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.
The topics in the Developing section describe tasks performed by an application developer.
The Controller layer is the conductor of operations for a request. It controls the transaction scope and manages the session related information for the request. The controller first dispatches to a command and then calls the appropriate view processing logic to render the response.
External systems integration is a key feature of the WebSphere Commerce solution. In WebSphere Commerce business logic is enabled for integration and built-in adapters and interfaces are provided for common integration points. Additionally, the WebSphere Commerce integration solution leverages integration standards by using various IBM connectivity solutions.
Creating a custom implementation of a WebSphere Commerce store requires a significant amount of planning. From gathering client needs, to deploying the live solution, much work is needed to successfully deploy a custom client store. Use the resources in here to help you plan every phase of store creation.
Review this section for information about installing the WebSphere Commerce product, associated maintenance, and WebSphere Commerce enhancements.
Before you migrate WebSphere Commerce, review this information for an overview of the migration process.
WebSphere Commerce provides many tutorials.
Functional architecture provides both the set of patterns used to implement the business functionality and the frameworks in which these business functions execute.
WebSphere Commerce deals with a large amount of persistent data. There are numerous tables defined in the current database schema. Even with this extensive schema, however, you might need to extend or customize the database schema for your particular business needs.
A business model, a representation of the business processes used throughout the site, provides a sample commerce solution which includes an organization structure, default user roles and access control policies, one or more starter stores, administration tools, and business processes that demonstrate best practices. A business model can be customized to support business requirements and scenarios. WebSphere Commerce provides sample business models that show some common commerce solutions. These business models are created by setting up an organization hierarchy structure, access control policies, stores, and contracts that help satisfy the necessary business requirements.
Before starting to develop your site with WebSphere Commerce, you need to determine the business model supported by WebSphere Commerce that best represents the purpose of your site. Usually sites created with WebSphere Commerce will be implemented based on of one of these business models.
Store data is the information that is loaded into the WebSphere Commerce Server database, which allows your store to function. The URL Registry Entries and View Registry Entries packages are included in the diagram, but they are not database assets. These entries are presentation configuration (that is, struts actions and forwards) that must be deployed. URL registry entries are shown in the diagram to illustrate the entire store data information model. To operate properly, a store must have the data in place to support all customer activities. For example, in order for a customer to make a purchase, your store must contain a catalog of goods for sale (catalog data), the data associated with processing orders (tax and shipping data), and the inventory to fulfill the request (inventory and fulfillment data).
WebSphere Commerce Developer is the development toolkit for customizing a WebSphere Commerce application.
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.
The Management Center Web application is a Struts web application that facilitates communication between the Management Center and WebSphere Commerce services.
WebSphere Commerce provides back-office integration to enable your business application services to connect to access services.
WebSphere Commerce provides the capability for you to enable outbound web services to send information and messages that are generated from WebSphere Commerce.
WebSphere Commerce provides inbound web services to retrieve information for WebSphere Commerce business operations. You can use the code and documentation that is provided with WebSphere Commerce to enable inbound web services to integrate backend systems and external system with WebSphere Commerce operations.
WebSphere Commerce offers support for inbound and outbound messages that use the XML format. Each inbound message invokes specific behaviors within the WebSphere Commerce Server by executing a controller command. Each controller command in turn performs operations on the WebSphere Commerce database and subsystems. Some controller commands can be executed by more than one XML message. In addition, some messages can invoke different commands, depending on the content of the message.
WebSphere Commerce provides the capability to integrate with procurement systems. This capability enables WebSphere Commerce customers to participate as suppliers in the procurement system's marketplace, increase sales, and enhance their business-to-business presence on the Web. WebSphere Commerce provides an extensible and customizable functionality in such a way that one can extend either the messages or the business logic.
Controller commands encapsulate the business logic for a business process. By default, WebSphere Commerce provides various controller commands to help you integrate WebSphere Commerce with backend and external systems.
The WebSphere Commerce offers support for messages which use the legacy message format. Unless you are migrating from a previous version of WebSphere Commerce Suite, it is recommended that you use the XML messages instead, since they accomplish the same function, and are easier to read and maintain.
You can integrate WebSphere Commerce with a third-party tax calculation system to help build and maintain a highly secure e-commerce site with a worldwide tax calculation process. Use the tax integration feature and its tax integration API to help you integrate with a third-party tax calculation system. The tax integration API are a set of task commands that are called by the order component to communicate with the third-party tax calculation system when the tax integration feature is enabled.
