Introduction

Many retail and catalog companies today are looking to improve the online shopping experience by making it easy for people to find the products and services that best match their specific needs, thereby increasing shopper conversion rates. The OmniFind Discovery Edition integration with WebSphere Commerce improves the embedded search capabilities delivered with WebSphere Commerce, a market leader in e-commerce infrastructures. It provides a turnkey integration to WebSphere Commerce that deploys quickly and provides a lower cost of ownership relative to competitive solutions in the marketplace. No other search vendor provides a packaged integration for WebSphere Commerce today.

With version 8.4, this integration has been further enhanced and made a part of IBM Commerce Module for OmniFind Discovery Edition. The integration now leverages a new layout editor, a graphical user interface for creating and modifying search result layouts. As a result, no JSP coding is required. So the total cost of ownership for the all IBM commerce solution is further slashed. Moreover, with greater scaling and throughput and new support for the Unicode character set, this search solution can scale to handle virtually any product catalog, in any language.

The OmniFind Discovery Edition integration for WebSphere Commerce can be deployed on Windows, AIX®, Solaris, and Linux® environments. The example in this article is specific to the integration on a Microsoft Windows platform. However, the key concepts and information provided are relevant to any platform.

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Integration architecture overview

IBM Commerce Module for OmniFind Discovery Edition is a turnkey integration between OmniFind Discovery Edition and WebSphere Commerce, as shown in Figure 1. The module provides a pre-packaged content connector to allow OmniFind Discovery Edition to acquire commerce product catalog information and rapidly create rich search indexes. In addition, it comes with the Commerce Search Result layouts (the user interface) developed on top of Layout Editor skins and an installation script to install them into WebSphere Commerce.

In the integrated environment, OmniFind Discovery Edition processes the queries that users enter in your store's search box. OmniFind Discovery Edition uses contextual understanding to interpret the underlying intent of the request. After the system processes the request, it retrieves the appropriate content and uses its adaptive presentation capabilities to guide the discovery (or search) process. The results are displayed on the OmniFind Discovery Edition user interfaces that incorporate the appearance of your WebSphere Commerce store.

The key features of the integration include:

• Packaged industry vocabularies and integration to WebSphere Commerce that speed up deployments
• Automatic re-spelling, stemming, and vocabulary relationships such as synonyms and related terms to help the system understand the shopper's intent
• Enhanced understanding on numeric attributes via traits such as price, weight and age (for example, "I want a new, lightweight, inexpensive phone")
• Ability to perform search-based merchandising to provide targeted offers and information based on the shopper's specific interests and profile
• Dynamic search result refinements that allow users to narrow down results with faceted navigation
• Business user analytics that provides insight into search-based merchandising and product catalog offerings
• Support for WebSphere Commerce e-Sites and contracts.

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Supported integration software stack

The integration requires OmniFind Discovery Edition, Commerce Module for OmniFind Discovery Edition, and WebSphere Commerce software. To ensure the success of deploying this complex solution, it's important to start with the supported version levels of the respective products, as listed in Table 1.

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Integration setup overview

The example in this article shows you how to build a Mobile Phone AdvancedB2BDirect Commerce store with enhanced search capabilities in an OmniFind Discovery Edition and WebSphere Commerce integrated environment.

Check-list of the required software

The software used in the example include:

• WebSphere Commerce software
• WebSphere Commerce Enterprise V6.0 disk 1 and disk 2 (C900KML)
• WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment V6.0.2.5 (C900MML)
• DB2 Universal Database Enterprise Server Edition and Administrative Client V8.2.3 (C900LML)
• OmniFind Discovery Edition software
• IBM OmniFind Discovery Edition V8.4 (C96HXEN)
• IBM OmniFind Discovery Edition V8.4 Fix Pack 1
• Commerce Module for OmniFind Discovery Edition V8.4 (C96I2EN)

Deployment procedure

The following installation steps are performed to deploy the integration solution environment:

