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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.
Customizing
The topics in the Customizing section describe tasks performed by an application developer to customize HCL Commerce.
Creating your custom store
After you install and set up your programming environment, you can create your custom store and customize your storefront. You must ensure that the store server is properly configured, and that your store assets are moved to the Store server.
Creating a custom store using JSP
This HCL Commerce store uses Java Server Pages (JSP) to implement the view layer of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern.
Store architecture
HCL Commerce separates individual front-end storefronts from the servers on which they rely. This architecture increases security, scalability, flexibility in server topology, and improves the ease of development and deployment of stores and store customizations.
jQuery Aurora starter store
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.

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.
  - Customizing Management Center for HCL Commerce
    HCL Commerce allows you to pull the GIT bundle of Management Center source code and start the application locally to customize the Management Center.
  - Managed asset deployment
    Managed assets are files that are uploaded by business users to be used for store marketing, or to supplement products. They are added to HCL Commerce through the Assets tool or the Marketing tool in Management Center. By default, managed assets are extracted and deployed through the HCL Commerce EAR. To maintain performance in a large-scale production environment, site administrators must switch to alternative extraction and deployment methods for managed assets.
  - HCL Commerce development environment
    HCL Commerce Developer is the development toolkit for customizing a HCL Commerce application.
  - Functional architecture
    Functional architecture provides both the set of patterns used to implement the business functionality and the frameworks in which these business functions execute.
  - Persistent object model
    HCL Commerce deals with a large amount of persistent data. There are numerous tables defined in the current database schema. Even with this extensive schema, however, you might need to extend or customize the database schema for your particular business needs.
  - Creating your custom store
    After you install and set up your programming environment, you can create your custom store and customize your storefront. You must ensure that the store server is properly configured, and that your store assets are moved to the Store server.
    - Creating a custom store using JSP
      This HCL Commerce store uses Java Server Pages (JSP) to implement the view layer of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern.
      - Store architecture
        HCL Commerce separates individual front-end storefronts from the servers on which they rely. This architecture increases security, scalability, flexibility in server topology, and improves the ease of development and deployment of stores and store customizations.
        Spring MVC and store controller customization
        The model-view-controller (MVC) framework that is used for the store is Spring. Spring is popular, supported, and easy to adopt by developers with previous Struts and HCL Commerce experience. The following information details the store Spring MVC implementation, and details on how to customize actions and views. After customizations are made, respective modifications need to be made to the REST template configurations.
        Store assets
        Store assets are located in the crs-web archive on the Store server.
        jQuery Aurora starter store
        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.
        Rebuilding store code
        You can rebuild the store code, such as JavaScript and CSS files, by using Grunt plugins.
        Debugging tools
        You can debug jQuery in the Aurora starter store to help determine the locations of potential problems to resolve.
      - Creating and configuring your custom store
        You can create and configure your custom store in your Externalized Customization workspace through the configuration and execution of a Gradle script. You can then configure your store assets, sample data, and use your Externalized Customization workspace to customize that store.
      - Customizing your store
        After you review the HCL Commerce store architecture and create your custom store, you can use the programming environment to customize your store.
    - Creating a custom store using React
      You can create a React single page application Store using the HCL Commerce Store SDK that is provided for pages and react components. The Store SDK allows your front end developers to quickly develop and deploy a Store while focusing on creating the best user experience possible.
    - Creating a custom store using Next.js
      You can create a server-side rendered storefront using the HCL Commerce Next.js Store SDK. The Next.js Store SDK allows your front end development of a storefront using an easy extension paradigm.
    - Email templates and sitemap generator
      An email template is a pre-designed format for creating consistent emails. Notifications are messages that inform users about events or updates related to a service or application.
  - Presentation layer
    HCL 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.
  - Controller layer
    The Controller layer is the conductor of operations for a request. It controls the transaction scope and manages the session related information for the request. The controller first dispatches to a command and then calls the appropriate view processing logic to render the response.
  - Business logic layer
    The business logic layer is the business components that provide OAGIS services to return data or start business processes. The presentation layer uses these OAGIS services to display data, or to invoke a business process. The business logic provides data required by the presentation layer. The business logic layer exists because more than just fetching and updating data is required by an application; there is also additional business logic independent of the presentation layer.
  - Persistence layer
    The interaction between the business objects and persistence layer is isolated in an object called the Business Object Mediator. Business object document (BOD) commands interact with the Business Object Mediator to handle the interaction with the logical objects and how they are persisted.
  - Business model information model
    A business model, a representation of the business processes used throughout the site, provides a sample commerce solution which includes an organization structure, default user roles and access control policies, one or more starter stores, administration tools, and business processes that demonstrate best practices. A business model can be customized to support business requirements and scenarios. HCL Commerce provides sample business models that show some common commerce solutions. These business models are created by setting up an organization hierarchy structure, access control policies, stores, and contracts that help satisfy the necessary business requirements.
  - Business models
    Before starting to develop your site with HCL Commerce, you need to determine the business model supported by HCL Commerce that best represents the purpose of your site. Usually sites created with HCL Commerce will be implemented based on of one of these business models.
  - Store data information model
    Store data is the information that is loaded into the Transaction server database, which allows your store to function. The URL Registry Entries and View Registry Entries packages are included in the diagram, but they are not database assets. These entries are presentation configuration (that is, struts actions and forwards) that must be deployed. URL registry entries are shown in the diagram to illustrate the entire store data information model. To operate properly, a store must have the data in place to support all customer activities. For example, in order for a customer to make a purchase, your store must contain a catalog of goods for sale (catalog data), the data associated with processing orders (tax and shipping data), and the inventory to fulfill the request (inventory and fulfillment data).
  - Customizing HCL Commerce
    You can extend the HCL Commerce product to fit your business needs. This topic describes the prerequisite skills and required knowledge that you need to customize business logic. After you have the required knowledge, use HCL Commerce Developer to take tutorials that guide you step-by-step through various customization scenarios.
  - Run Engine command framework
    The Run Engine command framework provides predefined commands, that you can use to change environment parameters or container configurations. This framework is built into the HCL provided Docker images.
  - GraphQL for HCL Commerce
    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.
  - Representational State Transfer (REST) services
    HCL Commerce uses Representational State Transfer (REST) services to provide a framework that can be used to develop RESTful applications on several platforms. These platforms can include web, mobile, kiosks, and social applications.
  - Web services
  - Search
    HCL Commerce comes with a powerful and fully integrated search function. The search functions in HCL Commerce provide an enriched customer experience, with features such as automatic search term suggestions and spelling correction. Since it is built on industry standards, HCL Commerce Search is highly flexible and extensible. Starter stores can use the search engine's most sophisticated features without requiring extra customization. Starting with Version 9.1, HCL Commerce Search with Elasticsearch microservices manage indexing and other crucial tasks, with no performance impact on the storefront or transaction server.
- 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.

