Using Data explorer

The Data explorer page enables you to view catalogs or hierarchies.

Fix Pack 9 and later

Navigation and Role privileges

Navigation

Left pane > Data explorer

Role privileges

Sub-feature	Admin	Basic	Catalog Manager	Category Manager	Content Editor	Digital Asset Manager	Full Admin	GDS Supply Editor	Merchandise Manager	Service Account	Solution Developer	Vendor
Item Explorer	✓		✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓		✓
Category Explorer	✓		✓	✓			✓				✓

You can filter the category further by specifying catalog and hierarchy. If you do not specify a catalog, the Data explorer shows all the hierarchy-related content.

In the Data explorer page, select a catalog from the Catalog list. You can type ahead the name to filter the list. By default, the selected catalog is None.
Depending on the selected catalog, select an available hierarchy from the Hierarchy list. You can type ahead the name to filter the list. By default, the selected hierarchy is None. If the selected catalog is None, the Hierarchy list displays all the available hierarchies. If you hover over the category name, you can see only the category count.
Product Family feature

After Product Family setup, the Hierarchy list also displays Product Family Hierarchy.

On the left, the Category section displays selected hierarchy as root level category.

Number of subcategories and items	To see number of subcategories and items, hover over a category name. The category name displays the details in the <number of subcategories>\| <number of items>format.
Filter	To filter the category tree, enter appropriate keyword in the Search Category field, and click Search. To filter the empty categories (no items or subcategories), click icon, and select Hide unpopulated categories.
Resize	To resize the category pane, drag the slider to see long category names. You can also resize the items pane on the right to full width to see items. The minimum width of right pane is set to 600 pixels and minimum width of the left pane is set to 0 pixels.

Right-click the root category on the left to perform the tasks for a category. You can perform the following tasks depending on the user permissions.
- Add category, Add item, Clone category, Open category, Rename category, and Delete category.
- Product Family feature
  
  Product Family Hierarchy root level
  
  No tasks
  
  Product Family Hierarchy nested categories
  
  Add base, Open category, Rename category
  
  Non-Product Family Hierarchy root level
  
  Add category
  
  Non-Product Family Hierarchy nested categories
  
  Add category, Add simple, Add base, Clone category, Open category, Rename category
Note: You cannot delete a category that has existing items or subcategories.

Click to see the subcategories.

Click <number of items> hyperlink to open the list of entries on the right pane. You can perform the following tasks depending on the user permissions.

