogs for a user. You add the catalog set to the user's profile in the AccountInfo.user_catalog_set property. To retrieve this information, use the GetCatalogsForUser method on the CommerceContext object. For more information, see the documentation for the GetCatalogsForUser method.
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Other Resources
Before You Start Developing with the Catalog System