Choose a Tool

Review the following topics to choose the right tool for the tasks that you want to complete, find the supporting information you need to get started, and also find supporting reference information to tie it all together:

• Tools Overview

• Choose a Tool to Suit Your Task

• More Information for Each Tool

Tools Overview

Developers working with SuiteCommerce and SuiteCommerce Advanced (SCA) should use the theme and extension developer tools to easily version, distribute, and activate customizations across different sites and different versions of sites. Remember that what you develop depends on the type of customization you want to make:

• Extensions — Add new functionality to a Commerce website

• Themes — Control how a site looks and feels

You should use the SCA developer tools only if you are customizing an older version of SCA, or if your SCA implementation requires access to objects not available using the Extensibility API.

Before choosing a tool and starting with development, make sure you understand the essential information in the preceding topics, including:

• What Can I Customize?

• What Resources Do I Need?

• What is the Development Life Cycle?

Choose a Tool to Suit Your Task

The tool you use and whether you develop a theme or extension depends on what you want to customize.

Customization Option	Method	Tool	Available With	Get Started
Website design and appearance	Develop themes	Theme developer tools	SuiteCommerce, SCA, SCMA	Next Steps for Theme Developer Tools
Website functionality	Develop extensions	Extension developer tools	SuiteCommerce, SCA, SCMA, SuiteCommerce InStore (SCIS)	Next Steps for Extension Developer Tools
Website functionality by customizing objects not available using the Extensibility API	Extend or override SCA source code	SCA developer tools Note: The SCA developer tools are the only tools available if you are customizing a site that implements the Kilimanjaro release of SCA or earlier.	SCA	Next Steps for SuiteCommerce Advanced Developer Tools

To find detailed reference information for each tool, see More Information for Each Tool.

Note:

Always use the theme and extension developer tools if you can, regardless of whether you are working with SuiteCommerce or SCA. Use the SCA developer tools only when absolutely necessary for SCA implementations. Using the theme and extension developer tools makes development and management of your customizations easier and helps ensure compatibility with future releases of SuiteCommerce and SCA.

Next Steps for Theme Developer Tools

To start developing themes, complete the following tasks:

Step/Task	For detailed instructions, see
Set up the developer environment by installing Node.js and Gulp.js	Install Node.js Install Gulp.js
Download and install theme developer tools	Set Up Theme Developer Tools
Download files to use as the basis for your own custom theme	Anatomy of the Base Theme (recommended if you’re new to website development and learning best practices) Fetch Active Theme Files (if you want to customize the currently active theme)
Understand best practices for theme development	Best Practices for Creating Themes
Develop your theme	Customize Pre-Existing Theme Files Add a New File to a Theme Theme Tutorials
Edit the theme manifest (only necessary if you need to introduce new HTML, Sass, or other assets)	Theme Manifest
Test your theme locally	Test a Theme on a Local Server
Deploy your theme to NetSuite	Deploy a Theme to NetSuite
Activate your theme	Manage Themes and Extensions
If you want to do more with themes	Override Active Extension Files Enable Customization from Site Management Tools Customize Site Search Elements Bundle Themes and Extensions as SuiteApps

Next Steps for Extension Developer Tools

To start developing extensions with the extension developer tools, complete the following tasks:

Step/Task	For detailed instructions, see
Set up the developer environment by installing Node.js and Gulp.js	Install Node.js Install Gulp.js
Download and install extension developer tools	Set Up Extension Developer Tools
Create or download files to use as the basis for your extension	Create a Baseline Extension (recommended if you’re new to Commerce website development and want to learn best practices) Fetch Active Theme and Extension Files (if you want to customize currently active extensions)
Add modules to your extension	Create Additional Modules for an Extension (recommended if you’re new to Commerce website development and learning best practices)
Develop your extension using available APIs	Extensibility API SuiteScript API Commerce API Item Search API
Edit the extension manifest (only necessary if you need to add new Sass or other assets)	Edit the Extension Manifest
If you haven’t already done so, fetch the active theme (theme files are required to test locally and to deploy)	Fetch Active Theme and Extension Files
Test your extension locally	Test an Extension on a Local Server
Deploy your extension to NetSuite	Deploy an Extension to NetSuite
Activate your extension	Manage Themes and Extensions
If you want to do more with extensions	Create Custom Content Types for an Extension (to integrate with Site Management Tools) Create Page Types (to integrate with Site Management Tools) Bundle Themes and Extensions as SuiteApps

Next Steps for SuiteCommerce Advanced Developer Tools

To start developing with the SuiteCommerce Advanced (SCA) developer tools, complete the following tasks.

Note:

Use the SCA developer tools only if you are customizing a site that implements the Kilimanjaro release of SCA or earlier or if you need to access objects not available using the Extensibility API.

Step/Task	For detailed instructions, see
Set up the developer environment by installing Node.js and Gulp.js	Install Node.js Install Gulp.js
Download and install SCA developer tools	Download SCA Source Files Install Additional Files in the Source Directory
Understand best practices for customizing SCA	Best Practices for Customizing SCA
Customize by extending or overriding SCA source files	Example SCA Customizations
Understand how SCA source files are organized and compiled	SCA Build Process
Test your SCA customization locally	Test SCA Customizations on a Local Server
Deploy local source files to an SSP application in NetSuite and then deploy the SSP application to your site	Deploy SCA Customizations to NetSuite

More Information for Each Tool

The following topics provide important information for each tool.

Topic	Description
Theme Developer Tools
Theme Developer Gulp Commands	Describes all gulp commands you can use with the theme developer tools.
Anatomy of the Base Theme	Describes the files and folders in a top-level theme directory and the purpose of each.
Theme Manifest	Describes the mainfiest.json file, which includes all the information required to compile resources for each theme.
Extension Developer Tools
Extension Developer Gulp Commands	Describes all gulp commands you can use with the extension developer tools.
Anatomy of an Extension	Describes the files and folders in a top-level extensions directory and the purpose of each.
Edit the Extension Manifest	Describes the mainfiest.json file, which includes all the information required to compile resources for each extension.
SCA Developer Tools
Gulp Command Reference for SCA Developer Tools	Describes all gulp commands you can use with the SCA developer tools.

Related Topics

• What Can I Customize?
• Benefits of the Extension Framework
• What Resources Do I Need?
• Commerce Migration to SuiteScript 2.0
• What is the Development Life Cycle?

General Notices