1. Prepare a system environment
2. Install WebSphere Commerce software stack
3. Publish starter stores
4. Populate the store with your own catalog data
5. Install OmniFind Discovery Edition, Commerce Module, and the Fix Pack
6. Perform integration for WebSphere Commerce

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Prepare a system environment

The example uses Windows 2000 Server SP4 with Internet Explorer (IE) V6.0 (6.0 or higher is supported). Ensure that the following system requirements are met:

1. Set up a user with all administrator rights. The user ID, db2admin, is created in this example.
2. Optionally, disable Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), if applicable, in order to avoid potential port conflicts since the WebSphere Commerce Quick Installation installs IBM HTTP server on the same default port.
3. The system must have a resolvable fully qualified hostname, that is, the host name combined with the domain name. This example uses wcsintegration.torolab.ibm.com.
• Ensure host name resolving to IP address: nslookup fully_qualified_hostname
• Ensure IP address resolving to host name: nslookup IP_address
• Set DNS suffix if needed: navigate to My Computer -> Properties -> Network Identification Changes -> More -> Primary DNS suffix of this computer, and define the DNS suffix if you have not.
4. Remove the pop-up blocker from IE.
5. Navigate to Start -> Programs -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Add/Remove Windows Components to disable Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration if applicable.

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Install the WebSphere Commerce software stack

This section uses step-by-step screen shots to illustrate how to use WebSphere Commerce's Quick Installation to install the following software:

• DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows
• WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment product
• IBM HTTP Server
• WebSphere Commerce Server
• WebSphere Commerce Information Center

1. Log in the server as user id, db2admin
2. Locate and run the WebSphere Commerce Installation program, setup.exe in the WC60\disk1 directory. Use default for the rest of the installation, and watch for the following key steps.
3. Select Quick Installation for the setup type.
   
   Figure 1-1
   
   
   
4. Use defaults for all the destination paths.
   
   Figure 1-2
   
   
   
5. Specify the user ID and password that will be used to start DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows. The user ID must be an existing Windows user ID defined on the local machine with Administration authority. In this example, we use the following user information:
   • User ID : db2admin
   • Password : db2admin
   
   
   Figure 1-3
   
   
   
6. The Site Administrator ID is used to administer WebSphere Commerce. It's not an operating system ID, but an ID created in the WebSphere Commerce database. The Merchant Key is used to encrypt and decrypt certain data stored in WebSphere Commerce database. It must be a 16-digit hex-number. In this example, we use the following user and Merchant Key information:
   • Site Administrator ID : wcsadmin
   • Password : password1
   • Merchant Key : 0123456789abcdef
   
   
   Figure 1-4
   
   
   
7. Specify the password for the WebSphere Commerce Configuration Manager user ID. In this example, we use the following password:
   • Password : password1
   
   
   Figure 1-5
   
   
   

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Publish starter stores

This section uses step-by-step screen shots to illustrate how to publish an AdvancedB2BDirect starter store.

1. Navigate to Start -> Programs -> IBM WebSphere -> Commerce Server V6.0 -> Administration Console to start WebSphere Commerce Administration Console.
2. Log on using User Name: wcsadmin, Password: password1.
   
   Figure 2-1
   
   
   
3. Select Site (which is default), and click OK.
   Note: make sure that the pop-up blocker of your browser is removed.
   
   Figure 2-2
   
   
   
4. From the top menu in the Administration Console, select Store Archives->Publish.
   
   Figure 2-3
   
   
   
5. Select AdvanedB2BDirect.sar, and then click Next.
   
   Figure 2-4
   
   
   
6. For Sample data, select None. You will import your own customer data at a later time.
   For Inventory model, select Non-ATP. Click Next.
   
   Figure 2-5
   
   
   
7. Click Finish.
   
   Figure 2-6
   
   
   
8. From the top menu in Administration Console, select Store Archives->Publish Status to check whether the store has been published successfully. Note:Please be patient. The publishing operation will take quite a long time to finish. Please do not interrupt or kill the operation, as it is going to create the database tables, populate them with required data, and deploy all the required Web assets as well. There is no way to "undo" if you kill it.
   
