WebSphere Commerce framework interaction

This section provides a summary of the interaction flow between components when forming a response to a request.

This diagram is specific to a Web application that uses Struts. The IBM Sales Center framework interaction is described in the topic IBM Sales Center architecture.

A description of each of the steps follows the diagram.

The following information corresponds to the preceding diagram.

  1. The request is directed to the Presentation layer (Web container) in its own thread.

  2. The thread handling the request is dispatched to the WebSphere Commerce servlet filter. The filter passes the request to the adapter framework.

  3. The adapter manger determines which adapter is capable of handling the request, then returns that adapter to associate with the request. For example, if the request originated from an Internet browser, the adapter manager associates the request with the HTTP browser adapter. The adapter is passed back to the Dynacache servlet container. The filter regains control and passes the request to the servlet engine for processing. At this point, either of the following actions can occur:

    1. The request can be cached and the cached response can be returned.

    2. If the request is not cached, the Struts action invokes the business logic facade by specifying the interface name of the business logic to invoke and the associated parameters. The business logic facade queries the command registry to determine the appropriate implementation for the store associated with the request.

  4. The business logic facade invokes the appropriate controller command.

  5. The controller command begins execution:

    1. The controller command can access the database using an access bean and its corresponding entity bean.

    2. The controller command can invoke one or more task commands. Then task commands can access the database, using access beans and their corresponding entity beans.

    3. A combination of a and b.

  6. The business logic facade returns a set of properties to the Struts action. One of the elements that is part of the properties is the key to the global forward that will represents the response.

  7. The action looks up the global forward in the Struts configuration files. It resolves to the right one based on the store configuration. The action forward implementation that is selected is the appropriate one for the device of the request.

  8. The Struts request processor executes the action forward which will execute the appropriate JSP page. Within the JSP page, a data bean is required to retrieve dynamic information from the database. The data bean manager is used to activate the data bean.

  9. The access bean from which the data bean is extended accesses the database using its corresponding entity bean. Based on globalization information in the request, the data bean formats the data.

Related concepts

WebSphere Commerce common architecture
WebSphere Commerce framework overview
WebSphere Commerce application layers

Related tasks

Configure a Web application