For this post I am assuming you are familiar with Commerce Server 2009 and operation sequences, which in my opinion are the main reason to use the upgraded Commerce Server product. You can find some background on operation sequences on MSDN.
The problem we are trying to solve here is the addition of new properties to the Commerce Server Profile system, but we want a one-to-many relationship between the user profile and the new property. As an example, we will be adding a number of Tests to the user’s profile. In this case the user needs to participate in a number of tests that we can track, because these tests determine what products a user will be able to purchase. The more tests and test categories the user participates in, the more products they are eligible for.
The basic steps for this are:
- Create the underlying SQL Server data store
- Map the store to the user profile in Commerce Server manager
- Create further mappings for Commerce Entities in the MetadataDefinitions.xml file
- Create C# classes
- Add the classes to the operation sequences in ChannelConfiguration.config
See How to Use the Profiles Schema Manager on MSDN for documentation on the Profiles editor in Commerce Server Manager.
- Create the underlying data table and fields in SQL Server in the profile database where the data will be stored. This is very important to do first, even though Commerce Server will let you create definitions before the underlying data store exists. (I’m assuming you are familiar with SQL Server). In my example I am going to add a number of tests per each person in the profile. The tests have and ID, name, and category.
- Assuming that we are adding our relationship to the User Profile, add a new field to the UserObject table that is nvarchar(255) and named after your custom profile object. Commerce Server uses this field to store the IDs (primary key) of the related items. You may need to make the field size larger if your key is large like a GUID or you expect to have many child records. 255 is the default number from the Commerce Server SDK examples.
- Save the database change scripts (for source control)
- Open Commerce Server Manager, expand the tree:
Commerce Server Manager –> Global Resources –> Profiles –>Profile Catalog –> Data Sources –> SQL Data source (name varies) –> Data objects
- Create a new object: Right click the Data Objects node and choose New Data Object. Choose the database table name from the list box, the Display Name and Members will fill out automatically, even though the members are not propagated further.
- Add Members to your new object: For each field you want to add, right click the new node and choose New Data Member.
- Choose the Member Name by clicking the database field name in the list.
- Click the Add button.
- Repeat for other new members
- Click the Finish button.
- Move to the Profile Definitions node in Commerce Server Manager.
- Right-click the Profile Definitions node and choose New Profile Definition.
- Give the new profile definition a name and display name. Click the Finish button, ignoring the Custom Attributes section.
- Update the new node by first clicking the node and allowing the editor to load.
- Create a new Group by clicking the Add button and selecting Add a New Group.
- Name the first group “GeneralInfo” with a display name of “General Information”. This is a common Commerce Server pattern.
- Click the Apply button.
- For each property you want to add, click the Add button and choose to add a new property
- Give the property a name and display name. Case matters later, so pay attention to the details here.
- Choose the correct type
- If you are adding a relationship to a profile definition type:
- Choose Profile.
- Choose the definition type for the Type Reference field.
- If you are adding a new field
- Choose the appropriate data type
- Expand the advanced attributes node
- Choose the Map To Data and use the Data Source Picker to map the database field
- Click the Apply button, or the change won’t update the Properties panel.
- Be sure to define the primary key
- Save the Profile
- Now we will build the relationship between the User Object and the new Profile Item we created.
Click the User Object node and allow the editor to load.
- Expand the General Information group
- Add a new property to the General Information group
- Name the property after your relationship
- Choose Profile as the Type
- In the Type Reference field navigate to your new Profile type
- In the Map To data field choose the database field you created in the UserObject table in step 2.
- Click the Apply button.
- Save the Profile
- Export the schema as an XML file (to put under source control)
- Now we need to map the changes we made in Commerce Server Manager into a CS2009 definition. In your web project in Visual Studio, edit MetadataDefinitions.xml
- Find he <CommerceEntities> node under the <DefaultChannel> node
- Create a new <CommerceEntity> node for the new item, Test in my example.
<CommerceEntity name=“Test“>
<DisplayName value=“Test“/>
<EntityMappings>
<EntityMapping
csType=“Microsoft.CommerceServer.Runtime.Profiles.Profile“
csAssembly=“Microsoft.CommerceServer.Runtime, Version=6.0.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35“
csDefinitionName=“Test“
csArea=“Profiles“>
<PropertyMappings>
<PropertyMapping property=“TestId“ csProperty=“GeneralInfo.TestId“ />
<PropertyMapping property=“TestName“ csProperty=“GeneralInfo.TestName“ />
<PropertyMapping property=“TestCategory“ csProperty=“GeneralInfo.TestCategory“ />
</PropertyMappings>
</EntityMapping>
</EntityMappings>
<Properties>
<Property name=“TestId“ dataType=“String“ />
<Property name=“TestName“ dataType=“String“ />
<Property name=“TestCategory“ dataType=“String“ />
</Properties>
<Relationships/>
</CommerceEntity>
- Find the <CommerceEntity> node named UserProfile.
- Add a new PropertyMapping node in the ProperyMappings section.
- Add a property attribute to name the property after the name defined in step 20.
- Add a csProperty attribute that is the name you chose in step 20a. Case matters. The format is PropertyGroup.PropertyName (ex: GeneralInfo.Gender)
- Find the <relationships> node under UserProfile.