Open	Select entries and click to open entry details page.
Refresh	Click to refresh the page.
Add	Click to add an entry.
Add simple	Product Family feature Click icon to add a Simple item.
Add base	Product Family feature Click icon to add a Base item. Note: Ensure that before this action you map a primary category.
Clone	Click to clone an entry.
Import	Click to import the updated Microsoft Excel workbook. For more information, see Export and Import feature. Product Family feature You can use this feature for all the Product Family items (Base, Variant, and Simple).
Export	Click icon to export all the entries to a Microsoft Excel workbook. For more information, see Export and Import feature. Product Family feature You can use this feature for all the Product Family items (Base, Variant, and Simple). Checked out entries To allow checked out entries to be exported to the Microsoft Excel workbook, select Enable export of checked out entries on the Left pane > Settings > Application settings tab.
Checkout	Click to check out the selected item. The single-edit page opens to display the item details in an editable mode. The icon signifies that the entry is checked-out. Important: Select Checkout and Edit checkbox while you are creating a collaboration area to enable the Checkout functionality.
Save as list	Catalog Categories Subcategories Click to open Save as list pop-up window. Enter an appropriate name in the List name field, and click Apply. You can access this saved list anytime through the Saved List option on the Search page.
Generate report	Catalog Categories Subcategories Click to export search results to a Microsoft Excel format. In the Generate report pop-up window, select the appropriate script, and click OK. All the records get downloaded in the generated report irrespective of the selection in the multi-edit page. You can either choose Default Rich Search Results Report Script (Excel 2007 - xlsx format) or Default Rich Search Results Report Script (2021). You can specify the value for maximum number of entries that a report can have through the following. You can also specify the value as No limit. Admin UI - Home > My Settings > Specific Screen Settings > Maximum number of entries to be written to a report on Generate Report in Multi Edit Persona-based UI - Settings > Personal settings > Generate maximum entries report Note: The generated report contains the `PRIMARY_SPEC` details only. Fix Pack 12 Click Run as background in the Generate report pop-up window to run the generate report in the background. You can download this report from the Home page > Show notifications > click Generate report job > Job details > Download report. You can also download this report from the Job manager > Job console > Generate report jobs page. Click Result for this report to download the report. For more information, see Generate report jobs. Important: Generate reports are shown for catalogs that have `catalog_list` permission of USER ACG and hierarchies that have `hierarchy_list` permission of USER ACG.
Actions	Catalog Select an item, and click to perform a preconfigured entry preview script. Note: The Actions icon is only displayed if the entry preview script is configured for the selected catalog or container.
Publish	Click to publish any of the following from the IBM® Product Master. Specs to the IBM Watson® Knowledge Catalog. For more information, see Publishing specs to the IBM Watson Knowledge Catalog. Data to the Snowflake connector. For more information, see IBM StreamSets. Works as specified by the bulk_publish_entries_limit property in the restConfig.properties file. Data to the Magento2 connector. For more information, see Magento connector.
Checkout family	Product Family feature Select an item and click to check out all the Product Family items (Base, Variant, and Simple) to a specific Product Family collaboration area.
Create Variant	Product Family feature Select a Base item and click to create a Variant item.
Delete	Select entries and click to delete. Product Family feature Select items and click to delete. Note: If the Delete button is disabled, the selected Variant or Base items have child items and hence cannot be deleted.
Convert to Simple	Fix Pack 10 Product Family feature Click to convert a Base item to a Simple item. The icon is in an enabled state, only if the item to be converted is, Of type "Base", Does not have any child items (linked items).
Export to PDF	Fix Pack 10Click to download the entry details in a PDF format. The PDF report contains the following details for an entry. Catalog name on the right top corner. The header contains, Display the image (if available) on the left corner. Primary key and display attribute name in the middle. Product description (if available) below the display attribute. Attribute and value data are displayed as Key-Value pairs. Total count of attributes in the footer. This PDF is a read-only report meant only as a reference to view all the data for an item. To export only a set of attributes from a catalog to this PDF output. Proceed as follows to do so for a catalog, Go to the Design manager > Catalogs > `<catalog name>` link. The Catalog console <catalog name> page opens. In the Custom attributes section, add the following details, and click . Name - Attribute Collection for PDF export Value - `<attribute collection name>` If there are multiple comma-separated values, the first `<attribute collection name>` is given preference. The `<attribute collection name>` specified in the Custom attributes section is given preference over the one specified in the Details > User defined core attribute collection section. Now when you click , PDF report contains only the list of attributes that are defined in the `<attribute collection name>`.
Product Family hierarchy tree visualization	Product Family feature Click to see the Product Family hierarchy tree visualization. The Product family tree pop-up window opens. You can enter a value in the fields to specify the horizontal and vertical spacing between nodes in pixels. Fix Pack 10Following is the permissible range for these fields. Horizontal spacing - Minimum value=10, Maximum value=60 Vertical spacing - Minimum value=20, Maximum value=60 You can display the tree with either Left to Right or Top to Bottom style. Fix Pack 10Click any item in the Product Family hierarchy tree visualization tree to directly open the item in the single-edit page. Fix Pack 10You can view the Product Family hierarchy visualization tree for the Base, Variant, SubVariant1, and SubVariant2 items. Fix Pack 10Click to print the Product family tree in PDF format.
	Fix Pack 10This icon beside a catalog in the Catalog list indicates state maintenance. The Data explorer page supports Catalog-level state maintenance for up to `n` catalogs. You can set the value of `n` through the maxExplorerStateCount property in the config.json file. As a best practice, avoid setting a higher value for `n` because that would result in the UI storing the state of many catalogs, and thus exhibit performance impact.

