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BEA WebLogic Commerce Servers Release Notes

 

WebLogic Commerce Servers, Release 2.0.1, Service Pack 3
Release Notes Version 2.0.3
Date: May 22, 2001

BEA WebLogic Commerce Servers 2.0.1 is a family of products that consists of the following components:

The following topics apply to all components in the WebLogic Commerce Servers 2.0.1 product family:

 


About WebLogic Commerce Servers Service Pack 3

Service Pack 3 for WebLogic Commerce Server contains all fixes from Service Packs 1 and 2, and addresses other performance issues and software limitations that were present in the 2.0.1 release. It is available for download as of May 22, 2001.

This section contains the following subsections:

Supported Platforms

Table 1 lists the supported and required software and platforms for this release of BEA WebLogic Commerce Servers. This information is updated periodically on the BEA "e-docs" Web site. Please enter Shift-Reload (Netscape) or Ctrl-Refresh (Microsoft Internet Explorer) to ensure that you are viewing the latest information.

Table 1 Supported Platforms, Environments, and Software Requirements

Requirement type

Specification, or solution(s) supported

Platform and Operating System

Memory

The product requires at least 128 MB of memory (RAM) to install and run. The system will run much better with more RAM, though. The installation requires the following free disk space:

  • 50 MB (Windows)

  • 40 MB (UNIX systems)

Application server

WebLogic Server 5.1 with Service Pack 9 (SP9) is required for development and production deployments. You can download WLS SP9 from the BEA WebLogic Commerce Servers download site (http://commerce.beasys.com/downloads/commerce_servers.jsp)

Java 2 Software Development Kit (SDK)

Databases and JDBC Drivers

A DBMS and a JDBC driver for the DBMS. This release has been certified for Cloudscape 2.0.1 and Oracle 8i (8.1.5). For Oracle databases, this release is certified for the Oracle Thin Driver in Classes111.zip (does not come with the WLCS 2.0.1 installation).

This release does not support Oracle 8.0.5, nor does it support the WebLogic jDriver (OCI driver) for Oracle on any platform type.

An evaluation version of Cloudscape is distributed with the product as part of the example implementations.

IBM AIX users: Before installing the WLCS software on AIX systems, please see the section Important Prerequisite Installation Steps for IBM AIX Users in this document.

Web browser / client

  • MS Internet Explorer 4.0 and above

  • Netscape Communicator 4.5 and above

UML modeler (NT systems only)

  • Rational Rose 98 Modeler

  • Rational Rose 98 Enterprise

  • Rational Rose 98i Modeler

  • Rational Rose 98i Enterprise

  • Rational Rose 2000 Modeler

  • Rational Rose 2000 Enterprise

Important Prerequisite Installation Steps for IBM AIX Users

The following files must be modified to successfully install BEA WebLogic Commerce Servers 2.0.1 on IBM AIX 4.3.3 systems:

  1. install.sh - In the section 'SETTING UP INSTALLATION VARIABLE', modify the following lines prior to running the install script:

    JDK_JAVA=\$JDK_HOME/jre/sh/java
    JDK_BIN=\$JDK_HOME/sh

    During installation, two messages will be returned stating that the path provided is not a valid JDK directory. Please ignore these messages and continue with the installation.

  2. weblogic.properties - In the section 'PERSONALIZATION SERVER ENTRIES', please modify the following:

    compileCommand=/usr/java_dev2/sh/javac

    The path for the compileCommand should be modified to your Java environment. For example:

    compileCommand=[Java home directory]/sh/javac

    Replace [Java home directory] with the full path where Java is installed on your system.

  3. StartCommerce.sh - Under 'START WEBLOGIC WITH THE ABOVE PARAMETERS', you must disable the JIT compiler by adding
    -Djava.compiler= to the first line, as follows:

    $JDK_JAVA -Djava.compiler=   [...]

    Disabling the JIT compiler on AIX systems is required if you are using the evaluation Cloudscape database that is provided with the WLCS software kit.

    You might also need to disable the JIT compiler on AIX systems when you use an Oracle database. After you install WLCS on AIX, please check for errors the first time you run the StartCommerce.sh file. If you encounter errors, you will need to disable the JIT compiler. Doing so will degrade performance.

Installing WLCS Service Pack 3

This section contains the following subsections:

Before You Install Service Pack 3

Read the following notes before you install Service Pack 3:

Note: WLCS 2.0.1 SP3 was built and certified with WLS 5.1 SP9 and JDK 1.2.2_007 (Windows) or JDK 1.2.2_07 (Solaris). Please be sure to upgrade your server environment before proceeding with the installation of WLCS 2.0.1 SP3.

To Install Service Pack 3

  1. Back up your WLCS 2.0.1 installation. Include the entire <wlcs-install> directory tree in your backup. If you use a database other than the reference Cloudscape database (which is located in the <wlcs-install> directory tree), back up the database as well.

    Although Service Pack 3 contains a scheme for uninstalling a service pack, the uninstaller does not revert any changes to the database. We strongly recommend backing up to safeguard your installation.

  2. Unjar the contents of this Service Pack into a temporary directory.

  3. Under the temporary directory that you created in the preceding step, edit applysp3.bat (or applysp3.sh) as follows:

    1. Find the environment variables that are used to install SP3. They are located at the top of the file.

    2. Change the value of the WLCS_HOME variable to the directory in which WebLogic Commerce Server 2.0.1 is installed. For example, WLCS_HOME=<wlcs-install>

    3. Find the comment block that follows the WLCS_HOME variable. Comment out the 5 lines between the start of the comment block and the end. This enables applysp3 to run to completion.

    4. For each node in a clustered installation, change the value of the WLCS_DOC_ROOT variable to the node's unique WLCS document root. For example, for a node that is named server-node1, change WLCS_DOC_ROOT to ...\mycluster\server-node1\public_html.

