The PMDL that describes Oracle ATG Web Commerce promotions discount rules is relatively simple. The PMDL DTD is located in the DCS module at /atg/dtds/pmdl/pmdl1.0.dtd. The DTD defines a number of iterators (such as next and every), quantifiers (used in “when” conditions), operators (such as and and not), and comparators (such as contains and less-than) you can use in creating your PMDL rules.

Pricing-Model Element

The root tag for the PMDL.

Offer Element

Every pricing-model element requires one offer element. The offer includes one or more discount-structure elements, which contain detailed information about the discount and its target. The offer is evaluated by the evaluateTarget method.

You can include more than one discount-structure element in an offer; this allows you to wrap multiple discounts in a single promotion (note that this is not supported in Oracle ATG Web Commerce Merchandising, but you can build a custom template with this functionality).

If you have multiple discount structures within a single item promotion, you can specify the filter-collection-name attribute of the offer; this ensures that once a given item has been marked to receive a discount, it cannot receive a discount from any other discount-structures. If filter-collection-name is not set, filtering does not take place, and a given commerce item can be the target for more than one discount. The filter-collection-name should match the iterator element’s collection-name attribute, which is normally set to items. Filtering is not required for single discount structures, or for non-item-based promotions.

Qualifier Element

Every pricing-model element requires one qualifier element. The element is the root tag for the condition part of the promotion.

Target Element

Your discount structure should not include a target element if the promotion is for orders or shipping; only item discounts include target as part of the discount-structure. The target specifies the rule for selecting the items to be discounted.

Discount-Structure Element

The discount-structure element has the following attributes:

A discount-structure element can also include discount-detail elements.

Discount-Detail Element

This element is optional, and is used for complex discount types. For example, in a tiered discount, each band is represented by a discount-detail element. In this case, a discount-detail element would include one or more attribute elements that describe the band. For example, the XML representation of a band where buying 5 or more items gives the customer 10% off might look like the following:

<attribute name="band" value="5"/>
<attribute name="adjuster" value="10"/>

Attribute Element

The attribute element allows you to add generic name/value pairs to parent tags, similar to the process used to extend an Oracle ATG Web Commerce repository. During PMDL parsing, the attributes and their values are placed in an attribute Map.

Iterator Element

Iterators are evaluation beans that sort a collection of items, then evaluate each item against one or more sub-expressions. It returns those items that match the sub-expressions.

The iterator element allows you to create custom iterators. Your new iterator element must include a name attribute that is unique across the PMDL.

An iterator element can have the following attributes and sub-elements:

Quantifier Element

Quantifiers are evaluation beans that evaluate a collection of items against one or more sub-expressions. It returns true or false, depending on the quantity of items that match the sub-expressions.

The quantifier element allows you to create custom quantifiers. Your new quantifier element must include a name attribute that is unique across the PMDL.

A quantifier element can have the following attributes and sub-elements:

Operator Element

Operators are evaluation beans that return true or false based on the Boolean results from their sub-expressions.

The operator element allows you to create custom operators. Your new operator element must include a name attribute that is unique across the PMDL.

An operator element can specify any number of attribute sub-elements and operates on at least one comparator, operator or quantifier.

Comparator Element

Comparators are evaluation beans that return true or false depending on the values of their sub-expressions.

The comparator element allows you to create custom comparators. Your new comparator element must include a name attribute that is unique across the PMDL. A comparator element can specify any number of attribute sub-elements and must specify at least one value or array name.

Comparators evaluate using one or more sub-expressions. For example:

<comparator name="isoneof">
  <value>item.auxiliaryData.productId</value>
  <constant>
    <data-type>java.lang.String</data-type>
   <string-value>xprod2147</string-value>
    <string-value>xprod2163</string-value>
  </constant>
</comparator>

Comparators can also compare two value elements, and custom comparators could include any number of value or constant elements.

Value and String-Value Elements

The value element returns the value of a property of the commerce item being evaluated. For example:

<value>item.auxiliaryData.productId</value>

To represent strings, use a string-value element. For example:

<string-value>ManufacturerA</string-value>

To represent a comma-separated list of strings, use multiple string-value elements. For example, to represent “ManufacturerA, ManufacturerB” use the following:

<string-value>ManufacturerA</string-value>
<string-value>ManufacturerB</string-value>

Constant Element

The constant element returns a constant value against which other values can be compared. For example:

  <constant>
    <data-type>java.lang.String</data-type>
   <string-value>xprod2147</string-value>
  </constant>