   Figure 2-7
   
   
   
9. Select the relevant job with AdvancedB2BDirect.sar, and then click Details.
   
   Figure 2-8
   
   
   
10. Click Launch Store. Accept the default value of Web application Web path for the store, and then click OK. The store should be launched. Save the URL to your favorites lists for future easy access.
    
    Figure 2-9
    
    
    
11. After you log in as User Name: wcsadmin, Password: password1, the AdvancedB2BDirect store URL directs you to the site below:
    
    Figure 2-10
    
    
    

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Populate the store with your own catalog data

This section uses step-by-step screen shots to illustrate how to populate the AdvancedB2BDirect store with your own catalog data.

1. Navigate to Start -> Programs -> IBM WebSphere -> Commerce Server V6.0 -> WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to start WebSphere Commerce Accelerator.
2. Log on using User Name: wcsadmin, Password: password1.
3. Select the AdvancedB2BDirect store and keep others with default values, and then click OK.
   
   Figure 3-1
   
   
   
4. From the Products menu, select Catalog Import.
   
   Figure 3-2
   
   
   
5. Click the Upload Catalog button.
   
   Figure 3-3
   
   
   
6. Accept the default value of UTF-8 as Catalog File Encoding, and browse to your own catalog file. The C:\mobilePhoneData\MobilePhone.csv catalog file was used in this example. Then click the Upload File button. Wait until you receive the message that the file was uploaded successfully.
   
   Figure 3-4
   
   
   
7. Click the Upload Images button.
   
   Figure 3-5
   
   
   
8. This example uses the following zip files which contain customer Mobile Phone product images:
   
   • c:\mobilePhoneData\accessories.zip
   • c:\mobilePhoneData\mobilestore1.zip
   • c:\mobilePhoneData\mobilestore2.zip
   • c:\mobilePhoneData\mobilestore3.zip
   • c:\mobilePhoneData\mobilestore4.zip
   • c:\mobilePhoneData\mobilestore5.zip
   
   Browse to one of the above product image zip files, mark the checkbox of ZipFile, highlight the AdvancedB2BDirect/images/catalog folder at the bottom of the browser, and then click the Upload button. Repeat the same steps to upload the above six product image zip files one by one.
   
   Figure 3-6
   
   
   
9. Mark the checkbox of the MobilePhone.csv file with the status New, and click the Publish Catalog button. Wait until the Status of the uploaded file changes from New to Published.
   
   Figure 3-7
   
   
   
10. After finishing the operation of Publish Catalog, click the Upload Image button again. You will see the tree structure of the uploaded images at the bottom of the browser. Make sure that the image tree structure matches the directory definition in the csv file. If necessary, you can reorganize the catalog images by right-clicking the folder or image that you want to move, rename or delete, and select the corresponding action from the menu.
    
    Figure 3-8
    
    
    

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Install OmniFind Discovery Edition, Commerce Module, and the Fix Pack

This section introduces the installation of OmniFind Discovery Edition, Commerce Module for OmniFind Discovery Edition, and the respective Fix Pack.

Install OmniFind Discovery Edition

This section uses step-by-step screen shots to illustrate how to install OmniFind Discovery Edition V8.4.

1. Run the installation program of OmniFind Discovery Edition V8.4, setup_win32.exe. The default installation directory is used in the example, C:\IBM\IBM_OmniFind_Discovery_Edition_8.4.
   
   Figure 4-1
   
   
   
2. After accept the license agreement, choose the Custom installation type.
3. When prompt for components to install, select JSP Based Presentation Views and Layout Editor accordingly to the example shown below.
   
   Figure 4-2
   
   
   
4. When prompt for the JSP Presentation View installation type, select Other.
   
   Figure 4-3
   
   
   
5. When prompt for the Layout Editor installation type, select Other.
   
   Figure 4-4
   
   
   
6. Review the installation summary information, and install the product.
   
   Figure 4-5
   
   
   
7. Navigate to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System-> Advanced:
   • Include the path to the jvm.dll file in the PATH system environment variable. In this example, the path is C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\java\jre\bin\classic.
   • Add a new system environment variable, IPHRASE_UNICODE, and set its value to 1.

