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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.
Customizing product management tools for WebSphere Commerce Accelerator
You can customize the product management tools within WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to add enhancements to help business users work more efficiently.
Creating a merchandising association type
By default, WebSphere Commerce displays four merchandising association types: cross-sell, up-sell, accessory and replacement. You can create your own merchandising association types, based on your business needs. The following instructions work for both the development and production environments. You should test your changes in the development environment before propagating them to your production environment.
Displaying custom merchandising association types in the storefront
Once a new merchandising association type has been defined, it must be enabled before it will appear in the storefront.

Displaying custom merchandising association types in the storefront

Once a new merchandising association type has been defined, it must be enabled before it will appear in the storefront.

Before you begin

Ensure your custom merchandising association type has been created.

About this task

To display your custom merchandising association type:

Procedure

Open the product display JSP file for the store to which you want to add the new merchandising association type.
In the section of the JSP file where you display your merchandising associations call the following methods:
1. Call the setAssociationType method of the com.ibm.commerce.catalog.beans.ProductDataBean. For example, type the following code:
```
productBean.setAssociationType("new_association_type_name");
```
  - Where new_association_type_name is the name of your new merchandising association type.
2. Retrieve the association by calling the getProductAssociation method of the com.ibm.commerce.catalog.beans.ProductDataBean. For example, type the following code:
```
productBean.getProductAssociations();
```
Use the retrieved data to render the necessary images on the product display page.
Save all changes and close the JSP file.