  4. Run applysp3.bat (or applysp3.sh).

  5. Open <wlcs-install>/bin/<platform>/sethome.bat (or .sh) in a text editor and note the values for the following variables:

  6. Open <wlcs-install>/bin/<platform>/sethome.bat-NEW (or .sh) and transfer the values from the preceding step to the corresponding environment variables in sethome.bat-NEW. Verify that the DEPLOYMENT_SET variable uses the correct persistence model for your environment.

  7. Rename sethome.bat-NEW (or .sh) as sethome.bat (or .sh), overwriting the existing file.

  8. Rename <wlcs-install>/bin/<platform>/DataLoader.bat-NEW (or .sh) as DataLoader.bat, overwriting the existing file.

  9. Open <wlcs-install>/weblogic.properties in a text editor and do the following:

    1. Add the following jar file to the weblogic.ejb.deploy property:

      <wlcs-install>/lib/ebusiness-XXX-admin.jar
      (where XXX is either cmp or bmp.)

      If you want to run the MyPersonalBuyBeans demo, add the following jar file to the weblogic.ejb.deploy property:
      <wlcs-install>/lib/examples-XXX-admin.jar
      (where XXX is either cmp or bmp)

    2. Under Document Management props, set the capacities for the docPool properties to at least as large as the capacities for the commercePool properties.

      Having at least the same capacities for the docPool properties prevents deadlocks when the execution flow requires connections to the commercePool and the docPool.

    3. Change the line:
      weblogic.jdbc.DataSource.weblogic.jdbc.jts.commercePool=comm ercePool
      to
      weblogic.jdbc.TXDataSource.weblogic.jdbc.jts.commercePool=co mmercePool

      That is, replace DataSource with TXDataSource.

  10. Open <wlcs-install>/weblogiccommerce.properties in a text editor and do the following:

    1. Create a property called commerce.advisor.language. Set this to the language that you used for your item qualities (e.g. commerce.advisor.language=French). If undefined, this property defaults to English. The value for this property is not case sensitive.

    2. If the following properties are not already in your weblogiccommerce.properties file, add them now. Make sure that the properties do not have spaces before or after the entries. The first four properties were introduced in Service Pack 1:

      # home names for Content -- point to documents for now

      commerce.home.content.ContentManagerHome=\

      com.beasys.commerce.axiom.document.DocumentManager

      commerce.home.document.DocumentManagerHome=\

      com.beasys.commerce.axiom.document.DocumentManager

      commerce.content.defaultReadOnly=true

      commerce.content.cache.useSoftHashMap=false

      commerce.home.content.ContentHome=\

      com.beasys.commerce.axiom.document.Document

      commerce.home.content.ContentSchemaHome=\

      com.beasys.commerce.axiom.document.DocumentSchema

      # home names for Document

      commerce.home.document.DocumentHome=\

      com.beasys.commerce.axiom.document.Document

      commerce.home.document.DocumentSchemaHome=\

      com.beasys.commerce.axiom.document.DocumentSchema

  11. Do one of the following, depending on the platform type that you use:

  12. Delete the directory <wlcs-install>/server/classfiles/jsp and all subdirectories. This will force all JSPs to recompile, which ensures proper operation of WLCS 2.0.1 SP3.

After You Install Service Pack 3

Once SP3 is installed and the server is started, you might receive the following warning messages during EJB deployment:

<ServerClassLoader><W>: theory.smart.axiom.contact.PersonPk in not in archive weblogic.utils.jar.JarFile@bbdd11aa

<ServerClassLoader><W>: theory.smart.axiom.contact.Person in not in archive weblogic.utils.jar.JarFile@bbdd11aa

<ServerClassLoader><W>: theory.smart.axiom.accounting.AccountPk in not in archive weblogic.utils.jar.JarFile@bbdd11aa

<ServerClassLoader><W>: theory.smart.axiom.accounting.Account in not in archive weblogic.utils.jar.JarFile@bbdd11aa

<ServerClassLoader><W>: theory.smart.ebusiness.item.ItemPk in not in archive weblogic.utils.jar.JarFile@402911a4

<ServerClassLoader><W>: theory.smart.ebusiness.item.Item in not in archive weblogic.utils.jar.JarFile@402911a4

<ServerClassLoader><W>: com.beasys.commerce.foundation.property.Schema in not in archive weblogic.utils.jar.JarFile@32851055

<ServerClassLoader><W>: com.beasys.commerce.foundation.property.SchemaHome in not in archive weblogic.utils.jar.JarFile@32851055

You can ignore these warnings. Please be aware that the sequence of letters and numbers following JarFile@ will not necessarily match the examples shown above.

Uninstalling Service Pack 3

Service Pack 3 appends -SP3bak to any files it obsoletes from your WLCS 2.0.1 installation. To uninstall Service Pack 3 do the following:

  1. Remove the -SP3bak extension from all file names.

  2. Revert <wlcs-install>/bin/<platform>/sethome.bat and <wlcs-install>/bin/<platform>/DataLoader.bat (or .sh) to the versions that are in your backup archive.

  3. Restore <wlcs-install>/weblogiccommerce.properties and <wlcs-install>/weblogic.properties to the versions that are in your backup archive.