- Add a relationship:
ex:
<Relationships>
<Relationship name=“Tests“ type=“Relationship“ modelName=“Test“ isMultipleItems=“true“>
<DisplayName value=“Tests“ />
<Description value=“User’s Tests“ />
</Relationship>
</Relationships>
- Create the following types of classes for Commerce Server:
- A class to hold your new data
namespace CommerceDemo
{
[Serializable]
public class Test
{
public string TestId { get; set; }
public string TestName { get; set; }
public string TestCategory { get; set; }
}
}
- A processor class that inherits RelatedProfileProcessorBase
namespace CommerceDemo
{
public class UserProfileTestProcessor : RelatedProfileProcessorBase
{
// Methods
protected override bool CanDeleteRelatedItem(string relatedItemId)
{
return true;
}
// Properties
protected override string CommercePreferredIdKeyName
{
get
{
return “GeneralInfo.Test”;
}
}
protected override string CommerceRelatedIdsKeyName
{
get
{
return “GeneralInfo.Test”;
}
}
protected override string ParentProfileModelName
{
get
{
return “UserProfile”;
}
}
protected override string PreferredItemRelationshipName
{
get
{
return “TestId”;
}
}
protected override string ProfileModelName
{
get
{
return “Test”;
}
}
protected override string RelationshipName
{
get
{
return “Tests”;
}
}
}
}
- A committer class that inherits ProfileCommitterBase
namespace CommerceDemo
{
class UserProfileTestCommitter: ProfileCommitterBase
{
protected override string ProfileModelName
{
get { return “Test”; }
}
}
}
- A response builder class that inherits RelatedTestResponseBuilderBase
namespace CommerceDemo
{
class TestResponseBuilder : ProfileResponseBuilderBase
{
protected override string ProfileModelName
{
get
{
return “Test”;
}
}
}
}
- Open ChannelConfiguration.config
- Find the <MessageHandler> node for “CommerceQueryOperation_UserProfile”
- Add <Component> nodes for the processor and response builder classes created above:
<MessageHandler name=“CommerceQueryOperation_UserProfile“ responseType=“Microsoft.Commerce.Contracts.Messages.CommerceQueryOperationResponse, Microsoft.Commerce.Contracts, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35“>
<OperationSequence>
<Component name=“User Profile Loader“ type=“Microsoft.Commerce.Providers.Components.UserProfileLoader, Microsoft.Commerce.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35“/>
<Component name=“User Profile Test Processor“ type=“CommerceDemo.UserProfileTestProcessor, CommerceDemo, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=fbeb08efdb2d0b73“/>
<Component name=“User Profile Response Builder“ type=“Microsoft.Commerce.Providers.Components.UserProfileResponseBuilder, Microsoft.Commerce.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35“ />
<Component name=“User Profile Test Response Builder“ type=“CommerceDemo.UserProfileTestResponseBuilder, CommerceDemo, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=fbeb08efdb2d0b73“ />
</OperationSequence>
</MessageHandler>
- Find the <MessageHandler> node for “CommerceCreateOperation_UserProfile”
- Add <Component> nodes for the processor, Committer, and response builder classes created above, similar to the previous step.
- Find the <MessageHandler> node for “CommerceDeleteOperation_UserProfile”
- Add <Component> nodes for the processor, Committer, and response builder classes created above, similar to step 25a1.
- Create any converter classes which converts the collection of Commerce Server properties from a CommerceEntity into a typed C# object.
public static Test ConvertTest(CommerceEntity testEntity)
{
Test result = new Test();
result.Id = testEntity.Id;
result.TestName = testEntity.Properties[“TestName”].ToString();
result.TestCategory = testEntity.Properties[“TestCategory”].ToString();
return result;
}
- Redeploy the project
- Reset IIS so the Commerce Server cache is emptied.
So how does this look when wired up? That’s a complex question to be sure, but here is a simplified example, assuming we have a User object class with simple common properties:
public User GetUser(string userId)
{
User user = null;
OperationServiceAgent svc= new OperationServiceAgent();
CommerceQuery<CommerceEntity> query = new CommerceQuery<CommerceEntity>(“UserProfile”);
query.SearchCriteria.Model.Properties["Email"] = userId;
CommercePropertyCollection properties = new CommercePropertyCollection();
properties.Add(“Email”);
properties.Add(“FirstName”);
properties.Add(“LastName”);
query.Model.Properties = properties;
CommerceQueryRelatedItem<CommerceEntity> test= new CommerceQueryRelatedItem<CommerceEntity>(“Tests”, “Test”);
test.Model.Properties.Add(“TestId”);
test.Model.Properties.Add(“TestNumber”);
test.Model.Properties.Add(“TestCategory”);
query.RelatedOperations.Add(test);
CommerceResponse response = svc.ProcessRequest(GetRequestContext(), query.ToRequest());
CommerceQueryOperationResponse queryResponse = response.OperationResponses[0] as ommerceQueryOperationResponse;
if (queryResponse !=null && queryResponse.CommerceEntities.Count > 0)
{
Convert(queryResponse.CommerceEntities[0]);
}
return user;
}
public static User Convert(CommerceEntity userEntity)
{
User result = new User();
result.Id = userEntity.Properties["Id"] as string;
result.Email = userEntity.Properties["Email"] as string;
result.LastName = userEntity.Properties["FirstName"] as string;
result.FirstName = userEntity.Properties["LastName"] as string;
CommerceRelationshipList relationships = userEntity.Properties["Tests"] as CommerceRelationshipList;
result.Tests = ConvertTest(relationships); //Function above in post
return output;
}
