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User Guide
The information contained in this section applies to IBM WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.9 and Feautre Pack 8. The documentation also applies to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions.
Developing
The topics in the Developing section describe tasks performed by an application developer.
Presentation layer
WebSphere Commerce uses Java Server Pages (JSP) to implement the view layer of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern. The view layer is in charge of retrieving data from the database through the use of data beans and formatting it to meet the display requirements. The view layers determines whether the request is sent to a browser or streamed out as XML. JSP files present a clean separation between data content and presentation.
Customizing promotions
Customizing promotions can involve the customization of the promotion business user tools and the underlying promotion engine, which features a clean architecture supporting rich functionality, as well as a wide array of customization possibilities.
Promotion engine customization
You can customize the promotion engine if your customization scenario is not already supported by the existing promotion engine function.
Customization scenarios
You can customize various aspects of the promotions component, from creating a new promotion type to changing the way the agenda builder selects potentially applicable promotions for evaluation.

Customization scenarios

You can customize various aspects of the promotions component, from creating a new promotion type to changing the way the agenda builder selects potentially applicable promotions for evaluation.

Customization implicitly references the set of features that are currently available by default in WebSphere Commerce. There are two types of customization in that context:

The first type is effectively a configuration more than a customization. This type includes setting up custom groups, templates, associating existing policies to groups, and creating new promotion types using existing components.
The second type requires Java code to be written. An implied step in the second type of customization is that all of your new or changed Java code must be available on the classpath of your WebSphere Commerce Server in order for the Java Virtual Machine class loader to load the customized code properly.

Note: User interface customization is not discussed in these scenarios.