  4. Restore the WLCS database to its pre-SP3 state.

Limitations Fixed in WLCS 2.0.1 Service Pack 3

WLCS 2.0.1 Service Pack 3 addresses the following limitations that existed in the WLCS 2.0.1, WLCS 2.0.1 Service Pack 1, and WLCS 2.0.1 Service Pack 2 releases:

Limitations Fixed in WLCS Service Pack 2 - Personalization Components

WLCS 2.0.1 Service Pack 2 addresses the following limitations that existed in the WLCS 2.0.1 release and the WLCS 2.0.1 Service Pack 1 release:

Limitations Fixed in WLCS Service Pack 2 -
Commerce Components

WLCS 2.0.1 Service Pack 2 addresses the following limitations that existed in the WLCS 2.0.1 release and the WLCS 2.0.1 Service Pack 1 release:

Limitations Fixed in WLCS Service Pack 1 - Personalization Components

WLCS 2.0.1 Service Pack 1 addresses performance issues in Content Management, User Management, and LDAP. The following limitations that existed in the 2.0.1 release have been corrected:

Limitations Fixed in WLCS Service Pack 1 - Commerce Components

Additional Notes for WLCS Service Pack 1

Content Cache

The cm:select and cm:selectbyid tags now support a session-based, per-user Content cache for content searches. To enable this, both tags now support the following parameters:

useCache: Set to "true" or "false". The default is false. If true, then the ContentCache will be used (it will be stored in the user's HttpSession).

cacheId: The id name to use to cache the Content under. Internally, the cache is implemented as a Map; this will become the key. If this is not specified, than the id parameter of the tag will be used.

cacheTimeout: The time, in milliseconds, for which the cached Content is valid. If more than this amount of time has passed since the Content was cached, the cached Content will be cleared, retrieved, and placed back in the cache. Use -1 for no timeout (always use the cached Content); 0 to immediately timeout the cached Content.

All three new tag parameters can be JSP runtime expressions.

Additionally, the commerce.content.cache.useSoftHashMap property in the weblogiccommerce.properties controls whether the ContentCaches internally use SoftReferences to cache the Content. SoftReferences should allow the garbage collector to clear portions of the caches as memory is needed. This defaults to false. The Windows NT 1.2.2 JVM supports SoftReference quite well; however, the Solaris Production 1.2.1_04 JVM always immediately clears SoftReferences, thereby eliminating their usefulness as a caching mechanism. It is recommended that commerce.content.cache.useSoftHashMap be set to true under Windows NT, but set to false under Solaris.

The "News Index" and "News Viewer" portlets use content caching and can be used as a reference. The JSPs are located in the server/public_html/portals/repository/portlets directory in the news_index.jsp, news_viewer.jsp, and content_titlebar.jsp files.

readOnly Content Tag

The cm:select and cm:selectbyid tags now support an optional readOnly parameter. If not specified, the default value (from ContentHelper.DEF_CONTENT_READONLY, which is loaded from the commerce.content.defaultReadOnly property in the weblogiccommerce.properties file) is used. Additionally, a ContentHelper.getContent() method and a ContentManager.getContent() method were added which take a readOnly flag.

In the reference implementation, invoking the getContent() method without the readOnly parameter invokes the new getContent() method, passing in ContentHelper.DEF_CONTENT_READONLY. If readOnly is true, then non-EJB instances of Content and Document objects can be returned (see Changes to Object Interfaces in these Additional Notes); with the reference implementation, non-EJB instances will be returned. This can help performance and prevent deadlocks. It is highly recommended that commerce.content.defaultReadOnly be set to true, and that, if readOnly is specified, it be specified true.

Changes to Object Interfaces

The ConfigurableEntity, Content, Document, User and Group interfaces no longer extend EJBObject. Instead, those interfaces are code-identical to the original versions (same method signatures).

Five new interfaces, ConfigurableEntityRemote, ContentRemote, DocumentRemote, UserRemote and GroupRemote now extend both EJBObject and their respective non-EJBObject interfaces. For example:

ConfigurableEntityRemote extends EJBObject and ConfigurableEntity.
DocumentRemote extends ContentRemote, which extends ConfigurableEntityRemote.
UserRemote and GroupRemote extend ConfigurableEntityRemote.

In this fashion, SessionBeans, tags, and utility methods which previously returned EJBObjects can now return either lightweight objects or the EJB instances, depending upon usage and parameters.

In general, you should only typecast to the non-EJB interfaces (i.e. ConfigurableEntity, not ConfigurableEntityRemote). If you were relying upon the ConfigurableEntity, Content, or Document interfaces to extend EJBObject (by calling remove() or getPrimaryKey() on them), you will need to change your code. Otherwise, existing JSPs and Java code should work. However, if you receive any ClassLoader related errors (e.g. ClassFormatError, VerifyError, IncompatibleClassChangeError), you should recompile your code. If you were relying upon the JSP tags (i.e. the um: or cm: tags), you should be fine, as those have been updated.

Retrieving Content or Documents

Anytime you are going to retrieve Content or Documents (i.e. cm:select, cm:selectbyid), you should use a ContentManager or DocumentManager. The default DocumentManager is deployed at com.beasys.commerce.axiom.document.DocumentManager.

To help with the JNDI names, the ContentHelper class has 6 constants:

DEF_CONTENT_HOME: specifies the default deployed ContentHome.

DEF_CONTENT_MANAGER_HOME: specifies the default deployed ContentManagerHome.

DEF_CONTENT_SCHEMA_HOME: specifies the default deployed SchemaHome for Content.

DEF_DOCUMENT_HOME: specifies the default deployed DocumentHome.

DEF_DOCUMENT_MANAGER_HOME: specifies the default deployed DocumentManagerHome.

DEF_DOCUMENT_SCHEMA_HOME: specifies the default deployed SchemaHome for Document.

The values of those constants are read from the weblogiccommerce.properties file from the values for the following properties:

DEF_CONTENT_HOME -> commerce.home.content.ContentHome

DEF_CONTENT_MANAGER_HOME -> commerce.home.content.ContentManagerHome

DEF_CONTENT_SCHEMA_HOME -> commerce.home.content.ContentSchemaHome

DEF_DOCUMENT_HOME -> commerce.home.document.DocumentHome

DEF_DOCUMENT_MANAGER_HOME -> commerce.home.document.DocumentManagerHome

DEF_DOCUMENT_SCHEMA_HOME -> commerce.home.document.DocumentSchemaHome

Therefore, in any cm:select, cm:selectbyid, pz:contentquery, or pz:contentselector tags, you should changed the contentHome (or contenthome) parameter to use a ContentManagerHome or DocumentManagerHome.

