---
title: "Walkthrough: Enabling direct navigation for customized Commerce entities"
slug: "walkthrough--enabling-direct-navigation-for-customized-commerce-entities"
abstract: "How to enable direct navigation when using custom templates for categories and products."
---
# Walkthrough: Enabling direct navigation for customized Commerce entities
The Sitecore XC Business Tools let you extend and customize the information stored for any [sellable item](https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/users/100/sitecore-experience-commerce/work-with-a-sellable-item.html) using the [Composer](https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/users/100/sitecore-experience-commerce/adding-properties-to-commerce-entities.html) feature. For every customized entity, templates are generated in Sitecore to match the data in the Commerce Engine.
By default, there are five commerce templates (Commerce Category, Commerce Product, Commerce Product Variant, Commerce Bundle, Commerce Dynamic Bundle) that you can configure on the catalog for the data provider to use when exposing catalog items. To enable direct navigation for a customized Commerce entity, you first extend an existing entity definition and then associate it to a custom page design.
When you create a Commerce entity using Composer, two corresponding templates are created in Sitecore. In this walkthrough, these are:
- *Headphones*
- *HeadphonesVariant*
By completing this walkthrough, you will associate all headphones in the Audio department including the *Studio X Over-the-Ear Wireless Headphones* with a customized template that includes three new properties. After you enable [direct navigation](https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/developers/100/sitecore-experience-commerce/enable-direct-navigation.html "Enable direct navigation"), you can open any of the headphones in the Experience Editor directly from the Content Editor.
This walkthrough steps you through how to:
- [Extend the template definition for the Headphones category](https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/developers/100/sitecore-experience-commerce/walkthrough--enabling-direct-navigation-for-customized-commerce-entities.html#UUID-c0fde273-cb98-d7ea-eb90-e31a9c2f4e89_section-5c59d9f8659a8-idm46105002468640 "Extend the template definition for the Headphones category")
- [Assign the custom template](https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/developers/100/sitecore-experience-commerce/walkthrough--enabling-direct-navigation-for-customized-commerce-entities.html#UUID-c0fde273-cb98-d7ea-eb90-e31a9c2f4e89_section-5d207cf5ea717-idm45315552107968 "Assign the custom template")
- [Approve and publish the Headphones template](https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/developers/100/sitecore-experience-commerce/walkthrough--enabling-direct-navigation-for-customized-commerce-entities.html#UUID-c0fde273-cb98-d7ea-eb90-e31a9c2f4e89_section-5c59f711044a1-idm45401287742928 "Approve and publish the Headphones template")
- [Extend the catalog template with a new field for the entity type](https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/developers/100/sitecore-experience-commerce/walkthrough--enabling-direct-navigation-for-customized-commerce-entities.html#UUID-c0fde273-cb98-d7ea-eb90-e31a9c2f4e89_section-5c59dada72bf7-idm45401291122960 "Extend the catalog template with a new field for the entity type")
- [Create a custom page for the entity type](https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/developers/100/sitecore-experience-commerce/walkthrough--enabling-direct-navigation-for-customized-commerce-entities.html#UUID-c0fde273-cb98-d7ea-eb90-e31a9c2f4e89_section-5d1b67de739b9-idm45694663288384 "Create a custom page for the entity type")
- [Associate the custom item template to the custom page design](https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/developers/100/sitecore-experience-commerce/walkthrough--enabling-direct-navigation-for-customized-commerce-entities.html#UUID-c0fde273-cb98-d7ea-eb90-e31a9c2f4e89_section-5d1b68b2a7df3-idm45315554555152 "Associate the custom item template to the custom page design")
> [!note]
> This walkthrough uses the Storefront site template and the Habitat catalog to illustrate how to enable direct navigation for custom Commerce entities. It assumes that you have the Habitat catalog installed and that you are completing the procedures in order. The content of this walkthrough, however, also applies when using Sitecore Commerce without SXA Storefront.
Extend the template definition for the Headphones category
In the context of this walkthrough, to apply direct navigation to sellable items using a customized Composer template, you first extend the template definition by adding new fields.
To extend the template definition for the Headphones category:
1. On the Sitecore Launchpad, click **Business Tools**, **Merchandising** and in the **Catalogs** section, click **Habitat_Master**.
2. In the **Categories** section, click **Departments**, and then click **Audio**.
3. In the list of sellable items, click *Studio X Over-the-Ear Wireless Headphones*.
4. In the **Entity Versions** section, to create a new version, click **Add Entity Version** (+) and confirm that you want to add an entity version.
5. Click the new entity version to select it and, in the **Summary** section, from the drop-down list, click **Add View**.
6. In the **Add View** dialog box, in both the **Name** field and the **Display Name** field, enter *Headphones* and confirm your changes.
7. In the **Headphones** section, from the drop-down list, click **Add Property** and, in the **Add Property** dialog box, in both the **Name** field and the **Display Name** field, enter *Type* and assign a property type of **String**. Confirm your changes.
8. Repeat step 8 adding the following two properties:
| Name | Display Name | Property |
| --- | --- | --- |
| NoiseCancelling | Noise Cancelling | Boolean |
| IncludesMicrophone | Includes Microphone | Boolean |
9. In the **Headphones** section, from the drop-down list, click **Add Selection Option Constraint**, define the constraints shown in the following figure, and accept your changes.
