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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 IBM Sales Center
In the IBM Sales Center for WebSphere Commerce there is a set of user interface panels, views and dialogs that contain the most commonly used features. You can add to or configure the user interface to suit your needs, as well as changing the content and format of the data that is passed between the client and the server.
Deploying customizations to the IBM Sales Center
Depending on the number of clients and frequency of updates required, you have several choices for installing and updating the IBM Sales Center.
Building customizations for deployment in Rational Application Developer
All of the recommended mechanisms suitable for custom IBM Sales Center extension deployment and service depend on packaging those extensions as Eclipse update sites.
Creating a feature project in Rational Application Developer
Before you can create an Update Site project in Rational Application Developer (RAD) you must first create one or more feature projects that will refer to all of the plugins you want to deploy.

Creating a feature project in Rational Application Developer

Before you can create an Update Site project in Rational Application Developer (RAD) you must first create one or more feature projects that will refer to all of the plugins you want to deploy.

Procedure

In the Enterprise Explorer view, click File > New > Other > Plug-in Development > Feature Project. Then, click Next.
Enter a project name.
Optionally enter the name of the Feature Provider, and click Next.
Select the referenced plug-ins and fragments and click Finish.
You are prompted to switch to the Plug-in Development perspective. Click Yes.
Switch to the Information tab.
Update the Feature Description, Copyright Notice, Licence Agreement, and optionally, Sites to Visit tabs.
To publish the feature on an update site, create an Update Site Project and use the site editor to add the feature to the site, and build the site.
For more information, see Creating an update site in Rational Application Developer.
Optionally provide other feature information, for example, on the Overview tab, then press Ctrl+S to save.

What to do next

You must choose whether to create one feature or several. The feature defines the granularity for installation and update. Populating an update site with several small features instead of one large feature allows for selective installation. For example, one base feature that is always installed can provide the functional plugins, and several optional features can each provide fragments containing message text translated into a different language. Different clients can be installed with more or fewer optional features, and new language features can be developed and deployed as necessary without re-versioning the base feature.