The exampleportal portlets (news_index.jsp, roadrunner.jsp) have been updated in SP1 to use the default deployed DocumentManager, so those can be used as an example.

Changes to the Bulk Loader

The BulkLoader now accepts a -encoding <enc> option. When this is specified, the BulkLoader will use that encoding to open all HTML files to find <META> tags.

For example, if the files under the unicode-files directory were saved in the Unicode encoding, you could do:
java com.beasys.commerce.axiom.document.loader.BulkLoader -verbose -properties weblogic.properties -conPool commercePool -schema dmsBase\schemas\unicode-files.xml -d dmsBase unicode-files -encoding Unicode When -encoding is specified, the generated schema XML file will be in the UTF-8 encoding (since some metadata property names might not be ASCII), which the runtime engine can read in (Note: UTF-8 is a superset of ASCII and can be mostly read by common text editors).

When -encoding is specified, all HTML files the BulkLoader encounters will be opened with the specified encoding. Therefore, either the encoding must be a superset of all the files' encodings (e.g. ISO8859_1 is a superset of ASCII, where as Unicode is not) or the BulkLoader might not be able to correctly pull out the META tag information. It is recommended to either save all documents in a single encoding or to run the BulkLoader against only certain directories at a time (e.g. put all the Big5 files in one directory). The list of available encoding names is contained in the documentation for you JDK, plus the tool which created the file should be able to tell you. If you are not creating files containing non-ASCII characters, this should not affect you. If you want to check if the BulkLoader is correctly parsing your HTML file, you can use the com.beasys.commerce.axiom.document.loader.MetaParser class. For example:
java com.beasys.commerce.axiom.document.loader.MetaParser unicode.htm Unicode would print out the <META> tags found in the unicode.htm file, assumed to be Unicode encoded. Of course, any non-ASCII character probably won't print correctly to your console window, but you can tell what it thinks it found.

Additionally, the BulkLoader now supports a -schemaName <name> argument which controls the name of the schema in the generated XML file; this in turn affects the name of the Content PropertySets which appear in the rules editor. If not specified, it defaults to "LoadedData".

Deprecated Methods in AlphaNumericSequencer

The theory.smart.axiom.util.AlphaNumericSequencer is now a read-only entity EJB. As such, all setters have been deprecated. Each instance of the AlphaNumericSequencer initializes itself using properties found in the weblogiccommerce.properties file. For an AlphaNumericSequencer with primary key SEQUENCER_PK, there are five properties that must be specified:

The getCounter method has also been deprecated. It has been replaced by the getValue method.

Limitations Fixed in 2.0.1

The following limitations that existed in the 2.0 release have been fixed in this 2.0.1 release:

 


Known Limitations and Workarounds

This section describes limitations in the current BEA WebLogic Commerce Servers release and includes possible workarounds, where applicable. It includes the following subsections:

Please contact BEA Customer Support for assistance in tracking any unresolved problems. For contact information, see the section Contacting BEA Customer Support.

Known Limitations and Workarounds for WLCS 2.0.1 Service Pack 3

When compiling JSPs under WLCS 2.0.1 SP3 you may receive a java.lang.VerifyError exception when WLS tries to load the compiled servlet class for the JSP page. The workaround is to start WLCS using the -noverify flag in your Java startup command.

Other Known Limitations and Workarounds

Table 2 Known Limitations

1


Missing portlets


Problem

This will cause a file not found exception on a <jsp:include>. The portal framework can not trap the exception, because it is not propagated from the internal weblogic code. So you will see a stack trace for the FileNotFoundException.


Platform

All


Workaround

Your portlet implementation should be robust and catch and handle exceptions, so that a failure does not halt the loading of the portal. For example a NullPointerException that is not caught, will cause all of the portlets to not be displayed. So remember to follow good coding practices when developing your portlet.

2


If you change the XML schema files, the rules editor does not display the changes


Problem

In the reference document repository, which gets schema information from XML files on the file system, if you change the XML schema files, the rules editor does not display the changes.


Platform

All


Workaround

Restart the docPool WLS connection pool. This can be done from the WebLogic console. Look up docPool in Database ->JDBC Connection Pools ->docPool, then click the Reset Connection Pool button on the Commands tabs.

3


User wildcard search disabled for non-RDBMSrealms.


Problem

The wildcard search for usernames from the User Management administration tools is disabled for WLCS configurations that do not use the out-of-the-box security realm-com.beasys.commerce.axiom.contact.security.RDBMSRealm. The limitation was put in place to avoid performance and memory management problems for realms which are not fully controlled by the WLCS.


Platform

All


Workaround

A user name can still be typed in exactly, and a link will be provided from which the user's properties can be edited.

4


User Management security realm support verification.


Problem

The User Management system's realm support has been tested against the following realms:

* The User Management out-of-the-box security realm

* The WebLogic LDAPRealm (weblogic.security.ldaprealm.LDAPRealm) against Netscape Directory Server 4.11.

Although this is the extent of the realm verification, the User Management system was written in a general manner which should support any realm following the specification in the User Management documentation, with the exception of the WebLogic NT Realm. To run against the WebLogic NT Realm, WLS must be running as a service. No verification of the WLCS running in this manner has occurred.


Platform

All


Workaround

None

5


The BulkLoader/Document Management Component does not correctly tell if a file has been deleted, modified, or renamed.


Problem

When using the BulkLoader to update the reference document repository, if you delete a file from the dmsBase directory, it still shows up when you search for documents or use contentselector rules. Additionally:

  • If you modify a file in the dmsBase, sometimes that change is not reflected in the runtime system, or you get bad data (in the case of binary files like images).

