Extending the provided get-data-config.xml file
You should extend the get-data-config.xml file when the configuration file has been provided for you. By extending the configuration, you can override the properties of the expression builder.
About this task
Procedure
- Create the get-data-config.xml file for the project.
- Open WebSphere Commerce Developer and switch to the Enterprise Explorer view.
- In the Enterprise Explorer view,
expand YourProject > WebContent > WEB_INF > config.
Where YourProject is the project running your code using the getData tag.
- Right-click config and select New > Folder.
- In the Folder name field, enter com.mycompany.commerce.project-ext and
click Finish.Note: When creating any extensions folder, the folder name immediately ends with -ext. This ensures the original get-data-config.xml file located in the folder immediately preceding it remains unchanged. Instead, by extending the configuration, you can override the properties of the expression builder.
- If the com.mycompany.commerce.project-ext folder is not visible, right-click on the config directory in the Enterprise Explorer view and click Refresh.
- Right-click the com.mycompany.commerce.project-ext folder and select New > File .
- In the File name field, enter get-data-config.xml and click Finish. The newly created get-data-config.xml extension file automatically opens.
- Determine which expression builders to extend from the
base get-data-config.xml file and copy them into the extension file:
- Navigate to the folder immediately preceding the extension folder and double click the original provided get-data-config.xml file to open it in the default editor.
- Locate the expression builder definitions you want to extend and
copy the section between each
<expression-builder>
and</expression-builder>
tags. - Paste the content copied from the base get-data-config.xml file
into the extended get-data-config.xml file, before the
</wcf:get-data-config>
line at the end of this file.
- Update the new expression builder in the extended get-data-config.xml
file.Each expression builder has the following properties:
- The name node uniquely identifies the expression builder, and is used by getData tags in the project JSP files when referring to an expression builder.
- The data-type-name node contains the noun type returned by this expression builder.
- The expression template node refers to an XPath query defined in the project query template file, used to retrieve specific information from the database. Parameters such as $projectID$ can be passed to the expression builder by a getData tag.
- Each param node contains a pair of name and value child nodes that define a parameter passed to the query template file. Each expression builder is associated with a specific Access Profile. This Access Profile, together with the defined XPath query, uniquely identifies a query in the query template file.
Note: You should only change the items you want to override in each expression builder.Each expression builder should resemble the following sample structure, replacing the empty nodes with your own project-related expression builders. Depending on which items you want to override, every node below may not reflect your changes:<!-- Project related expression builder extension 1. Note: every node may not apply to your specific scenario. --> <expression-builder> <name> </name> <data-type-name> </data-type-name> <expression-template> </expression-template> <param> <name> </name> <value> </value> </param> </expression-builder> <!-- Project related expression builder extension 2. Note: every node may not apply to your specific scenario. --> <expression-builder> <name> </name> <data-type-name> </data-type-name> <expression-template> </expression-template> <param> <name> </name> <value> </value> </param> </expression-builder> <!-- Project related expression builder extension 3. Note: every node may not apply to your specific scenario. --> <expression-builder> <name> </name> <data-type-name> </data-type-name> <expression-template> </expression-template> <param> <name> </name> <value> </value> </param> </expression-builder> </wcf:get-data-config>
Note: Although there are three expression builders in the sample expression builder structure, your own project-related expression builders can contain as many expression builders as needed. - Deploy your changes using the WebSphere Administrative
Console or the wsadmin tool:
- Deploying J2EE assets for a single file Use this option to deploy your changes if your new get-data-config.xml file is the only file being changed.
- Deploying Java EE assets for a partial application Use this option to deploy your changes if changes have been made to more files than just your new get-data-config.xml file. For example: logic jars, JSP files, or other configuration XML files.