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HCL Commerce is a high-availability, highly scalable and customizable e-commerce platform. Able to support hundreds of thousands of transactions per day, HCL Commerce allows you to do business with consumers (B2C) or directly with businesses (B2B). HCL Commerce uses cloud friendly technology to make deployment and operation both easy and efficient. 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. Business users can also use AI enabled content management capabilities.
Customizing
The topics in the Customizing section describe tasks performed by an application developer to customize HCL Commerce.
Business logic layer
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.
HCL Commerce use of Open Applications Group (OAGIS) messaging
HCL Commerce service interfaces are defined using the OAGIS message structure, from The Open Applications Group.
Verbs
A verb represents an operation that can be performed on a noun. For example, an "Order" noun has a specified operation that is performed in response to the verb "Get" (in this case, providing details to the client about the Order). Although OAGIS messaging defines a number of verbs; HCL Commerce uses a subset.
Sync request and the ConfirmBOD response
Sync is used to notify interested parties the current state of the business objects that the system manages. Only the system that contains the master data record should be sending Sync requests. Sync is used to synchronize the business object or objects across systems and is initiated by the system that holds the master data record for the business object.

Documentation
HCL Commerce is a high-availability, highly scalable and customizable e-commerce platform. Able to support hundreds of thousands of transactions per day, HCL Commerce allows you to do business with consumers (B2C) or directly with businesses (B2B). HCL Commerce uses cloud friendly technology to make deployment and operation both easy and efficient. 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. Business users can also use AI enabled content management capabilities.
- Getting started
  HCL Commerce has different advantages for business users, administrators and developers. HCL Commerce targets each of these roles with a tailored set of offerings so that each of your users can get maximum benefit.
- Installing and deploying
  Learn how to install and deploy HCL Commerce development environments and HCL Commerce production environments.
- Migrating
  Before you migrate to HCL Commerce Version 9.1, review this information to help plan and execute your migration.
- Operating
  Topics in the Operating category highlight tasks that are typically performed by business users, customer support representatives, to complete their day-to-day tasks in the operation of the HCL Commerce site.
- Integrating
  Topics in the Integrating category highlight the tasks that are commonly performed for using HCL Commerce in combination with other products.
- Administering
  Topics in the Administering category highlight tasks that are typically performed by the Site Administrator, to support daily operations of the HCL Commerce site.
- Customizing
  The topics in the Customizing section describe tasks performed by an application developer to customize HCL Commerce.
  - Customizing Management Center for HCL Commerce
    HCL Commerce allows you to pull the GIT bundle of Management Center source code and start the application locally to customize the Management Center.
  - Managed asset deployment
    Managed assets are files that are uploaded by business users to be used for store marketing, or to supplement products. They are added to HCL Commerce through the Assets tool or the Marketing tool in Management Center. By default, managed assets are extracted and deployed through the HCL Commerce EAR. To maintain performance in a large-scale production environment, site administrators must switch to alternative extraction and deployment methods for managed assets.
  - HCL Commerce development environment
    HCL Commerce Developer is the development toolkit for customizing a HCL Commerce application.
  - Functional architecture
    Functional architecture provides both the set of patterns used to implement the business functionality and the frameworks in which these business functions execute.
  - Persistent object model
    HCL 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.
  - Creating your custom store
    After you install and set up your programming environment, you can create your custom store and customize your storefront. You must ensure that the store server is properly configured, and that your store assets are moved to the Store server.
  - Presentation layer
    HCL 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.
  - Controller layer
    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.
  - Business logic layer
    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.
    - Business context service
      The business context service manages contextual information used by business components. The information is encapsulated within different types of business contexts. This process formalizes the context infrastructure and fosters reuse between different business models.
    - Name-value pair command framework
      The name-value pair command framework uses name-value pairs as input to the business logic layer, and returns the responses as name-value pairs.
    - HCL Commerce use of Open Applications Group (OAGIS) messaging
      HCL Commerce service interfaces are defined using the OAGIS message structure, from The Open Applications Group.
      - OAGIS document processing
        During OAGIS document processing, the developer developing the client library and the component facade needs to be aware of the following concepts:
      - Nouns
        A logical model definition is required for services that are fronted by an XML schema. In HCL Commerce, the logical model definition is represented as a noun. HCL Commerce uses its own simplified nouns, defined types, and primitive XML schema types. HCL Commerce does not use nouns and base types provided by OAGIS.
      - Verbs
        A verb represents an operation that can be performed on a noun. For example, an "Order" noun has a specified operation that is performed in response to the verb "Get" (in this case, providing details to the client about the Order). Although OAGIS messaging defines a number of verbs; HCL Commerce uses a subset.
        Get Request and the Show Response
        Get requests are requests for data, and use the Get verb, and return a Show response. The Get verb will indicate the search criteria used to retrieve the business objects along with paging options for paged requests. The Show response will include the business objects that match the search criteria .
