Category Browser

About Category Browser

The Category Browser is a graphical view of the categories available in the Sourcing Hub and in any available catalogs. You can use this information to understand the hierarchy of the categories in the Sourcing Hub and to narrow your search. By narrowing your search, you can simplify the search process and save time. The Category Browser allows you to:
  • Expand the category hierarchy to see the available categories and how they are related.
  • View the attributes present in each category in the hierarchy.
  • Enter attribute values and perform a search on a particular category and its sub-categories.

For Engineering processes, you can use Category Browser to:

  • Identify a list of categories available in the source database.
  • Locate a design-specific category.
  • Navigate through the hierarchy to locate sub-categories of a category.
  • Launch a search to find a part.

For Sourcing processes, you can use Category Browser to:

  • Find a list of suppliers for a specific category.
  • Find a list of manufacturers for a specific category.
  • Locate a category to find internal organization structure.

When Using the Category Browser

  • When you expand a node within the hierarchy, all child nodes of that node are displayed.
  • To narrow your search, select a category from the hierarchy and click Apply to display the attributes in the Search pane. Enter the desired attribute values and click OK. The search is performed on that category and its child categories, instead of the entire database.
  • To boost performance, the Category Browser does not automatically open all nodes in the category tree. By default, only the first level categories are displayed. The other nodes are opened only on demand when you double-click them.

How to Use the Category Browser

Follow these steps to:

  • locate a category in Category Browser
  • update the Standard Search tab with the attributes of the selected category
  • enter search criteria
  • perform a search on the selected category/node

:

This example assumes that a database including manufacturer and supplier information exists and is accessed by CATIA Client.
  1. Start CATIA. Login to ENOVIA V5 VPM and CES. For more information on logging in, refer to Logging in to ENOVIA V5 VPM in CATIA and Accessing CES Functionality.

  2. Click the Search CES Database button. The Sourcing Search window appears. The top portion of the window contains the Sourcing Search Criteria and the Simple and Standard tabs. The bottom portion contains the Category Browser, on the Tree View tab, and the Attribute Based Category Search, on the List View tab. You can use the Attribute Base Category Search, located on the List View tab to locate categories based on attribute name and category name. For more information, refer to Attribute Base Category Search.


     

  3. In the Category Browser expand one or more nodes in the hierarchy until you find the category you want to search. Select the node of the category you want to search and click Apply.

  4. Notice that the Standard Search tab changes to include the attributes present in the selected category. In addition, the Search From: dropdown list is updated to display the name of the category you selected in the Category Browser. This indicates the search has been narrowed to this category and its child categories. Enter the attribute values to use for searching and click OK. The Sourcing Search Results window appears. In the Search Criteria field you can see the search criteria you set. The Classification Category contains the breadcrumbs to the node you searched.



Sourcing Search Window

This table describes the fields displayed in the Standard Search tab of the Sourcing Search window.

Fields Description

Search From

Category of data to search.

Type

Type of item for which to search.

Search Form

Type of information to view in the Search Results. Possible values are:

  • All Items:  Include information on the manufacturer item, supplier item and internal item. This includes Manufacturer Item Number, Manufacturer Item Description, Supplier Item Number, Internal Item Number, Price, Currency Code, and other information.
  • Manufacturers Content:  Information included depends on the item type selected:
    • Manufacturer Item: Contains only manufacturer specific content.
    • Supplier Item: Contains supplier specific content and some manufacturer specific content.
    • Internal Item: Contains internal item specific content and some manufacturer specific content.
  • Suppliers Content: Information included depends on the item type selected:
    • Manufacturer Item: Contains manufacturer specific content and some supplier specific content.
    • Supplier Item: Contains only supplier specific content.
    • Internal Item: Contains internal item specific content and some supplier specific content.
  • Internal Content: Information included depends on the item type selected:
    • Manufacturer Item: Contains manufacturer specific content and some internal item specific content.
    • Supplier Item: Contains supplier specific content and some internal item specific content.
    • Internal Item: Contains only internal item specific content.

Project

Projects in which to search. This field is enabled only if the Type: dropdown list is set to Items - Internal. Possible values:

  • Current Project: Search the project you are working on.

  • All Projects: Search all projects.

Revision

Revisions in which to search. This field is enabled only if the Type: dropdown list is set to Items - Internal. Possible values:

  • Current Revision: Search the current revision.

  • All Revisions: Search all revisions.

Attribute search fields

Value to search for, for the respective attribute. These fields vary depending on what you have selected in the For: dropdown list and the Search View: dropdown list. The list of attributes also changes if you click the Show Additional Properties button.

Load Search

Name of the saved search to load.

Show Count

Check this box to have the number of items in each category displayed after the category name in the Category Browser.

This table describes the buttons displayed in the Sourcing Search window and the Standard Search tab of the Sourcing Search window:

Button Description

Clear All

Click this to clear the keyword field.

Show Additional Properties

Display other attributes for the selected item type. You can set these attributes as well to further narrow your search. Please note that when you click on the Show Additional Properties button, the Additional Properties : section appears in the Sourcing Search window and the Show Additional Properties button is changed to Hide Additional Properties.

Save Search

Save current search criteria for later use.

Manage Searches

Load, delete, or rename saved searches.

OK

Click this to execute the search command, and get search results for items or companies.

Apply

Applies the category selected in the Category Browser to the list of criteria in the search window, without closing the search window.

Close

Click this to close the window without performing the search.