Tutorial: Creating a site-level Commerce Composer widget

In this tutorial, you create a reusable site-level widget that can be used by Management Center users to compose store pages with the Commerce Composer tool. Your new widget can be reused on multiple store pages and shared across stores.

This tutorial uses the Aurora storefront asset store Shopping Cart page as an example for demonstrating how to create a site-level widget for a store page. You use the JSP file for this existing Aurora store page to model your new widget and then update the page JSP file to use your new widget.

A Commerce Composer widget is an interchangeable building block that a Management Center user can use to compose page layouts for store pages. You can create reusable widgets, which Management Center users can then use within page layouts. Widgets are independent user interface modules that retrieve and display a specific type of data on a store page. Widgets can display the same data in different UI styles, depending on the UI providers that are defined for the widget. Widgets are composed of multiple components, including storefront and Management Center components.

Site-level widgets are widgets that can be shared between stores. By default, all Commerce Composer widgets are registered at the site-level. Stores must subscribe to a widget before the widget can be included on a page for that store.

You can gain the following benefits by creating Commerce Composer widgets for use in composing page layouts:
  • Business users can use the widgets to design and configure store pages without the need for IT assistance.
  • Cleaner organization of code.
  • Separation of data and presentation.
  • Ease of reuse of code. For example, a Header widget and Footer widget can be easily used in the layout for all store pages.

For more information about widgets, see Commerce Composer widget architecture.

Note: This tutorial uses the Apache Derby database and the Shopping Cart page as examples. The focus of the tutorial is to demonstrate the procedure for creating a custom widget for use within the Commerce Composer tool.

Learning objectives

After completing this tutorial, you should be able to do the following tasks:
  • Create a site-level widget for use on a store page
  • Use an existing store JSP as a model for creating a site-level widget
  • Use the Data Load utility to register a new widget with the Commerce Composer framework
  • Customize Management Center to support the use of a custom widget when a user is composing a store page with the Commerce Composer tool
  • Use the Data Load utility to load a Commerce Composer template and Commerce Composer layout for use in the Commerce Composer tool for a content page
  • Update an existing store JSP to include Commerce Composer widgets

Time required

Expect this tutorial to take 2 - 3 hours to complete. The tutorial can take longer if you explore concepts that relate to this tutorial.

Skill level

This tutorial is intended for advanced WebSphere Commerce developers who are responsible for customizing store pages. To complete this tutorial, ensure that you are familiar with the following terms and concepts:
  • Commerce Composer tool
  • Commerce Composer framework
  • Commerce Composer widgets and widget definition
  • Commerce Composer templates
  • Commerce Composer layouts
  • Management Center framework
  • Web services
  • Data Load utility
  • Nouns
  • XML
  • XPath
  • CSS
  • Rational Application Developer
  • JSP and JSPF files
  • Java Emitter Template (JET) pattern tool

System requirements

Before you begin this tutorial, ensure that you complete the following tasks:

Tutorial resources

You can download and review a compressed file that contains code samples similar to the code that is used in this tutorial. Download and extract this file to a temporary directory, such as C:\Temp.

createsitewidget.zip.