Install Commerce Module for OmniFind Discovery Edition

With version 8.4, the WebSphere Commerce Integration Asset file, wcs.zip, is packaged within Commerce Module for OmniFind Discovery Edition. This section illustrates how to install the integration asset.

1. Create two new directories named ServicesToolkit and CommerceIntegration, one under the other in the OmniFind Discovery Edition installation directory. In this example, it is C:\IBM\IBM_OmniFind_Discovery_Edition_8.4\ServicesToolkit\CommerceIntegration.
2. Locate and copy the WebSphere Commerce Integration Asset file, wcs.zip, from the Commerce Module CD-ROM or electronic distribution to C:\IBM\IBM_OmniFind_Discovery_Edition_8.4\ServicesToolkit\CommerceIntegration.

Install OmniFind Discovery Edition Fix Pack

This section uses step-by-step screen shots to illustrate how to install OmniFind Discovery Edition V8.4 Fix Pack 1. Fix Pack 1 provides fixes to the following components required in the integration solution environment:

• OmniFind Discovery Edition V8.4
• Documentation (Commerce Module User's Guide)
• WebSphere Commerce Integration

1. Run the Fix Pack 1 installation program, setup_win32_ODE84_fp1.exe.
2. Define the Fix Pack 1 installation directory, which should be the same as the ODE installation directory. In this example, it is C:\IBM\IBM_OmniFind_Discovery_Edition_8.4 as shown below.
   
   Figure 4-6
   
   
   
3. Choose the Custom installation type.
4. When prompt for components to install, select Industry Ontology Packs -> Commerce.
   The setup program will replace the wcs.zip file located in ServicesToolkit\CommerceIntegration\ directory.
   
   Figure 4-7
   
   
   
5. Review the installation summary information, and install the Fix Pack.
   
   Figure 4-8
   
   
   

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Integrate WebSphere Commerce

This section illustrates how to integrate OmniFind Discovery Edition and WebSphere Commerce.

1. Create the directory, C:\IBM\IBM_OmniFind_Discovery_Edition_8.4\deployment\wcs.
2. Extract the wcs.zip file from C:\IBM\IBM_OmniFind_Discovery_Edition_8.4\ServicesToolkit\CommerceIntegration into C:\IBM\IBM_OmniFind_Discovery_Edition_8.4\deployment\wcs.
3. Verify that the extraction finishes successfully with the creation of the directory structure of C:\IBM\IBM_OmniFind_Discovery_Edition_8.4\deployment\wcs\wcs as shown below.
   
   Figure 5-1
   
   
   
4. Locate and open the wcs project property file, C:\IBM\IBM_OmniFind_Discovery_Edition_8.4\deployment\wcs\wcs\default.prp.
5. Modify the values of the WCS_HOME and WCS_CONNECT property variables, and save the default.prp file.
   

   WCS_HOME contains the path to the WebSphere Commerce home directory, and WCS_CONNECT matches the JDBC connection string for the WebSphere Commerce catalog database. Their values vary from the product involved. Please refer to Commerce Module for OmniFind Discovery Edition: User's Guide for more examples.

   The following are used in this example:

   • WCS_HOME C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles
\demo\installedApps\WC_demo_cell\WC_demo.ear
   • WCS_CONNECT:db2:mall&user=db2admin&password=db2admin&
driver=COM.ibm.db2.jdbc.app.DB2Drive
6. Verify that the database connection string is properly configured.
   • From a command prompt, go to the OmniFind Discovery Edition installation directory.
     cd C:\IBM\IBM_OmniFind_Discovery_Edition_8.4
   • Enter the following command:
     python\python deployment\wcs\wcs\lib\wcs\tools\TestDB.py -p deployment\wcs\wcs\default.prpImportant: All OmniFind Discovery Edition commands are required to run from the OmniFind Discovery Edition installation directory.
     
