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Overview of the RESTful Web service framework for feeds

WebSphere Commerce provides a framework to retrieve information from WebSphere Commerce Web services and return the information as a feed. Remote widgets use this RESTful framework to retrieve feed data for display in e-Marketing Spot widgets, wish list widgets, and gift registry widgets. You can customize the framework to retrieve a feed from a WebSphere Commerce Web service you choose.

Web services that this framework supports

The framework supports feed retrieval for the following Web services:

• Get MarketingSpotData service: The framework returns an Atom feed to support e-Marketing Spot remote widgets and feeds.

• Get GiftList service: The framework returns an Atom feed to support remote widgets for a customer's wish list or gift registry.

If to retrieve a feed from any other WebSphere Commerce Web service, or from a custom Web service you have created, customize the framework.

RESTful Web service framework

The framework uses the REST (Representational State Transfer) architectural style. This style ensures consistency in URL formats and provides a way of getting data from a service that conforms to a set of principles. Information on the server side is considered a resource, which developers can access using Web URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers) and HTTP. REST requires a stateless client-server architecture. You can learn more about the REST architectural style on the Internet.

The following diagram illustrates the WebSphere Commerce RESTful framework. The diagram shows the flow of events, starting from when a client initiates a request to get data from a Web service. An example is a feed reader requesting a feed from the Get MarketingSpotData service for an e-Marketing Spot that displays the Deals of the Week.

= the parts of the framework customize to retrieve a feed from Web services other than Get MarketingSpotData or Get GiftList.

The steps in the diagram are explained here:

1. The client initiates a RESTful HTTP GET request.

   Example: To retrieve an Atom feed for an e-Marketing Spot named HomePageFeaturedProducts in a feed reader, the URL for the GET request might look like this:

   http://host/wcs/resources/stores/10101/MarketingSpotData/HomePageFeaturedProducts?responseFormat=atom

   
   
   
     
   Customization
   point: To create a custom feed from a Web service, define
   the RESTful HTTP GET request (the URL) for the custom feed using
   a defined RESTful syntax.
   
   
   
     
   The JAX-RS runtime matches the
   URL of the request to the appropriate
   JAX-RS resource. The JAX-RS resource is a Java class that converts
   RESTful HTTP GET requests into WebSphere Commerce service requests
   and returns data in either XML, JSON, or Atom format.
   
     Example: The
   JAX-RS runtime matches the URL http://host/wcs/resources/stores/10101/MarketingSpotData/HomePageFeaturedProducts?responseFormat=atom to
   the MarketingSpotData JAX-RS resource.
   
   
     
   Customization point: To
   create a custom feed from a Web service, create the JAX-RS
   resource Java class by providing input to a Java Emitter Template
   (JET) pattern that generates the code for the class.
   
   
   
     
   Use
   the client libraries, the JAX-RS resource performs an OAGIS
   service request to WebSphere Commerce. 
   
     Example: The MarketingSpotData
   resource constructs a GetMarketingSpotData business object document
   (BOD) and sends it to the WebSphere Commerce server.
   
   
   
     
   The
   WebSphere Commerce Web service returns the service request
   results as a service data object (SDO).
   
   
     
   The JAX-RS resource
   determines the appropriate response format
   based on the request. Typically, the URL specifies Atom format with
   the parameter responseFormat=atom. The JAX-RS runtime
   then matches the WebSphere Commerce service request result to the
   JAX-RS provider that transforms the SDO to Atom format. 
   
     WebSphere
   Commerce also includes JAX-RS providers to transform SDOs to JSON
   and XML format.
   
   
   
     
   The JAX-RS provider calls the appropriate
   feed formatting JSP
   files for the noun to select and format the data from the SDO.
   
     
   Customization
   point: To create a custom feed from a Web service, create
   the feed formatting JSP files based on the Atom Syndication Format
   specification, and then update a Struts configuration file to point
   to the custom JSP files. 
     To change the content or configuration of
   an existing feed for e-Marketing Spots, wish lists, and gift registries, you can edit their associated feed formatting JSPs.
   
   
   
     
   The
   JAX-RS provider transforms the SDO into an Atom feed, and
   then returns the feed to the client for display to a customer.
   

Concepts related to this customization

JAX-RS

A Java API for creating RESTful Web services. WebSphere Commerce provides this API.

JAX-RS resource

A Java class that converts RESTful HTTP GET requests into WebSphere Commerce service requests and returns data in either XML, JSON, or Atom format. The JAX-RS resource uses the @Path annotation to indicate which URLs the class handles.

Example: A class annotated with @Path("stores/{storeId}/MarketingSpotData") handles all URL requests matching .../stores/storeId/MarketingSpotData/...

JAX-RS provider

A Java class that transforms data from one format to another, for example, transforming SDO format to Atom format. WebSphere Commerce provides three classes that transform SDOs to Atom format, JSON format, and XML format.

Atom Syndication Format

An XML language used for providing Web feeds. The Atom Syndication Format follows standards that are different from the alternative Web feed format, RSS (Really Simple Syndication). The specification for the Atom Syndication Format is available on the Internet for your reference when developing or editing feed formatting JSP files.

Noun or resource

A noun is the logical model definition for Web services that are fronted by an XML schema. WebSphere Commerce uses its own simplified nouns, defined types, and primitive XML schema types. In a RESTful framework, noun and resource mean the same thing.

Feed formatting JSP file

A file or set of files used to format the Atom feed for an SDO, including the feed title, the feed content, and the number of entries to return in the feed. The feed formatting JSP must produce a valid output according to the Atom Syndication Format 1.0 specification.

Cache

There is no caching for the RESTful Web service framework. Caching is handled by the WebSphere Commerce Web services themselves. For information about caching support for marketing, see Improve marketing performance using caching.

Limitations of the RESTful Web service framework for feeds

1. The framework supports only HTTP GET methods. POST, PUT, and DELETE methods are not supported.

2. The framework can retrieve only data that a customer can view on the storefront without logging in. REST requests do not have identity or session support. For example, you cannot retrieve shopping cart data for an Atom feed because a customer must log in to see this information.

Related concepts

Nouns

Verbs

Get Request and the Show Response

Related reference

List of WebSphere Commerce Web services

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