Develop > Presentation layer > WebSphere Commerce integration with WebSphere Portal
WebSphere Commerce Portal integration architecture
WebSphere Commerce supports multiple presentations layers; you can use an appropriate presentation layer based on the business requirements. For example, if the business processes are represented by WebSphere Commerce business logic and data, then Struts is an appropriate choice for the presentation layer. However, to aggregate business processes from WebSphere Commerce with those from other (not WebSphere Commerce) applications, then it is appropriate to use WebSphere Portal for the presentation layer.
Both the Struts and WebSphere Portal presentation layers follow the model view controller (MVC) design pattern. The consequent separation of the presentation logic and the business logic enables a Web designer to develop the presentation layer at the same time as an application developer implements business logic.
In the Struts framework, a browser request is routed to a servlet that acts as a controller. Using local Java calls, the controller calls the model for processing. The controller then dispatches the appropriate view to render data. The model encapsulates all business logic implemented using the command pattern. The JSP pages retrieve data from the database using data beans, then format the output.
In the WebSphere Portal framework, the browser request is routed to a portlet that acts as a controller. The portlet calls client libraries (Java classes). The client library sends a service request to WebSphere Commerce business logic for processing. When the portlet renders the data, it dispatches it to a JSP page in the portlet container. The JSP pages use tags that delegate to the client libraries to retrieve data from the WebSphere Commerce system.
Samples are provided to demonstrated how to use portlets with WebSphere Commerce.
- WebSphere Commerce and WebSphere Portal integration framework
WebSphere Commerce has provided an optional integration framework intended to reduce development effort when calling WebSphere Commerce services from the portlet. You do not need to use the framework to make use of the client libraries and the WebSphere Commerce foundation tag library in the portlet.
- WebSphere Commerce and WebSphere Portal integration framework interaction
Using the WebSphere Commerce Portlet provided, a portlet developer can create or remove actions and renders through configurations.
Related concepts
WebSphere Commerce integration with WebSphere Portal
WebSphere Commerce services functional architecture
Client library for WebSphere Commerce services
WebSphere Commerce Web services
WebSphere Commerce Portal integration event handlers
Customize WebSphere Commerce Portal integration
WebSphere Commerce Portal integration tracing and logging
Related tasks
Related reference
WebSphere Commerce foundation tag library