  • If you rename a file in the dmsBase and run the BulkLoader, the previous name is still there (i.e. it looks like duplicate entries).


Platform

All


Workaround

After modifying the contents of a file which is in the document repository, run the BulkLoader application as normal and include the -cleanup argument. This updates the entries already in the database according to what's currently in the dmsBase.

Using the -cleanup argument causes the BulkLoader to not do a normal load (i.e. new files or changed metadata are not loaded). Instead it cleans up the data that is already in the database. After deleting or renaming a file on the filesystem which is in the document repository, run the BulkLoader application as normal and include both the -cleanup and the -delete arguments. This will delete entries in the database, if the corresponding file is not in the dmsBase directory. If you renamed a file, you'll also need to run the BulkLoader as normal to insert that file's entry into the database.

6


The User Management system requires that a copy of the ldaprealm.properties file be present in the <weblogic_install>/classes/weblogic/security/ldaprealm directory.


Problem

To run with its provided LDAP security realm, WebLogic Server requires that a copy of the ldaprealm.properties file be placed in the directory from which the server is started. The User Management system, however, also requires a copy of the file in the <weblogic_install>/classes/weblogic/security/ldaprealm directory.


Platform

All


Workaround

Place a copy of the ldaprealm.properties file in the <weblogic_install>/classes/weblogic/security/ldaprealm directory.

7


The getContent() method of Document (which is invoked by the ShowDocServlet and cm:printdoc tag) tag fails when the docPool has been configured to access the commercePool via the JTS driver.


Problem

When using the reference document repository implementation, if you modify the Document EJB deployment descriptor to require transactions and modify the WLS connection pool docPool to use jdbc:weblogic:jts:commercePool, then the getContent() method of the Document EJB throws an Exception stating that a transaction must be started. You can retrieve Document objects and their metadata.


Platform

All


Workaround

The Document bean works without transactions. By default, the deployment descriptor sets the transaction attribute to Supports, and the docPool is configured to use jdbc:weblogic:pool:commercePool (that is, the pool driver, not the JTS driver). Additionally, in this version, since Documents are read-only, transaction support is not required since you won't be modifying the EJBs. You can configure the deployment descriptor's transaction attribute to Required, but still have the docPool use jdbc:weblogic:pool:commercePool. Performance may be slower if WLS had to create a transaction. It is recommended that the Document EJB not require transactions nor have the docPool use the JTS driver.

8


Hotdeploy will not work on the components as currently deployed because the *Impl.class files are also included in the weblogic.class.path classpath


Problem

Hotdeploy will not work on the components as currently deployed because the *Impl.class files are also included in the weblogic.class.path classpath. This is done to allow extension of the Commerce Server Beans without also having to include the parent class in the deployment .jar.


Platform

All


Workaround

To use hotdeploy, it is recommended that all ejbs be deployed in one jar. To do this:

  1. Extract all the .jars

  2. Combine the ejb-jar.xml and weblogic-ejb-jar.xml for all of the .jars

  3. Place all .xml files in a joint META-INF directory.

  4. Rejar everything and deploy only that .jar, and hotdeploy should work.

    Remember to remove the *Impl.class files for the deployed beans from the classfiles.

    Note: Do not remove belongings as they also have *Impl.class files.

9


You cannot register an instance of a servlet (weblogic.httpd.register.aName) and also have that name (aName) be part of a directory path under the document root.


Problem

For example, do not register weblogic.httpd.register.aName and also have any other servlet's initParams be of the form homepage=/aName/home.jsp. When the requestDispatcher.forward() method tries to forward to "/aName/home.jsp" the servlet "aName" will be incorrectly invoked instead.


Platform

All


Workaround

Rename the servlet or the directory path name.

10


Unzipping UNIX zip file can result in bad directory and file permissions.


Problem

With the UNIX zip file, you can end up with bad directory and file permissions after unzipping.


Platform

UNIX


Workaround

If you cannot cd into the WebLogicCommerce directory or cannot edit any of the files, execute the following in the directory that contains the WebLogicCommerce directory:

chmod 775 WebLogicCommerce

find WebLogicCommerce -type d -exec chmod 775 {} \;

find WebLogicCommerce -type f -exec chmod o+r {} \;

Additionally, none of the sh scripts have the execute bit set, so either set it with chmod ugo+x file.sh or execute it with sh file.sh.

Also, the zip file contains a META-INF directory, which will be created in the same directory as the WebLogicCommerce directory; it can be ignored and/or deleted.

11


Changing port numbers that WebLogic Server listens for in weblogic.properties requires corresponding changes in several $WL_COMMERCE_HOME files.


Problem

If you change the port number that WebLogic Server listens for in weblogic.properties, you must also make corresponding changes in the file $WL_COMMERCE_HOME/weblogiccommerce.properties and in files in the $WL_COMMERCE_HOME/bin/<platform> directory; this second set of files includes DataLoader.sh or DataLoader.bat. You must also update the XML file with the DataLoader parameters, and the tour-loader.sh or tour-loader.bat files.

If you change the port number after you run the DataLoader, then you don't need to change the files under $WL_COMMERCE_HOME/bin/<platform> unless you want to run the DataLoader again.


Platform

All


Workaround

If you change the port number, find all instances of 7601 in files $WL_COMMERCE_HOME/weblogiccommerce.properties and in files in the $WL_COMMERCE_HOME/bin/<platform> directory, and change them to your port number. Also change the XML file with the updated DataLoader parameters.

12


Changing the WebLogic Server system user password requires a corresponding change in $WL_COMMERCE_HOME.


Problem

If you change the WebLogic Server system user password, you will need to change the LoaderDriverProperties.xml in the $WL_COMMERCE_HOME/bin/<platform>.


Platform

All


Workaround

Find the line which reads:

<property name="JNDISecurityCredentials" value="weblogic"/>

and change weblogic to your system user password. If you change the password after running the DataLoader, you don't need to make this change unless you want to run the DataLoader again.