        Process request and the acknowledge response
        Process is used when the client is submitting a new business object, canceling an existing business object, or invoking processing logic against an existing business object. The Acknowledge response will include the shell of the business object that was processed, containing at a minimum the unique identifier for the new or changed business object.
        Change Request / Respond Response
        Change is used to notify the master repository that they should change a business object that they own. The Change message will contain the verb and the noun. The noun will contain the information to uniquely identify itself and the attributes to change. For example, when adding a contact to a customer's contact list (address book), the noun specified will contain the contact information to add along with the information to uniquely identify the Person business object.
        Sync request and the ConfirmBOD response
        Sync is used to notify interested parties the current state of the business objects that the system manages. Only the system that contains the master data record should be sending Sync requests. Sync is used to synchronize the business object or objects across systems and is initiated by the system that holds the master data record for the business object.
      - Back-end integration using Business Object Document-style Web services
        Back-end integrating using Business Object Document-style (BOD-style) Web services provides a common programming pattern for external client enablement that does not depend on a specific workflow implementation.
  - Persistence 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.
  - Business model information model
    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. HCL 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.
  - Business models
    Before starting to develop your site with HCL Commerce, you need to determine the business model supported by HCL Commerce that best represents the purpose of your site. Usually sites created with HCL Commerce will be implemented based on of one of these business models.
  - Store data information model
    Store data is the information that is loaded into the Transaction 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).
  - Customizing HCL Commerce
    You can extend the HCL 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 HCL Commerce Developer to take tutorials that guide you step-by-step through various customization scenarios.
  - Run Engine command framework
    The Run Engine command framework provides predefined commands, that you can use to change environment parameters or container configurations. This framework is built into the HCL provided Docker images.
  - GraphQL for HCL Commerce
    The GraphQL markup language is available for any API. It is a server-side interpreter for processing queries using a data type system you design. With GraphQL, your data and code are independent of any database or storage system.
  - Representational State Transfer (REST) services
    HCL Commerce uses Representational State Transfer (REST) services to provide a framework that can be used to develop RESTful applications on several platforms. These platforms can include web, mobile, kiosks, and social applications.
  - Web services
  - Search
    HCL Commerce comes with a powerful and fully integrated search function. The search functions in HCL Commerce provide an enriched customer experience, with features such as automatic search term suggestions and spelling correction. Since it is built on industry standards, HCL Commerce Search is highly flexible and extensible. Starter stores can use the search engine's most sophisticated features without requiring extra customization. Starting with Version 9.1, HCL Commerce Search with Elasticsearch microservices manage indexing and other crucial tasks, with no performance impact on the storefront or transaction server.
- Tutorials
  HCL Commerce provides many tutorials to help you customize and understand your HCL Commerce instance and stores.
- Samples
  Topics in the Samples category highlight the various samples that are provided with HCL Commerce.
- Compliance
  The following section describes how you can leverage HCL Commerce features and functionality to help your site be compliant with different privacy and security standards.
- Securing
  These topics describe the security features of HCL Commerce and how to configure these features.
- Performance
  Topics in the Performance section describe the means by which to plan, implement, test, and re-visit the optimization of HCL Commerce site performance.
- Troubleshooting
  Topics in the Troubleshooting section highlight common issues that are encountered with HCL Commerce, and how they can be addressed or mitigated.
- Reference
  Topics in the Reference section contain all of the HCL Commerce reference documentation.

Deprecated feature

Sync request and the ConfirmBOD response

Sync is used to notify interested parties the current state of the business objects that the system manages. Only the system that contains the master data record should be sending Sync requests. Sync is used to synchronize the business object or objects across systems and is initiated by the system that holds the master data record for the business object.

A common example of when sync is used is asynchronous updates by JMS. Sync is not limited to this usage but typically when backend systems are pushing updates, these updates are sent asynchronously and reliably. For example, the master data record for member will use Sync BOD to broadcast updates. The Sync BOD request will be received from the master data record when the order status changes.

As a response to a Sync request, the ConfirmBOD response will be used to indicate whether processing was successful. The confirm response will contain the success or failure message as a result of the synchronization. The response will not include any information about the noun itself. The purpose of Sync is to synchronize the system so the Nouns currently in the system match the Nouns within the request message.

For Sync requests, actions are user-defined. The action must indicate the business operation that needs to take place on the included Noun. There is no predefined list of actions that can be associated with the Sync verb.

The following example shows a Sync message for the Person noun:


<oa:Sync>
<oa:ActionCriteria>
<oa:ActionExpression actionCode="Create"
expressionLanguage="XPath">
/Person[1]
</oa:ActionExpression>
</oa:ActionCriteria>
</oa:Sync>