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HCL Commerce is a high-availability, highly scalable and customizable e-commerce platform. Able to support hundreds of thousands of transactions per day, HCL Commerce allows you to do business with consumers (B2C) or directly with businesses (B2B). HCL Commerce uses cloud friendly technology to make deployment and operation both easy and efficient. It provides easy-to-use tools for business users to centrally manage a cross-channel strategy. Business users can create and manage precision marketing campaigns, promotions, catalog, and merchandising across all sales channels. Business users can also use AI enabled content management capabilities.
Reference
Topics in the Reference section contain all of the HCL Commerce reference documentation.
HCL Commerce API reference
HCL Commerce exposes two main programming APIs. The first and newest API is a REST interface, and most new classes are exposed here. The legacy Java API also contains new classes not suitable for REST, and can be browsed in Javadoc format.
HCL Commerce REST API
The HCL Commerce REST API documentation contains a list of resources that are provided by the HCL Commerce REST API. Each REST resource contains information such as URLs, descriptions, and sample input and output data.
Setting up a local Swagger instance
You can use a local Swagger instance to review and test new REST APIs.

Documentation
HCL Commerce is a high-availability, highly scalable and customizable e-commerce platform. Able to support hundreds of thousands of transactions per day, HCL Commerce allows you to do business with consumers (B2C) or directly with businesses (B2B). HCL Commerce uses cloud friendly technology to make deployment and operation both easy and efficient. It provides easy-to-use tools for business users to centrally manage a cross-channel strategy. Business users can create and manage precision marketing campaigns, promotions, catalog, and merchandising across all sales channels. Business users can also use AI enabled content management capabilities.
- Getting started
  HCL Commerce has different advantages for business users, administrators and developers. HCL Commerce targets each of these roles with a tailored set of offerings so that each of your users can get maximum benefit.
- Installing and deploying
  Learn how to install and deploy HCL Commerce development environments and HCL Commerce production environments.
- Migrating
  Before you migrate to HCL Commerce Version 9.1, review this information to help plan and execute your migration.
- Operating
  Topics in the Operating category highlight tasks that are typically performed by business users, customer support representatives, to complete their day-to-day tasks in the operation of the HCL Commerce site.
- Integrating
  Topics in the Integrating category highlight the tasks that are commonly performed for using HCL Commerce in combination with other products.
- Administering
  Topics in the Administering category highlight tasks that are typically performed by the Site Administrator, to support daily operations of the HCL Commerce site.
- Customizing
  The topics in the Customizing section describe tasks performed by an application developer to customize HCL Commerce.
- Tutorials
  HCL Commerce provides many tutorials to help you customize and understand your HCL Commerce instance and stores.
- Samples
  Topics in the Samples category highlight the various samples that are provided with HCL Commerce.
- Compliance
  The following section describes how you can leverage HCL Commerce features and functionality to help your site be compliant with different privacy and security standards.
- Securing
  These topics describe the security features of HCL Commerce and how to configure these features.
- Performance
  Topics in the Performance section describe the means by which to plan, implement, test, and re-visit the optimization of HCL Commerce site performance.
- Troubleshooting
  Topics in the Troubleshooting section highlight common issues that are encountered with HCL Commerce, and how they can be addressed or mitigated.
- Reference
  Topics in the Reference section contain all of the HCL Commerce reference documentation.
  - HCL Commerce API reference
    HCL Commerce exposes two main programming APIs. The first and newest API is a REST interface, and most new classes are exposed here. The legacy Java API also contains new classes not suitable for REST, and can be browsed in Javadoc format.
    - HCL Commerce REST API
      The HCL Commerce REST API documentation contains a list of resources that are provided by the HCL Commerce REST API. Each REST resource contains information such as URLs, descriptions, and sample input and output data.
      - Swagger UI
        A live version of the HCL Commerce REST API is available in a web browser on your HCL Commerce test server using the Swagger UI. It is composed of a set of static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that dynamically documents the available REST API on the HCL Commerce test server.
      - Viewing the REST API using Swagger in pre-9.1.6 versions
        If you are using a version prior to 9.1.6, you can access the Swagger user interface to view and test any RESTful APIs that are annotated with the supported annotations.
      - Setting up a local Swagger instance
        You can use a local Swagger instance to review and test new REST APIs.
      - Testing REST APIs
        HCL Commerce supports the OpenAPI 3.0 specification from Version 9.1.6.0 onwards. You can use the Swagger specification to test any RESTful APIs that are documented in OAS files.
      - Administrative REST API
        You can use the HCL Commerce administrative API to complete administrative tasks for managing your site. The Administrative API contains a list of resources that are provided for creating, retrieving, changing, and deleting data to administer your site globalization capabilities, organizations, and more.
      - Pricing administrative REST API
        These API's can be used to create and administer pricing functions for a store, such as for creating and administering offers, price lists, price rules, and more.
      - Search administrative REST API
        These API's can be used to create and administer search capabilities and features, such as to create facets, define search fields, field properties, and more.
      - Marketplace administrative REST API
        These APIs can be used to create and administer marketplace resources including marketplace orders and order items.
      - Store administrative REST API
        These API's can be used to create and administer stores, including defining supported store languages and currencies, defining store configurations, enabling store functions, and more.
      - System administrative REST API
        These API's can be used to create and administer systems functions, such as to administer scheduled jobs, transports, message types, registries, device formats, business audits, and more.
      - User and organization administrative REST API
        These API's can be used to create and administer users and organizations for your site, member groups, roles, role assignments, password policies, access control policies, and more.
      - Storefront REST API
        HCL Commerce Storefront REST API documentation contains a list of resources that are provided by the HCL Commerce REST API for retrieving, changing, and deleting data related to a store. Each REST resource contains information such as URLs, descriptions, and sample input and output data.
