Migrating catalog entry properties to search rule actions or targets

Search rule actions and targets in the Management Center are enhanced to dynamically populate a list of catalog entry indexed properties. You must customize WebSphere Commerce search when you are working with existing migrated search rule actions or targets.

The following screen captures show the default property selector in the Management Center:

Previously-created search rules and catalog entry recommendation Marketing activities can coexist with the new enhanced search rules and activities. They function and perform as they did in previous versions of WebSphere Commerce search. However, when creating new search rules or Marketing activities, the new enhanced properties are loaded instead. Therefore, any customization to these actions or targets were performed prior to WebSphere Commerce Version 7 Feature Pack 6 must be reapplied to contain the enhanced properties. The customization steps vary depending on what was customized.

For example, if the Change Search Result Order action was previously customized to include the User Ranking filter as a catalog entry property; when migrating to WebSphere Commerce Version 7 Feature Pack 6, any existing rules using the User Ranking filter are still functional and use the customized code. However, when adding the enhanced Change Search Result Order action, the customized User Ranking filter is not available.

To be able to use the User Ranking filter again in the list of catalog entry properties, it must be added back by registering User Ranking in the SRCHATTRPROP table with the correct usage type.

Perform the following steps to migrate catalog entry properties to search rule actions or targets by registering their usage types:

Procedure

Specify the usage and data type of the property in the SRCHATTRPROP table.

Depending on the catalog entry property data type and usage, different PROPERTYNAME values must be used. The usage results in populating the indexed catalog entry properties in different search rule action or target grids. The type results in populating different matching rules in each of the search rule action or target grids.

The following table shows the supported usage and data types for catalog entry properties:

Supported usage and data types for catalog entry properties
Property	Data type	Usage
`merchandising-Filter-ExactText`	Single words or phrases such as Manufacturer Name.	Catalog Entry properties with these usage-types are used in the Recommend Catalog Entry, and Add or Replace Search Criteria actions filter grid.
`merchandising-Filter-AnyText`	Sentences or multiple words. Such as name and short description.
`merchandising-Filter-Numeric`	Decimal numbers or whole numbers. Such as Customer ranking.
`merchandising-Rank-ExactText`	Single words or phrases such as Manufacturer Name.	Catalog Entry properties with these usage-types are used in the Change Search Result Order ranking grid.
`merchandising-Rank-AnyText`	Sentences or multiple words. Such as name and short description.
`merchandising-Rank-Numeric`	Decimal numbers or whole numbers. Such as Customer ranking.
`merchandising-Facet-ExactText`	Single words or phrases such as Manufacturer Name.	Catalog Entry properties with this usage-type are used in the Search Criteria and Result target, search criteria grid.
`merchandising-Sort-Text`	All text including single words, phrases, or multiple words such as Manufacturer Name.	Catalog Entry properties with this usage are used in the Recommend Catalog Entry, and Add or Replace Search Criteria actions sorting grid.
`merchandising-Sort-Numeric`	Decimal numbers or whole numbers. Such as Customer ranking, offer price.

For example, to add a sample customerRanking catalog entry property to the Change Search Result Order action ranking grid, the usage is Rank and the data type is Numeric.


INSERT INTO srchattrprop (SRCHATTR_ID, PROPERTYNAME, PROPERTYVALUE, OPTCOUNTER) 
VALUES (10001, 'merchandising-Rank-Numeric', 'customerRanking', 0);

Restart your WebSphere Commerce server.

What to do next

Verify that the correct properties are populated into the search rule actions or targets properties list.