13


The MyBuyBeans.com demos have a start-up lag that occurs on first request for a JavaServer Page (JSP)


Problem

When accessing JSP pages in these demos for the first time, there is a start-up lag which occurs since the JSP pages are being compiled. Subsequent access does not have a lag since they are compiled.


Platform

All


Workaround

None

14


Missing HTTP headers in the default Request Property Set.


Problem

The default request property set does not contain properties representing HTTP request headers. As a result, rules cannot be written on HTTP request headers. The software intentionally does not contain these properties because not all browsers support the same set of HTTP request headers.


Platform

All.


Workaround

Using the Property Set Administration Tools, you can add HTTP request header properties to the Request Property Set named 'DefaultRequestPropertySet'.

Some common HTTP request header names and types (all type Text) are: User-Agent, Connection, Host, Accept, Accept-Encoding, Accept-Language, Accept-Charset.

To determine the exact HTTP request headers sent by the browser to the server, and what headers are supported by the Web server, you can run the 'snoop' servlet that comes with the WebLogic Application Server or insert the following JSP code in a test JSP page:

Enumeration names = request.getHeaderNames();
while(names.hasMoreElements())
{
name = (String)names.nextElement();
System.out.println("header : " + name + " : " +
request.getHeader(name));
}

15


Property set property removal and re-add problem.


Problem

When a property is removed from a property set and a new property is added to the property set with the same name, the new property cannot be edited or retrieved for a user or group profile.


Platform

All.


Workaround

None.

16


<um:getprofile> tag successor retrieval


Problem

When the <um:getprofile> tag is invoked successively for the same profileKey, but with different successorKey values, the initial successor is not replaced.


Platform

All.


Workaround

Between successive invocations for the same profile, if the successor is to change, retrieve the successor profile once by itself by specifying the successor name as the profileKey (and specify groupOnly as "true" if applicable).

17


Predefined Rules and Documents.


Problem

The schema that is shipped for the default Document Management file is missing some attributes. This manifests itself as a NullPointerException in the Rules Editor. This problem can occur when you try to edit the ToolsPromo rule, if you click on the 'Then' portion of the rule. The editor is looking for a Content Attribute (which should be in the <install-dir>/dmsBase/doc-schema.xml file) that is not present.


Platform

All


Workaround

Run the BulkLoader (loaddocs.bat, loaddocs.sh) to regenerate the schema for the documents. The attributes are in the files in the Document Management system, and the BulkLoader will create the correct schema.

18


WLCS automatically creates Finders, causing errors for CMP users.


Problem

WebLogic Commerce Server generates ejbFindAll() and ejbFindByPrimaryKey (<PK-name>) automatically in the <Bean>Impl.java file. Finders may not be defined in the bean class for container-managed persistence (CMP) entity beans.


Platform

All (CMP only).


Workaround

All users of CMP must either rename them or comment them out.

19


HP-UX performance problem


Problem

The HP 1.2.2 JDK has different option specifying formats from the Sun Microsystems JDK. The StartCommerce.sh file is incorrect.


Platform

HP/UX, HP JDK 1.2.2


Workaround

Edit the StartCommerce.sh file. On the command that starts the WebLogicServer, substitute "-ms512m -mx512m" with "-Xnoclassgc -Xmx512m -Xms512m-Xmn256m"

MyBuyBeans.com Demo Limitations

The following limitations are attributable to the example demo MyBuyBeans.com, not in the components themselves.

1


Extra steps are required before deploying MyBuyBeans application as described in WebLogic Commerce Server Components MyBuyBeans Tour.

Note: This applies to WLCS version 2.0 only. The limitation has been corrected in version 2.0.1 and higher.


Problem

Instructions in MyBuyBeans components tour documentation are not sufficient to properly run the current demo.


Platform

All


Workaround

Follow these steps in addition to and before working through the other deployment steps described in the WebLogic Commerce Server Components MyBuyBeans Tour documentation.

  1. Before you compile the BeanieHat and BeanieHatPricePolicy Components, make sure you delete the corresponding classes (BeanieHat.class, BeanieHatHome.class, BeanieHatImpl.class) from the examples-cmp-deploy.jar.

  2. Delete the BeanieHatImpl.class from helper-cmp-deploy.jar and helper-bmp-deploy.jar

  3. Now follow the instructions in the Deploy topic of the WebLogic Commerce Server Components MyBuyBeans Tour.

2


No default users when installing MyBuyBeans on an Oracle database.


Problem

In addition, when installing the MyBuyBeans application on an Oracle database, there are no default users.


Platform

All


Workaround

A user must be created. To do so you can go directly to the BuyBeans portal (bypassing the home page) and create a user as normal. To get to the portal directly, go to:

http://<machine-name>:<port>/mybuybeans.

3


Users added through the Personalization Server administration tools cannot log in.


Problem

Users for the MyBuyBeans sample application must be created through the MyBuyBeans user registration page. Users added directly through the Personalization Server administration tools will not be able to log in.


Platform

All


Workaround

Create users for the MyBuyBeans sample through the user registration page. To do so you can go directly to the BuyBeans portal (bypassing the home page) and create a user as normal. To get to the portal directly, go to:

http://<machine-name>:<port>/mybuybeans.

 


Miscellaneous Notes

This section contains the following notes:

Notes for This Release

The following list describes miscellaneous notes for this release.

  1. While starting the WebLogic Commerce Server, you may receive the following warning:
    "<W><WebLogicServer> Found undeclared property: "

    The condition that causes the warning is harmless, but if you do not want to see extraneous error messages during startup, you can address it by doing the following:

    1. Open the file weblogic.properties.

      Under the weblogic.ejb.deploy property, the line after last EJB jar file (p13nadvisor.jar) appears to be empty. In fact, the line starts with a tab character.