Table 1. Important columns of the Data explorer page
Status column	You can hover the mouse pointer over the icon in the Status column to see the details. The Status column displays following types of statuses for an item. icon - Item is checked-out to a collaboration area. Click to edit the item in the single-edit page of the collaboration area. icon - You can check out the item, since the item is not checked-out to any collaboration area. icon - You cannot check out the item, since it is already checked-out to a collaboration area.
Product Family Type column	Product Family feature Displays the Product Family type to which an entry belongs. There are 3 Product Family types, If there is a tabbed view for the Product Family catalog or Collaboration area, ensure that the Product Family Type attribute and Entry Reference attribute for each variant level are added to at least one tab-specific attribute collection. This is necessary to display the Variants tab, and badges that are displayed in the Product Family Type column, and to show inherited attributes in the Variants from the Base.
Filter	Click to filter a column by a value. In the Search field, enter the value, and click Apply. You can also filter Localized String attribute and String attribute in Grouping by using this. You can also sort the values in a column by ascending or descending order. The default value is ascending order. You can also click a column header to sort the values.
Pop-up menu for column	Fix Pack 10Right-click any column to view a pop-up menu with following the additional features. Column sort - You can sort a column by Ascending or Descending order or select Clear sorting to clear the current sort pattern. Column pin - Click Pin to make a column to make it static. Click Unpin to clear. Note: When you change the tab, this column pin is lost. Column size - You can specify column size by dragging the column border. You can also select Autosize to format the column size to a standard proportion. Click Reset column size, or Reset all columns size to undo.
Clear all filters	Fix Pack 10Click to clear all the existing filters from the columns. Note: This icon is disabled until you apply a filter.
Views	Select a view from the Views list on the right. These views are catalog-specific, and once selected, the search results display only the attributes that are part of the view. Views provide a more efficient or task-specific view of items, create groups of attributes that are related to a specific data entry or data maintenance process. This feature supports state maintenance. Also, after you select a view, you see the same view across the Data Explorer page, Multi-edit page, Single-edit page (Opened through Data Explorer), and Search page. By default, the selected view is [System Default]. If you set a view for a catalog, the catalog then becomes the default selected catalog.
Manage Attributes	Fix Pack 12Using the Manage Attributes feature, you can choose and view only the required attributes in the Multi-edit, Data explorer, Search, and Free text search page. Click on the right side to open the Manage Attributes pop-up window opens. You can see a list of all the attributes. You can select all the attributes, if required. You can drag any attribute. You can see the total count of columns. You can search a specific attribute using the Search field. Click to toggle between a Card view and a Grid view. By default, the view that is displayed is the Card view. Attributes that cannot be dragged have a Gray color background. When you edit anything on the Attributes tab, the (Manage Attributes) icon gets disabled. Select an attribute to view it on this page. You can also clear the checkbox to ensure that the attribute is not displayed (hide) on this page. To apply the updates done, click Apply. To reset all the updates that are done on the Manage Attributes pop-up window, click Reset. Following updates, if done get through the Manage Attributes pop-up window get reset. Hide or show attributes Rearrangement of rid columns either through the grid or the Manage Attributes pop-up window Changes to the column width Filter and sort Selection
State maintenance	Fix Pack 12 On navigation to some other page, last state of the screen (including grid state) is retained. If you make any update in the Attribute collection of the mapped view (like add new attribute, delete attribute, or hide any attribute) and then navigates to the Data explorer page, the grid state gets reset. If you change the view, the grid state gets reset to its original default settings.

Select an appropriate entry and click Open. You can perform the following tasks depending on the user permissions: Save, Revert, Refresh, Checkout, Add, Clone, and Delete.
Product Family feature You can also perform Add Base, Create Variant, and Checkout family tasks.
For more information on all the listed tasks, see Enriching an entry.
You can access the following tabs depending on the user permissions: Attributes, Suspect Duplicate Processing, Digital Assets, Categories, Relationships, Linked items, History, Comments, Change Review, Audit History, Specs, Hierarchy, and Completeness.
- Product Family feature You can also access Variant tab.
- Merchandiser role If you open any item from the Data explorer, for the Merchandiser role, the Digital Assets tab is in the read-only mode.
- Catalog Manager role You can directly access the single-edit page and check out or delete the item from the catalog.
For more information, see Tabs for an entry.
Optional: Digital Asset Catalog Click <number of assets> hyperlink to open the list of entries on the right pane. You can perform the following tasks depending on the user permissions: Open, Refresh, Download, Rendition, Metadata, Categorize, and Delete. For more information, see Using Data management.
Optional: Digital Asset Hierarchy Right-click the root category on the left, click Add category to open Add category pop-up window. Type the name of the new category, and click OK.
Note: If you click Add category for any other hierarchy, you are redirected to the single-edit page.