CentraSite Metadata enables you to locate and reuse shared webMethods and other process assets in Designer.

Metadata is data that describes the assets in webMethods components. An asset is any object you create and work with in a webMethods component. For example, in Designer, assets include processes, tasks, portlets, Integration Server documents, e-forms, Integration Server services, and web services. CentraSite captures metadata about each Designer asset stored in its repository.

CentraSite stores a variety of metadata about an asset. All assets have names and (optionally) descriptions. An asset also may have values for certain properties, such as the Process ID of a process. If an asset references other assets, for example a task step that references a service, it will have metadata about such associations.

The purpose of metadata is to provide information describing each asset, what it contains, and what assets it references or depends on. The CentraSite registry enables reuse of assets among users. You can publish metadata about an asset to CentraSite. Then, other users can see the published metadata and incorporate one or more references to the asset into their own projects. If an asset should not be reused, you can retract the assets from CentraSite.

To access metadata, you use the Designer search functionality. You can search metadata for information about various assets.

Designer includes two CentraSite perspectives with multiple views and tools for a customized CentraSite experience. You can access the perspectives from:

For more information about working with the CentraSite perspectives, see the CentraSite Help.

In addition, the Designer Process Development perspective includes the Registry Explorer view, which enables you to access your CentraSite assets without switching perspectives.