    2. Delete the line.

  2. There are some minor changes needed for the database in the 2.0.1 release.

    You can obtain these changes by using one of the following steps:

    1. Re-run all of the database scripts that are shipped with the 2.0.1 release. Note that this option will delete any data you may have entered in the database while using the WLCS 2.0 features, including portals, users, content, and so forth.

    2. You can continue to run the database that you created with the WLCS 2.0 scripts. However, you must run the portal-2.0.1-update.sql file. This file is provided by the 2.0.1 kit in the following directories under the WLCS installed directory:

      WebLogicCommerce\db\cloudscape\
      WebLogicCommerce\db\oracle\

      This option should leave all the data you entered in the database, updating only the fields that need the software fix.

  3. Version 2.0.1 includes a new AlphaNumericSequencer

    The new AlphaNumericSequencer in WLCS 2.0.1 is a read-only bean, and has a different way to specify the settings for each bean. For examples, please see the end of the weblogiccommerce.properties file that is provided by the installed WLCS software.

    The following extract was taken from that file:

    # AlphaNumericSequencer properties
    #
    # The AlphaNumericSequencer is now a read-only entity bean. Each instance
    # initializes itself using properties found in this property file. For an
    # AlphaNumericSequencer with primary key SEQUENCER_PK, there are five properties
    # that can be specified:
    #
    # commerce.sequencer.SEQUENCER_PK Definition
    # commerce.sequencer.SEQUENCER_PK.prefix Sequencer prefix string
    # commerce.sequencer.SEQUENCER_PK.suffix Sequencer suffix string
    # commerce.sequencer.SEQUENCER_PK.digit The minimum number of sequencer digits
    # commerce.sequencer.SEQUENCER_PK.step The sequence step amount
    # commerce.sequencer.SEQUENCER_PK.cacheSize
    The number of sequence numbers to allocate from the database

  4. How to confirm whether WLCS 2.0 or 2.0.1 is installed.

    After a WLCS 2.0.1 software installation, the SequencerFactory.class file is present under the following WLCS directory:

    classes/com/beasys/commerce/util

    This file was not part of the WLCS 2.0 software installation kit.

  5. Setting the Never check cache option on your browser can cause failure or lost information.

  6. The 8.3 filename representation is used (for Windows NT systems) because of the possibility of spaces or special characters in the install directory. Because the script files using directories typically use the 8.3 filename convention, renaming the WebLogicCommerce directory will most likely cause all script files (all that call sethome.bat) to fail. Do not rename the directory after it is installed.

  7. Cookies are required by the MyBuyBeans example. For all platforms, the MyBuyBeans example requires that cookies be enabled in the Web browser. Also, if you are using a cluster, cookies will also be required.

Default Personalization Admin Log-in

The WebLogic Personalization Server includes an administration tool that is accessible when the server is running by selecting Start --> Programs --> BEA WebLogic Commerce Server --> Personalization Admin Tool from the Windows Start menu.

The default log-in for the Personalization administration tool is as follows:

User Name

system

Password

weblogic

Note: Do not confuse this password with the administrator password you may have set for the WebLogic Server itself.

Database Performance

The Cloudscape database that ships with the product is for demonstration purposes only and is not a multi-user database. Its performance is not representative of BEA WebLogic Commerce Server performance.

To improve the speed response of the bundled example portals, and experience WebLogic Commerce Server performance at production standards, switch from the default Cloudscape database to Oracle.

Instructions for switching deployment sets to run the example portals under Oracle 8.1.5 (NT and Solaris) are in the WebLogic Commerce Server Installation Guide.

General information about deploying your own component solutions on Oracle can also be found in the Deployment section of the WebLogic Commerce Server Components Developer's Guide.

 


About the Product Documentation

This section includes the following additional notes about the product documentation:

Documentation Changes Since the 2.0 Release

The WLCS Release Notes (this document), the Javadoc, and the Personalization Server Developer's Guide have been updated for the WLCS Service Pack 3.

In addition, the new parameters listed in the section Additional Notes for WLCS Service Pack 1 were added to the WebLogic Personalization Server Developer's Guide.

In the WLCS documentation download kits and in the Web site copy of the documentation, which starts at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13210_01/wlcs/docs20/index.htm, references in text and graphics to version "2.0" apply to the version 2.0.1 software. This includes references to the 2.0 software in the online Installation Guide; these instructions apply to the 2.0.1 release.

Corrections to the documentation are noted in the section Documentation Errors or Omissions in this chapter.

Where to Get Product Documentation

Documentation for this product is available from the following locations:

How to Install Product Documentation on Your Local System

Although the WebLogic Commerce Servers (WLCS) product documentation is always available to you on the BEA e-docs site (http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/index.html), we recommend that you also install a copy of the WLCS documentation on your local system.

The WLCS documentation install files are available along with the WLCS software on the BEA download center at http://www.bea.com/download.html

The documentation install files are designed to automatically install the documentation into a "docs" directory within the Commerce Servers software directory structure, so the documentation should be installed after the Commerce Servers software has been installed. The documentation installer files are:

Installing the Documentation on Windows NT

The Windows NT documentation is fairly self-explanatory. Just make sure you have already installed the Commerce Servers software, then double-click on the WLCS_201_DOC_NT4.exe file and follow the install dialogs. The documentation will be installed in the right place within your WLCS directory structure.

Installing the Documentation on UNIX Systems

Make sure you have already installed the Commerce Servers software. Then, do the following:

  1. Extract the contents of the tar file to a temporary directory, like /tmp as follows

    % cd /tmp 
    % tar xvf <location-of-cdrom>/UNIX/WLCS_201_DOC_UNIX.tar

  2. Run the installation program (install.sh) from the temporary directory:

    % cd /tmp 
    % ./install.sh

    The installation program will prompt you for the location of the WLCS software. Enter the full path to your WLCS software installation. For example: /opt/WebLogicCommerce

    The documentation will be installed in the right place within your WLCS directory structure.