10. In the **Headphones** section, from the drop-down list, click **Edit View** and specify the default properties you want to display for the **Headphones** section. Confirm your changes.
11. In the **Headphones** section, from the drop-down list, click **Make Template** and, in the **Make template** dialog box, in the **Name** and **Display Name** fields, enter *Headphones Template* and confirm your changes.
Assign the custom template
To make the new fields visible for all headphones, you must assign the custom template you just created to an item definition.
To assign the custom template:
1. On the Business Tools dashboard, click **Composer**.
In the **Templates** section, you can see the custom template *Headphones Template* that you just created.
2. In the **Templates** section, from the drop-down list, click **Associate to Item Definitions**.
3. In the **Associate to Item Definition** dialog box, from the **Catalog** list, click **Habitat_Master**, and confirm your changes.
4. Select the **Headphones** check box and confirm your changes.
Approve and publish the Headphones template
To see the new properties on the storefront, you must approve and publish the updated version of the entity item.
To approve and publish the entity item:
1. On the Business Tools, click **Merchandising**.
2. In the **Catalogs** section, click **Habitat_Master**.
3. In the **Categories** section, click **Departments**, and then click **Audio**.
4. In the list of sellable items, to open the product page, click *Studio X Over-the-Ear Wireless Headphones*.
5. In the **Summary** section, in the drop-down list, click **Promote to next workflow state** and, in the **Command** drop-down list, click **Submit**, and confirm your changes.
6. To complete the workflow, in the **Summary** section, in the drop-down list, click **Promote to next workflow state** and, in the **Command** drop-down list, click **Approve**, and confirm your changes.
7. To update the template in Sitecore and see your changes in the Content Editor, on the Sitecore Launchpad, click **Content Editor**.
8. On the ribbon, on the **Commerce** tab, click **Update Data Templates**.
This step generates templates using the new definition defined in the previous procedure so that the new property is available. If you used Composer to remove fields or templates, you must delete the data templates and then update them to see your changes.
9. On the **Commerce** tab, click **Refresh Commerce Cache**.
To see the changes you have made, go to *sitecore/Content/Sitecore/Storefront/Home/Catalogs/Habitat_Master/Departments/Audio* and click **Noise-Canceling Over-the_Ear Headphones**.
Extend the catalog template with a new field for the entity type
To extend the catalog template with a new field for the entity type:
1. In the content tree, go to *sitecore/Templates/Commerce/Catalog* and click **Commerce Catalog**.
2. On the **Builder** tab, in the **Template Overrides** section, click **Add a new field**.
3. Define a field name *(HeadphonesTemplate*) for the custom template, specify the same properties as the other templates in this section, and click **Save**.
This adds a new field in the **Template Overrides** section (*sitecore/Content/ Sitecore/Storefront/Home/Catalogs/Habitat_Master*).
Create a custom page for the entity type
To create a custom page for the entity type:
1. To create a new page item template at the tenant level, in the content tree, go to *sitecore/Templates/Project/Sitecore*, right-click the *Commerce Product* template and click **Duplicate**.
2. In the **Message** dialog box, enter *Headphones Product*, and click **OK**.
3. With the *Headphones Product* selected, on the **Content** tab, in the **Data** section, add the *Headphones* template (*Templates\\Commerce\\Catalog Generated*) from the **Base template** list to the **Selected** list.
4. In the **Selected** list, double-click the *Commerce Product* template to move it out of the **Selected** list and then use the up/down arrows to change the order of the selected templates. The Selected templates list now looks as follows:
5. On the ribbon, click **Save** and then click **OK** to confirm your changes.
6. Go to *sitecore/Content/Sitecore/Storefront/Home/Catalogs*, click **Habitat_Master** and, in the **Template Overrides** section, in the **HeadphonesTemplate** field, click *Headphones Product* (*Templates\\Project\\Sitecore*) and, on the ribbon, click **Save**.
7. On the ribbon, on the **Commerce** tab, click **Refresh Commerce Cache**.
Associate the custom item template to the custom page design
Now you must associate the custom template *Headphones* to the custom page design.
To associate the custom item template to the custom page design:
1. In the content tree, go to *sitecore/Content/Sitecore/Storefront/Presentation/Page Designs*.
2. Right-click **Commerce Product Page**, click **Duplicate** and, in the **Message** dialog box, in the **Enter a new name for the page** field, enter *Headphones Page Design*, and click **OK**.
3. In the content tree, click **Page Designs** (*sitecore/Content/Sitecore/Storefront/Presentation*) and, on the **Content** tab, in the **Designing** section, map the *Headphones Product* template to *Headphones Page Design*.
4. On the ribbon, click **Save**.
When you select the *Studio X Over-the-Ear Wireless Headphones*, you can see in the **Quick Info** section that this sellable item is now linked to the new template.
You can now navigate to *sitecore/Content/Sitecore/Storefront/Home/Catalogs/Habitat_Master/Departments/Audio*, right-click **Studio X Over-the-Ear Wireless Headphones** and open the page in the Experience Editor.
> [!important]
> You cannot edit layout and components in the Experience Editor when you open a catalog item directly or when you navigate to the catalog item, although you can edit some of the text. To edit components, in the Content Editor, go to *sitecore/Content/Sitecore/Storefront/Presentation/Partial Designs/Default Main Product Page Content*.