Viewing and Managing Components in the Catalog

If you select the Component from Kind dropdown, a catalog list of components opens in the catalog table with different columns. There are Common Searching and Managing Features in the Catalog that can help you find a component you want to manage. Also, refer to Backstage Documentation to learn more about components.

You can search the key information of a component by using the following columns.

Component Name

This column shows the list of components present in the catalog. Click any component name from the column to view the following details.

  • Service Overview - The overview tab is segmented into the following details.

    • About - You can view the source repository of the component in the View Source and technical documentation in the View TechDocs. To edit the About section, click the Edit Metadata icon. This takes you to the source repository location of the component, where you can make the changes. To view the changed metadata of a component, click the Schedule Entity Refresh icon. To view owner information in detail, click the owner name.

    • Relations - This is a non-exhaustive and read-only list of relations between the existing entity and other entities. Each relation has a source, a target, and a type that shows what relation the source has with the target. Relations are commonly bidirectional, so that there is a pair of relation types each describing one direction of the relation.

      In Relations, you can see the simple view of component relations with other entities. To view the elaborated relations of the component, click View Graph. Use the search filters like max depth, kinds, relations, directions, and curve to find the entity relations. Use the Simplified or Merge Relation toggle switches to see the simple or complex relations view. You can scroll to zoom in and zoom out and move around the relations diagram. Click to change the active node. To navigate the entity, press the Shift+Click button.

    • Links - You can view development resources, such as service URL, demos, code editor links, and more, that can help you learn more about the component.

    • Has Subcomponents - You can view the list of subcomponents that belongs to the entity location.

  • API - APIs are a first-class citizen and the primary way to discover existing functionality in the ecosystem. In API tab, these two types of APIs provide complete API details.

    • Provided API - This shows an array of entity references to the APIs that the component provided.

    • Consumed API - This shows an array of entity references to the APIs that the component consumed.

  • Dependencies - This shows a dependency relation of one entity on another entity.

    • Depends On Components - This show on the array of components on which the present component depends on.

    • Depends on Resources - This show on the array of resources on which the present component depends on.

  • Docs - You can view the technical documentation of the selected component.

System

In the catalog table, if you click the system name of the component, you can see the system overview details like about, relations, has subcomponents and APIs. To view complete relations of a component in the system, click the Diagram tab. Learn more about the system from Viewing and Managing Systems in the Catalog.

Owner

In the catalog table, if you click the owner name of the domain, you can see the owner overview details like organization information, members, and ownership of other entities. Learn more about the owner from Viewing and Managing Groups in the Catalog.