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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 price rules
You can customize price rules to suit the business needs of your site. For example, you can create a new condition or action for business users to add to price rules. Customization is supported for both the Price Rule Builder tool user interface in the Catalog Filter and Pricing tool, and for the pricing services.
Customizing conditions and actions in price rules
To provide business users with more options for price rules, you can create new conditions and actions to use in the Price Rule Builder in Management Center.
Adding a new custom condition or action for a price rule
Add a customized condition or action element to the Price Rule Builder if the default price rule elements in Management Center do not meet your business needs. When your customization is complete, business users can use the new price rule element in price rules.
Creating the price rule element template definition
By creating the price rule element template definition, you define the blueprint for your price rule element. When you have defined the price rule runtime XML you require, you must add the template definition to the PRELETEMPLATE table as a new entry.
Example: price rule element template for an action
When creating a custom action for a price rule, you can refer to this sample SQL statement that adds an element template to the PRELETEMPLATE table.

Example: price rule element template for an action

When creating a custom action for a price rule, you can refer to this sample SQL statement that adds an element template to the PRELETEMPLATE table.

Sample

The purpose of the action in this sample is to get an external price for a catalog entry by calling external service. The SQL statement looks like this:

INSERT INTO PRELETEMPLATE VALUES 
(11,'customGetExternalPriceAction',0,'Custom get external price action element.',3,'
<FlowElementImplementation type="CustomGetExternalPriceAction">
<Implementation invocationType="TaskCommand">
<Class name="com.ibm.commerce.price.rule.commands.element.CustomGetExternalPriceActionElementCmd">
<Argument name="serviceURL" value="PRICERULE_serviceURL"/> 
</Class></Implementation></FlowElementImplementation>',null,null,null,0);

For this example, the PRICERULE_serviceURL parameter in the element template definition will be replaced with the actual URL (for example, http://mycompany.com/external/offerprice) when the price rule is used on the storefront to set pricing.