Documentation Errors or Omissions

This section identifies errors or omissions in the WLCS 2.0.1 documentation.

Wrong JAR Files Listed

In the Component Examples topic that appears at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13210_01/wlcs/docs20/comp/examples.htm, the wrong set of JAR files are listed in the section "How to Build and Run the Examples."

Instead of the theory-*.jar files listed in that section, the following files must be in your CLASSPATH to run the examples:

foundation-<deploy set>-deploy.jar
axiom-<deploy set>-deploy.jar
ebusiness-<deploy set>-deploy.jar
examples-<deploy set>-deploy.jar
help-<deploy set>.jar
<install dir>\classes

where <deploy set> is either cmp or bmp (case sensitive in UNIX) and <install dir> is the directory where you installed the WLCS software.

Rational Rose is Supported on NT Systems Only

The Rational Rose modeling tool is supported on NT systems only.

Setting Up an Oracle Database

In some early versions of the Configuration chapter in the WLCS 2.* Installation Guide, in the section "Setting Up an Oracle Database," Step 4 contained the following text:

4. Populate the remainder of the tables by performing the following steps:

Stop WebLogic Server.

Run DataLoader.bat (<install-dir>\bin\win32 for NT) or DataLoader.sh (<install-dir>/bin/solaris2 for UNIX) from the appropriate directory to populate the tables.

Restart WebLogic Server.

This was incorrect. This step should occur as the last step (after Step 6) and the instruction to "Stop WebLogic Server" should be "Start WebLogic Server," as follows:

Populate the remainder of the tables by performing the following steps:

Start WebLogic Server.

Run DataLoader.bat (<install-dir>\bin\win32 for NT) or DataLoader.sh (<install-dir>/bin/solaris2 for UNIX) from the appropriate directory to populate the tables.

Restart WebLogic Server.

PZ Tags

The documentation for the pz tags (pz:div, pz:contentselector) shows the ruleset parameters starting with ejb://. While this will still work in the 2.0.1 release, the recommended protocol is jdbc://.

All of the examples provided by the WLCS software kit have been updated in 2.0.1 to use jdbc://. This protocol is more transaction-friendly than the ejb:// protocol.

Also please note: most of the documentation about rulesheets specifies the wrong rulesheet definition home. The current 2.0 documents list the home as:

ebj:\\RuleSheetDefinitionHome\path\rulesetname

The correct rulesheet definition home is:

ruleset="jdbc://com.beasys.commerce.axiom.reasoning.rules.RuleSheetDefinitionHome/<RuleSetName>"

Wrong Path Shown for ConfigurableEntity

In the topic "Creating Users and Groups," in the section "Users and Groups," the full path to the ConfigurableEntity interface is specified as com.beasys.commerce.axiom.foundation.ConfigurableEntity. This is incorrect. The correct path for this interface is com.beasys.commerce.foundation.ConfigurableEntity.

Step 2 in Indexing Content with the Bulk Loader No Longer Necessary

The WLCS 2.0.1 release fixed errors in the loaddocs.bat and loaddocs.sh files. As a result, it is no longer necessary to perform Step 2 in the topic "Indexing Content with the Bulk Loader." This step appears in the following online file: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13210_01/wlcs/docs20/p13ntour/mbbcont.htm.

Ignore Step 12 in Creating the Classifier Rules

Please ignore Step 12 in the topic "Creating the classifier rules." This step appears in the following file: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13210_01/wlcs/docs20/p13ntour/mbbrules.htm.

Jar Files Used by BEA WebLogic Portal

In the Personalization Server User's Guide, the topic "Creating and Managing Portals" at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13210_01/wlcs/docs20/p13n/portals.htm under "Getting Started with the BEA WebLogic Portal" Table 2-1 shows the Jar Files Used by BEA WebLogic Portal. The last four JAR files in the table (portal.jar, axiom.jar, bridge.jar, and foundation.jar) are listed as residing in the folder.\ejb\. This is incorrect. These JAR files actually reside in the installation.\lib\ directory just like all the other JARs listed in that table.

Refresh Browser to View Updated Pages

Depending on your browser settings, you may need to enter Shift-Reload (Netscape) or Shift-Refresh (Microsoft Internet Explorer) to see the latest version of WLCS *.htm documentation pages you have already visited. As of May 30, 2000, the only updated documents since 2.0 are the Release Notes (this document) and the Installation Guide. However, the top banner graphics that identify the version number were updated for 2.0.1. When in doubt, please refresh your browser view (for WLCS documentation pages you have read previously) to ensure that you are viewing the latest content. Also check a refreshed WLCS documentation What's New page for information about recent updates.

Submitting Documentation Comments

Your feedback on the BEA WebLogic Commerce Servers documentation is important to us. Send us e-mail at docsupport@bea.com if you have questions or comments. Your comments will be reviewed directly by the BEA professionals who create and update the WebLogic Commerce Servers documentation.

In your e-mail message, please indicate that you are using the documentation for the BEA WebLogic Commerce Servers 2.0 release.

 


Contacting BEA Customer Support

If you have any questions about this version of BEA WebLogic Commerce Servers, or if you have problems installing and running BEA WebLogic Commerce Servers, contact BEA Customer Support through BEA WebSUPPORT www.bea.com. You can also contact Customer Support by using the contact information provided on the Customer Support Card, which is included in the product package.

When contacting Customer Support, be prepared to provide the following information:

Note About Evaluation Support

If you are evaluating this product and it is your first 30-day evaluation, BEA Systems is pleased to offer technical support through its BEA WebEvalNET at http://www.bea.com/evalnet/.

The first time you need technical support, complete the WebEvalNET registration form to receive a Login ID and other BEA WebEvalNET information. In most cases, the BEA EvalNET team of support engineers will address your technical issues within one business day.