      - xC extension points
        You can use the REST API to help you create your custom business logic for extending existing HCL Commerce processes or to call your own custom processes.
      - Mapping of REST services to BOD services
        The following sections detail how the REST resource method names relate to specific BOD services.
      - Mapping of REST services to storefront checkout actions
        The Aurora starter store uses REST services throughout the checkout process. The actions for each page map to a REST service.
      - REST service annotations
        HCL Commerce REST services and Search REST services are annotated so you view and test the APIs with Swagger, an interactive REST service interface. The REST Discovery API generates a list of REST resources and APIs by parsing annotations on a resource handler. By documenting your custom REST resource handlers with the same annotation standards as HCL Commerce REST services, your custom REST services can be viewed and tested with Swagger.
    - HCL Commerce GraphQL API
      GraphQL makes it easy to construct APIs. The GraphQL markup language is available for any API. It is a server-side interpreter for processing queries using a data type system you design. With GraphQL, your data and code are independent of any database or storage system.
    - Java API classes
      You can browse the HCL Commerce Java APIs in Javadoc format.
  - Cross-reference of data beans and tables
    Data beans are grouped into several component groups.
  - Cross-reference of commands, tasks, and tables
    URL commands, controller commands, task commands, view commands and tables are related to each other.
  - Cross reference: Commands to beans to database tables
    Use this information when you are customizing a command and you want to know which tables are affected. You should also use this topic if you are modifying a table and want to know which commands and beans are affected.
  - Run Engine commands
    The following Run Engine commands are available by default for you to configure the applications that are running inside the containers.
  - Entering Docker containers
    To enter a Docker container you can complete the following steps.
  - Docker container start up logic for HCL Commerce Version 9.1
    When you deploy a container from an HCL provided image, an Entrypoint.sh helper script determines the configurations to use while starting up the container. Review the following information to learn about what the helper script does, and how you can customize the configurations.
  - HCL Commerce database schema
    The HCL Commerce database model was designed for data integrity and optimal performance. HCL Commerce provides several hundred tables that store HCL Commerce instance data. To maintain data integrity, and to ease maintenance referential integrity, constraints are widely used in the database model. Indexes are used carefully on tables to avoid over-indexing and to provide a good balance between data retrieval and data manipulation activities (insert and update). The business rules are implemented at the application level rather than by using database trigger. Triggers, however, are used to facilitate data staging and optimistic locking. A limited number of SQL-based database stored procedures are used for data intensive activities.
  - Payments subsystem
    In HCL Commerce, payment processing uses the Payments subsystem.
  - Dynamic caching
    In general, caching improves response time and reduces system load. Caching techniques are used to improve the performance of World Wide Web Internet applications. Most techniques cache static content (content that rarely changes) such as graphic and text files. However, many websites serve dynamic content, containing personalized information or data that changes more frequently. Caching dynamic content requires more sophisticated caching techniques, such as those provided by the WebSphere Application Server dynamic cache, a built-in service for caching and serving dynamic content.
  - HCL Commerce store pages properties
  - Cache-entry elements
    The root element of the cachespec.xml file, <cache>, contains <cache-entry> elements. The WebSphere dynamic cache service parses the cachespec.xml file during start-up, and extracts a set of configuration parameters from each <cache-entry> element.
  - Data Load utility configuration file schema
    The Data Load utility contains several configuration files. You can use the configuration file schema to understand and customize the data load configuration files.
  - HCL Commerce web services
    HCL Commerce provides many web services.
  - Utilities
    In HCL Commerce utilities are scripts that perform operations such as loading access control policies, loading store data, and cleaning the database of obsolete objects. In runtime environments, run utilities from the Utility server Docker container. In the development environment, run utilities from the bin directory.
  - Shopping flow URLs
    HCL Commerce shopping flow URLs are organized by subsystem.
  - Messaging system URLs
    The following URLs relate to the Messaging system.
  - Scheduler URLs
    The server subsystem consists of functions that are associated with URLs that are run by the scheduler.
  - jQuery Enhancements API
    The Aurora starter store in HCL Commerce is completely written in jQuery, which is one of the most commonly used JavaScript libraries used in dynamic websites. The jQuery AJAX and events API provides an easy to use framework that meets most AJAX requirements for storefront development.
  - HCL Commerce foundation tag library
    The HCL Commerce foundation JSTL tag library is a collection of custom tags that are provided to you to support the authoring of HCL Commerce JSP files. HCL Commerce stores use the JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library (JSTL) to perform logic, instead of Java code. At the same time, business logic is moved into data beans. The combination of these steps allows for less Java code in a JSP page.

Setting up a local Swagger instance

You can use a local Swagger instance to review and test new REST APIs.

Use the following instructions to install a local instance of the browser-based, open source Swagger Editor to design document REST APIs created using the Swagger Specification. The editor works alongside the Swagger User Interface, which you also install locally. Pre-built Docker containers are available for both tools, so you can install them easily on any Docker-enabled server.

To deploy the Swagger editor container, run the following commands:
- docker pull swaggerapi/swagger-editor
- docker run -d -p 5440:8080 swaggerapi/swagger-editor
To view the swagger editor, navigate to http://localhost:5440/

To deploy the Swagger User Interface container, run the following commands.
- docker pull swaggerapi/swagger-ui
- docker run -d -p 5440:8080 swaggerapi/swagger-editor
To view the Swagger User Interface, navigate to http://localhost:5440/

Ensure that you whitelist the Swagger editor/UI domain by adding it in your CORS configuration. For more information about configuring CORS, see Configuring Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) headers.

For more information about using Swagger to view and validate new REST APIs, see Testing REST APIs.