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User Guide
The information contained in this section applies to WebSphere Commerce Version 8. The documentation also applies to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in a newer section.WebSphere Commerce is a single, unified e-commerce platform that offers the ability to do business directly with consumers (B2C), directly with businesses (B2B), and indirectly through channel partners (indirect business models). WebSphere Commerce is designed to be a customizable, scalable, and high availability solution that is built to leverage open standards. It provides easy-to-use tools for business users to centrally manage a cross-channel strategy. Business users can create and manage precision marketing campaigns, promotions, catalog, and merchandising across all sales channels.
Samples
Aurora starter store
The Aurora starter store showcases the latest in storefront features, and models best practices in store development, demonstrating a wide scope of retail scenarios. Simplify your responsive B2C or B2B direct web store implementation and reduce your time-to-market by using the Aurora starter store as your development base.
Developing Aurora starter store pages
Developing and maintaining store pages can become an efficient and consistent process by following the general practices that are used in existing Aurora starter store pages.

User Guide
The information contained in this section applies to WebSphere Commerce Version 8. The documentation also applies to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in a newer section.WebSphere Commerce is a single, unified e-commerce platform that offers the ability to do business directly with consumers (B2C), directly with businesses (B2B), and indirectly through channel partners (indirect business models). WebSphere Commerce is designed to be a customizable, scalable, and high availability solution that is built to leverage open standards. It provides easy-to-use tools for business users to centrally manage a cross-channel strategy. Business users can create and manage precision marketing campaigns, promotions, catalog, and merchandising across all sales channels.
- Planning
  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.
- Installing
  Review the following sections for information about installing the WebSphere Commerce product, associated maintenance, and WebSphere Commerce enhancements.
- Migrating
  Before you migrate to WebSphere Commerce Version 8.0, review this information to help plan and execute your migration.
- Deploying
  The topics in this section describe how to publish stores to either a test or production environment, and how to deploy customized code.
- Operating
- Integrating
  Topics in the Integrating category highlight the tasks that are commonly performed for using WebSphere Commerce in combination with other products.
- Administering
- Tutorials
  WebSphere Commerce provides many tutorials to help you customize and understand your WebSphere Commerce instance and stores.
- Samples
  - Aurora starter store
    The Aurora starter store showcases the latest in storefront features, and models best practices in store development, demonstrating a wide scope of retail scenarios. Simplify your responsive B2C or B2B direct web store implementation and reduce your time-to-market by using the Aurora starter store as your development base.
    - Site level features
      Using site level features, you can customize the look and feel of your storefront. Site level features are visible from every page in your store.
    - Category level features
      Category level pages in the Aurora starter store are designed to assist customers in narrowing the product selection to find the preferred item.
    - Product level features
      Product level features in the Aurora starter store are designed to provide details about a specific product in your store.
    - Aurora as a B2B direct starter store
      You can publish the Aurora starter store as a B2B direct store and take advantage of features that are offered by the Aurora starter store plus extra B2B capabilities. Get your B2B e-commerce site up and running faster at a lower cost by using the Aurora starter store as your starting point. With B2B-optimized features built right into the storefront, you can minimize the amount of customization that is required to provide an optimal shopping experience to your business customers.
    - Publishing the Aurora starter store
      The Aurora starter store can be used only as a storefront asset store in the Extended Sites business model. It is not possible to deploy Aurora as a stand-alone B2B or B2C store. The Aurora.sar archive contains the organization structure, predefined user roles, and access control policies necessary to create either a B2C storefront asset store or a B2B storefront asset store.
    - jQuery Aurora starter store
      The Aurora starter store in WebSphere Commerce is completely written in jQuery 3.1.0, which is one of the most commonly used JavaScript libraries used in dynamic websites. The jQuery AJAX and events API provides an easy to use framework that meets most AJAX requirements for storefront development.
    - Aurora starter store functions
      For the Aurora starter store, you can select certain functions to include in your store and disable the ones that you do not need. Use the Store Management tool in Management Center to control which functions are enabled for your store.
