You can examine the list of items in a catalog to find items of interest based on the values of their name and type attributes. You must retrieve a catalog item to get a Description and a usable reference to the underlying object.

Every vApp template or media image that is added to the catalog is represented as a CatalogItem element. When a client browses a catalog, it can read only the name, type, and href of each CatalogItem. To retrieve an item from the catalog, the client requires more information. In Retrieve a Catalog Item, the client makes a GET request to the URL in the value of the href attribute of a CatalogItem. The response provides more information, including a description of the referenced object and another URL that the client can use to retrieve a representation of the object.

Prerequisites

This operation requires the rights included in the predefined vApp Author role or an equivalent set of rights.Verify that you are logged in to the vCloud Air Compute Service as an End User.

Procedure

  1. Retrieve the representation of a catalog in your organization.
    Use a request like this one: 
    GET https://vcloud.example.com/api/catalog/32
  2. Examine the response to find the CatalogItem elements that the catalog contains.
    The value of the name attribute of a CatalogItem element is taken from the name attribute of the referenced object. You can use it as a preliminary indicator of what the item represents.
  3. Retrieve a CatalogItem.
    Use a GET request of the form shown in the request portion of Retrieve a Catalog Item.

Example: Retrieve a Catalog Item

This example retrieves the CatalogItem shown in the response portion of Retrieve the Contents of a Catalog.

Request: 
GET https://vcloud.example.com/api/catalogItem/221

In addition to the name attribute and Description element, the CatalogItem contains a rel="up" link to the catalog that contains it, and other links that you can use to manage the CatalogItem.

Response: 
200 OK
Content-Type: application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.catalogItem+xml
...
<CatalogItem
   xmlns="http://www.vmware.com/vcloud/v1.5"
   name="Ubuntu Template with vsftpd"
   id="urn:vcloud:catalogitem:221"
   href="https://vcloud.example.com/api/catalogItem/221" ... >
  <Link
      rel="up"
      type="application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.catalog+xml"
      href="https://vcloud.example.com/api/catalog/32" />
   <Link
      rel="down"
      type="application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.metadata+xml"
      href="https://vcloud.example.com/api/catalogItem/221/metadata" />
   <Link
      rel="edit"
      type="application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.catalogItem+xml"
      href="https://vcloud.example.com/api/catalogItem/221" />
   <Link
      rel="remove"
      href="https://vcloud.example.com/api/catalogItem/221" />
   <Description>Approved template for public FTP sites</Description>
   <Entity
      href="https://vcloud.example.com/api/vAppTemplate/vappTemplate-111"
      type="application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.vAppTemplate+xml"
      name="Ubuntu Template with vsftpd"/>
</CatalogItem>