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Product Catalog Management

 

Welcome to WebLogic Commerce Server Product Catalog Management!
This document explains how to use the Commerce services included in the BEA WebLogic Portal product suite to build and customize a Web-based product catalog. The Catalog provides commonly used items and attributes that are found on e-commerce Web sites. JavaServer Page (JSP) templates are provided as a starting point, and you can easily customize the presentation of each page to match your business branding requirements and design preferences. The documented Product Catalog schema identifies the structure and relationships of the database tables. Behind the scenes, pre-built Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs) and other commerce features provide the computing infrastructure and scalability that enables your site to support many concurrent customers. Property files and administration screens allow you to manage the product catalog's behavior and content.


 



 

 

Introduction to the Product Catalog

What Does the Product Catalog Provide?

Catalog Hierarchy

Product Catalog Development Roles

How the Product Catalog and Other Commerce Features Are Linked

Next Step

 

The Product Catalog Database Schema

The Entity-Relation Diagram

The Catalog Schema Is Based on Dublin Core Standard

List of Tables Comprising the Product Catalog

The Product Catalog Data Dictionary

The CATALOG_ENTITY Database Table

The CATALOG_PROPERTY_KEY Database Table

The CATALOG_PROPERTY_VALUE Database Table

The WLCS_CATEGORY Database Table

The WLCS_PRODUCT Database Table

The WLCS_PRODUCT_CATEGORY Database Table

The WLCS_PRODUCT_KEYWORD Database Table

The SQL Scripts Used to Create the Database

Scripts

Defined Constraints

 

Using the Database Loader

The Input File for DBLoader

The dbloader.properties File

Running the DBLoader Program

To Run the Program

DBLoader Log Files

DBLoader Validations

Important Database Considerations

Using Database-Specific Data Loaders

Using Third-Party Data Loaders

 

Catalog Administration Tasks

Starting the Server and the Administration Tools

Using the Catalog Management Tools

Changing the Administrator Password

Loading Data into the Product Catalog

Adding Categories to the Catalog

Adding Items to the Catalog

Controlling the Visibility of Items in the Product Catalog

Assigning Items to Categories

What if I Have a Large Amount of Data?

Using the Administration Tools to Assign Items to Categories

Editing the Attributes for Categories and Items

Editing Category Attributes

Editing Product Item Attributes

Editing the Availability of an Item

Determining How Categories and Items are Displayed to Web Site Visitors

Deleting Items or Removing Items from One or More Categories

Caching Considerations

Deleting an Item from the Catalog

Removing an Item from One or More Categories

Removing Categories

Moving Items from One Category to Another Category

Defining Custom Attributes for Items

Improving Catalog Performance by Optimizing the Catalog Cache

Considering Hardware Costs Versus the Cost of Dissatisfied Web Site Users

What's in Each Cache Initially?

Using the wlcs-catalog.properties File

Location

Some Property Values You Might Modify

Editing the Catalog Schema Definition

 

The Product Catalog JSP Templates

Introduction

Accessing the Product Catalog JavaServer Page (JSP) Templates

On Which JavaServer Page Will My Customers Start?

Sample Path Through the Product Catalog JSP Templates

JavaServer Pages (JSPs)

main.jsp Template

Sample Browser View

Location in the Directory Structure

Tag Library Imports

Java Package Imports

Location in the Default Webflow

Included JSP Templates

Events

Dynamic Data Display

Form Field Specification

browse.jsp Template

Sample Browser View

Location in the Directory Structure

Tag Library Imports

Java Package Imports

Location in the Default Webflow

Included JSP Templates

Events

Dynamic Data Display

Form Field Specification

details.jsp Template

Sample Browser View

Location in the Directory Structure

Tag Library Imports

Java Package Imports

Location in the Default Webflow

Included JSP Templates

Events

Dynamic Data Display

Form Field Specification

search.jsp

Sample Browser View

Location in the Directory Structure

Tag Library Imports

Java Package Imports

Location in the Default Webflow

Included JSP Templates

Events

Dynamic Data Display

Form Field Specification

searchresults.jsp

Sample Browser View

Location in the Directory Structure

Tag Library Imports

Java Package Imports

Location in the Default Webflow

Included JSP Templates

Events

Dynamic Data Display

Form Field Specification

Query-Based Search Syntax

Using Comparison Operators to Construct Queries

Searchable Catalog Attributes

Controlling the Number of Search Results

Input Processors

CatalogIP

ExpressionSearchIP

GetCategoryIP

GetProductItemIP

KeywordSearchIP

MoveAttributeIP

RemoveAttributeIP

Pipeline Components

CatalogPC

GetAncestorsPC

GetCategoryPC

GetParentPC

GetProductItemPC

GetProductItemsPC

GetSubcategoriesPC

MoveAttributePC

PriceShoppingCartPC

RemoveAttributePC

SearchPC

 

Product Catalog JSP Tag Library Reference

Introduction

The Catalog JSP Tag Library: cat.tld

<catalog:getProperty>

Example 1

Example 2

<catalog:iterateViewIterator>

Example 1

Example 2

<catalog:iterateThroughView>

Example 1

Example 2

The E-Business JSP Tag Library: eb.tld

<eb:smnav>

Example

 

Using the API to Extend the Product Catalog

Overview of the Product Catalog API

Catalog Architecture and Services

Catalog Architecture

Catalog Manager

Product Item Manager

Category Manager

Custom Data Manager

Catalog Query Manager

Integrating Services with the Catalog Cache

Writing Your Own Catalog Service

Create New Services

Sample Source Code

Changes to ejb-jar.xml

Changes to weblogic-ejb-jar.xml

 

Product Catalog Internationalization Support

Support for Multiple Languages

Language and Country Codes

About the CatalogRequest Object

Persisting Language Information to the Catalog Database

Product Items and Categories

Image Support

Limiting Search Results by Language

Important Note About Currencies

Using the Catalog Architecture to Maintain Internationalized Product Catalogs

Method 1: Filtering Product Catalog Content

Method 2: Parsing Language-Specific Data

Two Languages

Multiple Languages

Method 3: Multiple Product Catalog Instances

Method 4: Language-Based Service Routing

 

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