    - Accessibility
      The Aurora starter store follows the IBM accessibility guidelines to implement accessibility features. Accessibility features help users who have a physical disability, such as a visual impairment, hearing impairment, or limited mobility, successfully use the store.
    - Search features
      WebSphere Commerce comes with a powerful and fully integrated search function. The search functions in WebSphere Commerce provide an enriched customer experience, with features such as automatic search term suggestions and spelling correction. Since it is built on open standards, WebSphere Commerce Search is highly flexible and extensible. Starter stores can use the search engine's most sophisticated features without requiring extra customization. A key feature of Search is that sales personnel can create and manage search term associations, and search-based merchandising rules, from within the Management Center and Store view.
    - Responsive Web Design (RWD)
      Responsive Web Design (RWD) is a web design approach that is aimed at crafting pages that are optimized for a wide range of devices. It advocates the use of primarily fluid layouts and media queries to optimize a site for different devices, instead of designing a separate site for each device.
    - Aurora starter store companion assets
      The IBM Starter Store Companion Assets are a customizable set of resources that are designed to reduce the overall cost of implementation. You can use the assets to understand, customize, test, and develop your store that is based on the starter store.
    - Replacing an existing store with Aurora
      Usually, new features that are introduced in feature pack releases require storefront changes. These changes can be in the form of data model changes, or modifications to the storefront JSP files to use new or updated APIs. For this reason, moving to the latest starter store is the easiest way to have newer components work on your existing store. Depending on the age and design of your site, this retrofitting can be done through several different approaches. If your site is relatively up-to-date, and you are interested in a particular feature, then you can find the migration steps for that solution or component and apply them to your store. Alternatively, you can attempt to replace the entire store with the Aurora starter store by following this set of high-level instructions.
    - Upgrading your store assets
      For existing WebSphere Commerce customers who are looking to upgrade to the next release, there are a number of approaches that you can take to upgrade your store. Review your requirements, and chose the proper path to upgrade your store assets to take advantage of the supplied features in the Aurora starter store.
    - WebSphere Commerce Dojo Enhancements API
      WebSphere Commerce extends the Dojo AJAX and events API, providing an easy to use framework that meets most AJAX requirements for storefront development.
    - Developing Aurora starter store pages
      Developing and maintaining store pages can become an efficient and consistent process by following the general practices that are used in existing Aurora starter store pages.
      - Changing static HTML starter store files
        You can use the static HTML store to accelerate your web design cycle. When web designers use the static HTML store as a starting point, the cost of building user interface within the JSP files is reduced. You can modify the HTML and CSS files using your favorite web design tools and without a development environment. The changes can be incorporated into the corresponding JSP files by a store developer at a more convenient time.
      - Applying HTML changes to JSP files
        After a web designer changes the static HTML files, a store developer can determine the JSP files that dynamically render the different areas on specific pages in a storefront. The highlight feature, one of the tools that are provided with the assets, is used to identify the JSP files that make up the page you are on. It marks off each area of the page that a JSP file represents and shows the file name in the upper left corner.
      - Adding extension logic to all store pages
        You can configure the Aurora starter store to include custom extension logic, such as self contained JSP on all store pages. By using this configuration, you can easily embed common code on all store pages, or embed code for tracking the browsing history of shoppers.
      - Enabling subscription support in the order component
        In order to enable subscription support in the order component, the order configuration file must be updated.
      - Enabling and configuring site search statistics
        You can gather data for the site into search statistics reports so that you can view and analyze them in the Management Center.
      - Customizing web store labels and messages
        The static HTML store shows the labels and messages. Use the static HTML store to find the properties files that are needed to customize the labels and messages in your live store.
      - Directory structure
        Starter store files are organized by default in a defined directory structure.
      - Catalog image requirements
        For each catalog entry (product, SKU, bundle, and kit), the Aurora starter store displays images in various sizes in different locations. The catalog entry images must be at a path that follows a naming convention. For a catalog entry, images of various sizes must have the same file name.
