Planning
Creating a custom
implementation of a WebSphere Commerce store requires a significant amount of
planning. For e.g. gathering client needs, deploy live solution,
Significant stages:
o Concept
Stage
o Starting
HTML starter stores
o Use case
documentation
o Design
Stage
o Starting
HTML starter stores
o Use case
documentation
o CSS Style
Guide
o Wireframes
o Implementation
Stage:
o Customization
tutorials
o Build and
deploy tool
o Loading
data
o Testing
Stage
o Functional
test plan and test case document
o Storefront
test Automation Engine
o Launch Stage
o Maintenance
Stage
Concept
Stage:
Need to demonstrate the need of Websphere Commerce
capabilities to internal/external stakeholders. WCS provides the resources
which one can use to demonstrate, describe and evaluate Websphere Commerce
features and capabilities.
Static HTML starter stores:
It provides a set
of static, navigable HTML pages that demonstrate starter store functionality
and design. It does showcase all store features & supported flows under
different conditions.
For e.g. you can see what an empty shopping cart page looks like, and
a shopping cart page with more than 20 items and pagination.
We don’t need development environment running on WCS to view
these pages; these can be viewed directly in our web browser. It masks off each
JSP Pages and shows the name in upper
left corner of the area.
Ø We can use Static HTML starter store to demonstrate store
features & look & feel to clients, executives and technical
professional of the organization.
Ø It does accelerate the web plugin
Ø Cost of building UI within the JSP file is reduced.
Ø Changes can be easily incorporated to corresponding JSPs by
developer at more convenient time.
Using case
documentation:
WCS includes a set of modifiable use case documents that
describe the functionality provided with starter stores. It does describe the
starter store functionality. Each use case corresponds to the task that a
shopper can accomplish using a store. It list main, alternate and exception
flows for each use case and also include flow diagrams for each section.
When to
use:
Ø It’s used
to gain an understanding of the default store functionality, and to identify
any potential gaps in functionality that you may need to customize.
Ø Each use
case document uses case template that we can copy and paste for consistency.
Design
Stage
During this phase, we review the default starter store
functionality and design to understand the starter store capabilities and to
identify areas to customize the implementation. Websphere Commerce provides
resources that we can use to describe, edit and extend our project.
Components
of Design Phase:
Ø CSS Style
Guide
Ø Wireframes
Ø HTML
Starter Stores
Ø Use case
documentation
CSS Style
Guide:
Defines the formatting and style rules for HTML and CSS. It
helps developers and web designers to speed up the customization and CSS
styling of the store. It covers every key component, breakdown of its
structure, class names, & image paths that are used throughout the site.
CSS Classes allows for quick search in main CSS file to
locate the necessary code to make changes.
Ø Search the
main CSS file to locate the necessary code to make changes or updates.
Ø Use the
image paths to locate the images one want to edit/replace.
Ø To see
parent and child structure.
Ø Which text
style is used throughout the site.
Wireframes:
It represents the skeletal framework. It includes interface
elements, navigational menus, a range of functions that are available, and page
layouts. Can be used by informational architects, interaction designers, user
exp designers, graphic designers, programmers, product managers, &
prospective clients.
It helps to understand the site features, navigation flows,
& to gather feedback with stakeholders when we review and confirm
requirements.
Ø Use the wireframe assets with stakeholders to
review the behaviour, features, and priority of information throughout the
site.
Ø Use the wireframes to gain a quick view of all the
key pages and content available in the starter store.
Ø Use the wireframes to confirm requirements and any
new features in the early stages of a project to reduce costly changes later on
in the project cycle.
Ø The wireframe asset includes a number of wireframe
files that you can modify when you work with clients.
HTML starter store &
Use Case Documentation is same which was defined under Concept stage.
Implementation
Stage:
During this phase we use our design to customize the project
in order to meet our specialized needs. It also provide resources that we can
use to learn in order to customize the design of our project & how to
automate and facilitate the implementation
Ø Customization
tools: Customization is very important aspect as each customer has a unique
requirement.
o Schema changes
o Controller command
and task command
o Configuration
files
o OpenLaszlo
objects
o Logical Schema
o JSP
o Java code
etc…
Ø Websphere Commerce
Build and Deployment tool: It addresses the error-prone and time-consuming
nature of customized asset deployment. It supports below 3 main processes:
o Builds
o Server deployment
o Toolkit deployment
Ø Data load: Every
site needs to load data in DB. It’s a command line utility. There are 2 types
of data load:
o Initial:
loaded before one launches commerce site
o Delta Data
Load: Updated daily, weekly, monthly to add new products, edit the product
prices, add new promotions, and more.
Testing Stage:
During this phase we test the functionality of the
implementation to ensure that all design meet the stakeholders need.
Ø Functional test plan and test case document: following test
store assets are provided:
o Use case document
o High level
functional verification test plan
o Functional
verification test case document
o How to
document
o Automation frameworks
& test scripts.
Ø Storefront Test Automation Engine: Its used to
automate our testing techniques; reducing test time and increase reliability.
o Runs faster
than manual testing
o Reduced resources
used to run regression testing
o Each test
runs same each time which increases reliability.
Launch
Stage: During this phase, we start our Websphere Commerce
implementation, making it available online.
Maintenance
Stage: During this phase, we make sure that implementation is
performing smoothly and data is managed properly and efficiently.