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User Guide
The information contained in this section applies to IBM WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.9 and Feautre Pack 8. The documentation also applies to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions.
Developing
The topics in the Developing section describe tasks performed by an application developer.
Presentation layer
WebSphere Commerce uses Java Server Pages (JSP) to implement the view layer of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern. The view layer is in charge of retrieving data from the database through the use of data beans and formatting it to meet the display requirements. The view layers determines whether the request is sent to a browser or streamed out as XML. JSP files present a clean separation between data content and presentation.
Customizing WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, Organization Administration Console, or Administration Console
The WebSphere Commerce browser-based tools (WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, Organization Administration Console, Administration Console) can be extended or changed. In addition to customizing the tools you can also create a new browser-based tool that uses the same underlying framework. A new tool based on the tools framework is referred to as a WebSphere Commerce tools user interface center.
Tools framework
The tools framework defines user interface elements and functionality used to control and manipulate these elements.
Search dialogs
A search dialog is an user interface fragment that provides a common infrastructure for developing search applications.

Search dialogs

A search dialog is an user interface fragment that provides a common infrastructure for developing search applications. With a simple configuration file and a criteria data bean, it generates a standardized search criteria page for the user. The user can navigate between the search criteria page and the result page within the dialog.

When implementing a search dialog, you need to validate the criteria inputs, and create a result page to display the search results. A dynamic list is frequently used to display the search results.