      - Dynamic caching
        In the Aurora starter store, dynamic caching is enabled by default. Dynamic caching reduces the server load because significant segments of the page, such as store widgets, do not have to be retrieved from the server on every new page display.
      - JSTL variables
        The EnvironmentSetup.jspf file is a configuration file that is commonly included in starter store pages. The variables declared within this file can be modified to change the appearances and behaviors of storefront components.
      - Override the loading of categories in the catalog browsing menu
        You can override the behavior for loading the catalog browsing menu on individual store pages to control the display of the menu and improve the performance of loading store pages. By configuring the behavior for the catalog browsing menu, you can configure whether a store page loads only the top-level category in the catalog browsing menu when the page loads or loads all categories in the menu. The catalog browsing menu is a pop-up menu that includes a list of departments and categories.
      - Coding JSP pages to use the Storefront Test Automation Engine
        The WebSphere Commerce test automation framework is designed to help you effectively and efficiently test your store before deployment. To fully leverage the test automation framework, it is recommended that you edit your JavaServer Pages (JSP) to include the following best practices.
      - Adding and changing messages
        You can add new messages or change existing messages in starter store pages by modifying the file that contains the store strings.
      - Enabling the progress bar
        The progress bar is displayed when an AJAX request is triggered and removed when the request completes. It serves as a confirmation indicator on the page, where additional actions can still be performed by the customer. That is, it does not impede the customer from performing additional actions on the page.
      - Enabling account activation by email
        You can enable account activation so that customers must click an activation URL before they become registered in the Aurora starter store.
      - Disabling account activation by email
        You can disable the account activation by email function if the function is enabled.
      - Shortening the context root of a store URL
        Shortening the context root of a store's URL makes it easier for shoppers to remember a link and also improves visibility in search engine results.
      - Uploading requisition lists
        You can create a requisition list in a text or spreadsheet editor and upload the requisition list to the store. A requisition list is a reusable list of items (SKUs) that you can use to create orders. Requisition lists are supported when the Aurora starter store is published as a B2B direct store.
      - Enabling a Subscribe link for an e-Marketing Spot feed
        The Aurora starter store includes a feature that allows customers to subscribe to e-Marketing Spot feeds for catalog entry recommendations. To familiarize yourself with the Aurora implementation, you can enable and test the Subscribe link for an e-Marketing Spot on the Department page. Then, consider a similar implementation for your own store.
      - Enabling a Subscribe link for a wish list feed
        The Aurora starter store includes a feature that allows shoppers to subscribe to wish list feeds. To familiarize yourself with the Aurora implementation, you can enable and test the Subscribe link for the wish list. Then, consider a similar implementation for your own store.
      - Updating the Aurora starter store for key splitting
        The key splitting feature might potentially expose some JavaScript coding issues in the store JSP pages. JSP pages that passed or initialized JSTL variables of object's primary keys (or identifiers) into JavaScript variables as integers might be subject to unexpected behavior in the storefront.
      - Enabling image-based facets for the B2B Hardware category
        After you publish the Aurora starter store as a B2B direct store, you can enable certain facets for products in the Fasteners and Lighting categories. These facets, such as Head style for screws and Bulb shape for lighting products, have associated images to help buyers find the right product quickly. The enablement steps involve selecting the descriptive attributes to display as facets in the Catalogs tool in Management Center and then previewing the results.
      - Enabling the Cancel button for orders on the Order Details page
        If you want to allow shoppers to cancel orders, you can enable the Cancel button on the Order Details page for the Aurora starter store. The enablement steps involve installing interim fixes that contain code that is required for the Cancel button to function and defining modification rules for order statuses in Sterling Order Management.
      - Currency formatting
        The Aurora starter store uses the JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library (JSTL) API to format the currencies that are displayed on store pages.
      - Methods for retrieving configuration parameters from the STORECONF table
        You can use the StoreConfigurationRegistry to access store configuration values in the STORECONF database table from either Java code or JSP files.