jQuery Aurora starter store

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.

The following flow exists when working with the jQuery Aurora starter store:

1 Create your custom jQuery store

The store assets contain the organization structure, predefined user roles, and access control policies necessary to create either a B2C storefront asset store or a B2B storefront asset store in the Extended Sites business model.

2 Work with the jQuery Enhancements API

The HCL Commerce jQuery Enhancements API provides interactions within the starter store under the following categories:

AJAX framework: The AJAX framework helps determine the refresh areas of pages, and the content that populates them. The framework helps track the status of store pages, and the content that is generated when customers interact with the store.
User interface widgets: The user interface widgets in the Aurora starter store create a versatile, customer-friendly store. They add new functionality, changing the appearance and interaction experience in the store.

For more information, see jQuery Enhancements API.

3 Rebuild your store code

For optimal store performance, all JavaScript and CSS files are kept to a minimum inside the store and widget directories. As a result, you must rebuild your store code every time you update it, so that the store can apply your changes. You can trigger a rebuild of your store code by using Grunt plugins.

For more information, see Rebuilding store code.

4 Debug jQuery in the storefront

You can debug jQuery in the Aurora starter store to help determine the locations of potential problems to resolve. The recommended approach is to use the Mozilla Firefox with the Firebug add-on. This approach is available as an optional free browser add-on, and lets you can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. It also serves as a network activity and DOM inspector.

For more information, see Debugging tools.