WebSphere Commerce includes the following to support secure online payments when WebSphere Commerce Payments is used:
Payment business policy properties are attributes which describe a payment business policy. You can also use the attributes to control business logic.
WebSphere Commerce Payments implements a multi-payment framework architecture that provides a flexible and extensible way to accommodate payment requirements on the Internet for merchants who need to accept multiple payment methods. This multi-payment framework separates the infrastructure and processes of payment management from specific payment types by using of software cassettes. These cassettes contain the specifics of handling a type of payment method. Cassettes translate the generic WebSphere Commerce Payments messages into payment-protocol specific messages which are then sent to the appropriate payment gateway (or Acquirer) for further processing. Each cassette provides support for a specific electronic payment system, and the framework can handle multiple cassettes simultaneously.
WebSphere Commerce provides sample JavaServer Pages (JSP) files to display order information using WebSphere Commerce Payments.
The Cashier function is a Java class provided with WebSphere Commerce Payments. WebSphere Commerce uses the Cashier function to simplify the process of creating orders and payments. This component increases the flexibility available for payment processing when payment cassettes are used. The Cashier interacts with the merchant server and the WebSphere Commerce Payments framework, so that these two components are independent. As such, you do not have to modify the merchant server in order to adopt any new cassettes or custom cassettes for new payment methods. The mechanism that makes this possible are the Cashier profiles.
In an order processing environment, WebSphere Commerce includes the following scheduler and controller commands to support WebSphere Commerce Payments:
The OfflineCard Cassette is a passive cassette used for credit card transactions. Passive cassettes record events that have already happened outside of WebSphere Commerce Payments, but within the WebSphere Commerce Payments object model. With the OfflineCard Cassette, transactions are recorded and maintained only in the WebSphere Commerce Payments database. There is no back-end financial system with which a passive cassette communicates. For example, an Approve command using the OfflineCard Cassette records the results of an approval request which the merchant made using their existing credit card swipe box. Inclusion of this cassette makes WebSphere Commerce Payments usable right out of the box.
For each WebSphere Commerce Payments application programming interface (API) command, the following sections describe:
BankServ is a payment gateway that interfaces with the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network to support online electronic check payments.
With the explosion of Internet commerce, merchants are continually coming online. Brick and mortar merchants use devices like POS terminals to perform real time payment transactions. Internet merchants cannot afford to take a step back and perform payment transactions offline. They need the ability to receive and process credit card transactions in real time. Key to their business is the ability to perform on-demand authorization and data capture. In essence, Internet merchants need direct connectivity into high-capacity transaction networks for payment processing.
If you want to customize the Software Express plug-in you can change the implementations of APIs that are in the sample.
DOM integration enhances the shopping flow in the Aurora starter store, while enhancing backend system integration with WebSphere Commerce. This integration provides comprehensive coverage of the order lifecycle across channels, from capture to fulfillment.
WebSphere Commerce can interact with an external Distributed Order Management (DOM) solution. You can use WebSphere Commerce DOM integration with Sterling Commerce and Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite (SSFS) as a starting point and as building blocks for your integration scenarios.
The Order and Quote Capture Integration provides an open and extensible framework that supports outbound integration of WebSphere Commerce with a generic external system.
In WebSphere Commerce Version 6.x the Payments subsystem was introduced. Payment processing using the WebSphere Commerce Multipayment Framework (used in version 5.x) and payment processing using the Payments subsystem is fundamentally different.
The business logic layer is the business components that provide OAGIS services to return data or start business processes. The presentation layer uses these OAGIS services to display data, or to invoke a business process. The business logic provides data required by the presentation layer. The business logic layer exists because more than just fetching and updating data is required by an application; there is also additional business logic independent of the presentation layer.
The interaction between the business objects and persistence layer is isolated in an object called the Business Object Mediator. Business object document (BOD) commands interact with the Business Object Mediator to handle the interaction with the logical objects and how they are persisted.
You can extend the WebSphere Commerce product to fit your business needs. This topic describes the prerequisite skills and required knowledge that you need to customize business logic. After you have the required knowledge, use WebSphere Commerce Developer to take tutorials that guide you step-by-step through various customization scenarios.
A web service is an interface that describes a collection of operations that are accessible through the network by using standardized XML messaging.
WebSphere Commerce search provides enhanced search functionality in starter stores by enabling enriched search engine capabilities such as automatic search term suggestions and spelling correction, while influencing store search results by using search term associations, and search-based merchandising rules.
The following section describes how you can leverage WebSphere Commerce features and functionality to help your site be compliant with different privacy and security standards.
These topics describe the security features of WebSphere Commerce and how to configure these features.