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Catalog page

A catalog page displays a table of all existing entities created from a blueprint.
In this example we can see all of the microservice entities we created from the microservice blueprint:

Page creation​

When a blueprint is created, a catalog page is automatically generated in the Software Catalog.
You can also manually create additional catalog pages for any existing blueprint, and customize them as you wish. Read on to see the available customization options.

To create a new catalog page, go to the Catalog page, click the + New button in the top left corner, and select New catalog page.

Default table columns

By default, the table in a catalog page will display the following columns for each entity:
Identifier, Last update time, and Creation time.
Other properties will be hidden by default.

You can always customize the table to hide/show columns.

Description​

You can provide additional context to your developers by using the Description field when creating a catalog page.
This field supports adding links in markdown format: [link text](https://www.address.com).



The description will be displayed at the top of the page, under the page title:

Initial filters​

In some cases, an entities table may be very large, resulting in long loading times. To prevent this, you can define filters that resolve when Port queries the data (rather than after querying).
To define such a filter, use the Initial filters field when creating a page:



You can define any supported rule in JSON format. Here is an example that will only display Deployments that were updated in the past month:

[
  {
    "property": "$updatedAt",
    "operator": "between",
    "value": { "preset": "lastMonth" }
  }
]

Dynamic filters​

You can use dynamic properties of the logged-in user when creating a catalog page.

Excluded properties​

Another way to reduce loading times is to exclude undesired properties from an entities table when querying the data. When using this option, the new table will not contain columns for the excluded properties.
To do this, use the Excluded properties field when creating a page:

Customization​

The entities table can be customized, which will define the users' view of the Port platform.

Recommended customizations

We highly recommend using these customizations to provide a clean and accurate view of the platform for your developers.

All table customizations are available on the top bar of the table:

Table operations bar

Filter​

You can filter the table by using the following menu:

Table filter menu marked

You can define any filtering operator with a suitable value.

You can filter one or more values while setting the relation between each field with a And/Or.

My Teams filter​

By using the My Teams filter you will only see entities that belong to one of your teams. This means you will only see entities from teams that you are a member of.

This filter works on:

  • string properties with the format team.
  • The meta property Team.

My Teams Filter

Me filter​

By using the Me filter you will only see entities that belong to the logged-in user.

This filter works on User properties.

Me Filter

Sort​

You can sort the table by using the following menu:

Table sort menu marked

You can sort by one or more fields of any kind.

Column sorting

To sort a specific column, click on the column title.

Hide/show columns​

You can show/hide properties by using the Manage Properties option in the top-right corner of the table:



You can also drag and drop the properties in this view to reorder them in the table.

Hide irrelevant data

We highly recommend hiding irrelevant data from users, to provide them with a clean work environment, relieving them from any distractions.

Manage properties​

You can add, edit, or delete a blueprint's properties directly from the table by using the Manage properties button.
See the Configure properties section for more details.

Group by​

You can group table entities by a specific property using the following menu:



You can group entities by any non-array property.

Use-case

The group-by option is useful when you want to create custom views for users, such as "microservices by owners".

Just create your group-by view (and any other table customizations you desire), and save as a new page.

Port provides a free-text search option on tables. This will search all of the entities' properties and display the entities that match the query.
If the query contains multiple words, entities that contain all of these words will be displayed, even if they are spread across different properties.

Table search bar marked

-> Explore how to control page visibility and permissions

Page operations​

Pages have a set of operations that can be performed from the UI.

Default page

A default catalog page is automatically created when a new Blueprint is created. This page is directly tied to its Blueprint, meaning that if the blueprint is deleted, the default page will be deleted as well.

You can still edit or delete a default page if you'd like.

It's possible to filter, sort, group by, and use the table widget controls to change the layout of the default page.

Save a view​

Since the main component of a catalog page is a table, the same rules apply to it.

When you customize a table by filtering, sorting, or hiding columns, the changes will be automatically saved for you in the browser's local storage. If you log out and log back in, the table will display the same view you left it in.

Additionally, any such change will cause a Save view button to appear in the top right corner of the table:

Using this button, you can save the new view for all users in your organization.
The revert(↺) button next to it will revert the table to the last saved view.

Admin role

The ability to save a view for all users is available only for the Admin role.

To save the view for all users as a new page, click the small arrow on the right side of the button:

Edit, lock or delete a page​

You can edit, lock or delete a page by clicking the ... button in the top right corner:

Page menu

Editing pages​

Editing a page allows you to change various properties:

Edit Page popup window

Locking pages​

Locking a catalog page disables the option to hide columns or apply filters to modify the displayed data.

Locking pages gives you a way to specifically curate pages to your developers' needs. This ensures that they can't modify the views or see data that isn't relevant to them.

To learn how to lock pages, refer to page permissions.

Deleting pages​

Any page (whether created automatically or manually) can be deleted by clicking the Delete page button.

Default pages

When deleting a blueprint from your portal, all pages tied to that blueprint (including the default page that was created for it) will be deleted as well.