    - Site flows and interactions
      The site flows provide a screen capture and a detailed description for each store page. Store developers can use the site flows as a high-level guideline for each page to identify starting points when store pages are changed.
    - Checkout flows
      Checkout flows describe pages that your customers use to complete the checkout process.
    - Site flows
      The site flows provide a screen capture and description for each store page that includes Apple Pay on the Web functions.
    - My Account flows
      The My Account flows describe pages your customers use to register with the online store and maintain their account with the store. The My Account pages include the account summary, personal information, address book, personal wish lists, coupons, orders, order details, and browsing history. Certain pages are optional and are available to customers only if your store chooses those functions.
    - IBM Customer Service for WebSphere Commerce
      IBM Customer Service for WebSphere Commerce provides customer service enhancements that enable a customer service representative (CSR) to resolve common issues and capture orders. These capabilities are built into the WebSphere Commerce Aurora storefront and enable a CSR to complete key tasks on behalf of a guest and registered customers for both B2B and B2C stores. Customer Service for WebSphere Commerce is offered for both Professional and Enterprise editions.
    - Additional flows
      The Additional flows describe the supplementary pages that are required to maintain your online store.
    - Organization and buyer administration flows (B2B)
      In the B2B direct business model, each company that purchases from your store must have one or more registered users who are assigned the Buyer Administrator role. Buyer Administrators administer the company's organizations, and they manage the company's buyers, including assigning roles and approving new buyers who register. The Aurora starter store provides a series of self-serve pages for Buyer Administrators to do their work directly in the storefront, rather than using the Organization Administration Console.
    - Order approval flows
      During organization setup, order approvals and contracts can be configured to set the criteria that determines which orders require approval. When order approvals are enabled, a Buyer Approver or Buyer Administrator must approve orders that exceed the order total limit that is specified in the contract before orders are submitted for processing. The Aurora starter store contains pages in which Buyer Approvers and Buyer Administrators can view and manage order approvals.
    - Buy-on-behalf-of flows
      The buy-on-behalf-of feature allows a Buyer Administrator to shop on behalf of a buyer in the same organization. After signing in to buy on behalf of a specific buyer, the Buyer Administrator sees the store exactly the way that buyer would see the store. The Buyer Administrator can then lock an order and proceed to create, modify, or view the buyer's information such as saved orders, order history, and requisition lists. When an order is locked, a symbol appears beside the order number.
    - Enabling punch-out payment
      You can enable punch-out payment in starter stores. Punch-out payment is a payment model where a third-party payment service provider processes payments for orders.
    - Facebook integration
      Use the power of the world's biggest social media community to spread the word on products or your store with embedded Facebook Like or Send/Share buttons.
    - Apple Pay on the Web integration
      Apple Pay on the Web integration with WebSphere Commerce provides you with an easy and secure way to accept and process payments. Apple Pay on the Web enables customers to purchase products in the Aurora starter store with a single touch in Safari on Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
    - Testing the WebSphere Commerce and Sterling Configurator integration
      After you install and configure the software components for the WebSphere Commerce and Sterling Configurator integration, test the integration with sample data and sample procedures.
    - Testing your store
      WebSphere Commerce provides a test assets package that contains documentation and tools to help introduce, plan, and run Functional Verification Testing (FVT) for your store.
  - Extended sites starter store
    Use an extended sites starter store to get started on setting up an extended sites solution that will allow your selling organization to provide unique storefronts for different enterprise customers or showcase a number of branded storefronts.
  - Sample stores
    A sample store is for learning purposes and some tutorials can use a sample store. Do not use a sample store as the base for building your site. Sample stores might not be accessible or translated.
- Developing
  The topics in the Developing section describe tasks performed by an application developer.
- Compliance
  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.
- Securing
  These topics describe the security features of WebSphere Commerce and how to configure these features.
- Performance
- Troubleshooting

Developing Aurora starter store pages

Developing and maintaining store pages can become an efficient and consistent process by following the general practices that are used in existing Aurora starter store pages.