1 Understand Extension Features

Oracle Commerce provides several sets of tools that you can use to extend the capabilities of the system. The primary ones are these:

• An extensive set of REST APIs allows external applications to make calls into the Oracle Commerce server. These APIs are supplemented by webhooks that the server can use to make calls out to external applications. For example, you can create an integration with an order management system in which Oracle Commerce uses webhooks to send order data to your OMS, and the OMS uses the Oracle Commerce REST APIs to update the order’s status information as the order is processed.
• Custom widgets allow you to extend the functionality of your storefront by communicating with the Oracle Commerce server to access features that are not exposed by default. Custom widgets can also enhance the storefront by communicating with external systems such as social media sites.

Note that these tools are not mutually exclusive; you may need to use all of them to accomplish your objectives. For example, a custom widget might make a REST call to the Oracle Commerce server to request data for the storefront, and the server might then execute a webhook to obtain that data from an external system.

This manual focuses on building specific customizations using REST APIs, webhooks, custom widgets, and other tools. For general information about developing custom widgets, see Create a Widget.