WebSphere Commerce integration with WebSphere Portal
You can integrate WebSphere Commerce, a Business Application Service with WebSphere Portal, an Interaction Service. The Interaction Service provides core portal services (WebSphere Portal) that aggregate applications and content and deliver them as role-based applications. The Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) pattern is used for communication, mediation, transformation and integration with external systems. Using an ESB to integrate the Web services exposed from WebSphere Commerce to the WebSphere Portal promotes a loosely coupled design where the ESB manages the interactions styles between the WebSphere Commerce services and the presentation layer. You do not need to alter the presentation layer to support the protocol and format used by the WebSphere Commerce services. Instead, you rely on the ESB to perform tasks such as message transformation and protocol mediation. Neither WebSphere Commerce nor WebSphere Portal needs to change in order to communicate with one another. The ESB is used to act as an interpreter between the two systems and will translate the messages into a format the receiving system understands.
This architecture is described in detail in the Logical Architecture Model section of IBM's SOA Foundation - An Architectural Introduction and Overview.
WebSphere Commerce and WebSphere Portal integration
The WebSphere Commerce and WebSphere Portal service-oriented integration support enable you to have an aggregated presentation of WebSphere Commerce Services and non-WebSphere Commerce services. The benefits are:
- WebSphere Portal provides the ability to aggregate and to present contents delivered from services, whether they are provided by WebSphere Commerce or a 3rd party application.
- Single sign on from WebSphere Portal provides a secure method of authenticating a user one time within an environment and using that single authentication (for the duration of the session) as a basis for access to WebSphere Commerce Services.
- Portlets that render WebSphere Commerce content are JSR-168 compliant, enabling them to work with other vendors' portlets in a single portlet container. JSR-168 compliance also allows you to leverage tools that are designed for JSR-168.
- Have the WebSphere Commerce portlets communicate with the other portlets to deliver a rich user experience.
- Leverage the portlet tag library from 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.
- Session management
Session information for portlets is kept in the WebSphere Portal Server PortletSession core object. It is at the application scope and not at the portlet scope. This ensures that multiple portlets on a page and across pages can communicate as one client with the WebSphere Commerce Server.
- WebSphere Commerce Portal caching
Caching is a technique that when applied properly can improve the overall system response time. It can therefore accelerate the machine to its maximum appropriate utilization while keeping the hardware costs low. That is, caching allows you to do repeatable computer tasks more rapidly.
- Portlet packaging structure
The WebSphere Commerce Portlet is provided as a WAR file for the WebSphere Portal administrator to install to the WebSphere Portal Server.
- WebSphere Commerce Portal development environment
The WebSphere Commerce Portal development environment uses Rational Application Developer 7.5 as the workbench tool for coding, testing, and debugging the MVCPortlet application. Since WebSphere Commerce Developer edition also uses the same version of the workbench, it is possible to have both the development environment coexist within the same workspace.
- Integrate WebSphere Commerce Extended Sites with WebSphere Portal
In a complex business environment, an enterprise needs to have multiple strategies to make its products available to customers. To ensure business success, an enterprise must present many faces to the market, and each face is perceived by customers as a unique site.
- Customize WebSphere Commerce Portal integration
There are two main approaches to Customizing WebSphere Commerce Portal integration. Using the provided WebSphere Commerce MVCPortlet class (MVC style), and Using WebSphere Portal general programming techniques (Web service style).
- Prepare MVCPortlet for deployment
When development is complete, portlets are packaged into WAR files for deployment to the WebSphere Portal Server.
- Migrate the WebSphere Commerce v6 Portal to WebSphere Commerce v7
You can migrate the WebSphere Commerce v6 Portal assets to WebSphere Commerce v7.
- WebSphere Commerce Portal integration tracing and logging
Portlets can write message and trace information to log files, which are maintained in the WebSphere Portal server's log directory. The log files help the portal administrator investigate portlet errors and special conditions; they also help the portlet developer test and debug portlets.