     Figure 5-2
     
     
     
7. Generate the OmniFind Discovery Edition search indexes based on WebSphere Commerce attributes.
   • Generate the OmniFind Discovery Edition features based on the WebSphere Commerce attributes. From the command prompt, enter:
     bin\iphrase build -p deployment\wcs\wcs\default.prp -setProperty "BUILD_MODE generateFeatures"Note: Please ignore the following error shown at the very end of the command output.
     
     Figure 5-3
     
     
     
   • Build the OmniFind Discovery Edition search indexes. From the command prompt, enter:
     bin\iphrase build -p deployment\wcs\wcs\default.prp -clean
8. Ensure that the OmniFind Discovery Edition server is not running. To verify, go to the following URL, and you should get a page cannot be displayed message. http://localhost:8777/query?render=1
9. Stop the WebSphere Commerce server by entering the following command from the command prompt:
   C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\demo\bin>stopServer.bat server1
10. Install the OmniFind Discovery Edition Layout Editor layouts (the user interface) into the sample WebSphere Commerce storefront. From the command prompt, enter:
    python\python deployment\wcs\wcs\lib\wcs\tools\InstallSearchUI.py -p deployment\wcs\wcs\default.prp (Note:The python script above is designed to work with the sample storefronts. If you customized the quick search or advanced search JSP code, review the instructions in Commerce Module for OmniFind Discovery Edition: User's Guide for manually installing the layouts to verify that your customizations do not prevent the script from functioning properly.)
11. When running the integration solution on a slow server with system resource constraints, you may increase the value of the connection.responseTimeoutSeconds property variable defined in the Connection.properties file. This property variable specifies the number of seconds to wait before the Layout Editor sends another request to an OmniFind Discovery Edition server that is not responding. Its default value is 15 seconds. In this example, the Connection.properties file resides under C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\demo\installedApps\WC_demo_cell\WC_demo.ear\Stores.war\WEB-INF\classes\com\ibm\wcds\resources.
12. Start the OmniFind Discovery Edition server. From the command prompt, enter:
    bin\iphrase server -p deployment\wcs\wcs\default.prp -numWorker 2 -nocache
13. Start the WebSphere Commerce server. Navigate to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services, and start the IBM WebSphere Application Server V6 - WC_demo service shown below. Even though the status of this Windows service may show as Started right away, it will actually take a few minutes to finish the underline starting initialization procedure. You may verify its status by entering the following command:
    C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\demo\bin>serverStatus.bat server1
    
    Figure 5-4
    
    
    
14. Launch the Mobile Phone AdvancedB2BDirect store from the saved URL, and it's now ready for the enhanced search. The example below is a sample search result page. The navigation and refinement options are displayed. The attributes such as category and price are automatically extracted from the Commerce product catalog.
    
    Figure 5-5
    
    
    

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Summary

This article introduced OmniFind Discovery Edition and WebSphere Commerce integration steps in Windows environment. It first reviewed the integration architecture and supported integration software stack. It then used step-by-step screen shots to illustrate how to build a Mobile Phone AdvancedB2BDirect Commerce store with enhanced search capabilities by intergrating WebSphere Commerce with OmniFind Discovery Edition.

After the integration, additional customization and tuning can be performed for advanced search user experience. This integration solution uses the Layout Editor layouts embedded in Commerce store front for rendering search result page. You can leverage Layout Editor (a graphical user interface tool shipped in OmniFind Discovery Edition V8.4) to customize the out-of-box search result page without JSP coding involved. Moreover, you can configure OmniFind Discovery Edition business rules via Management Console for cross-product promotion.

Resources

Learn

• IBM OmniFind Discovery Edition Support Web site, get the links to the latest ODE publications (product manuals, white papers, and technotes), Fixpaks, and many other resources.
  Learn more about the products described in this article from the following publications:
  • IBM OmniFind Discovery Edition 8.4 - Installation Guide
  • Commerce Module for OmniFind Discovery Edition 8.4 - User's Guide
  
  
• OmniFind Discovery Edition Information Center: Access topics in all OmniFind Discovery manuals.
  
  
• Getting Started with Commerce Module for OmniFind Discovery Edition Customization 101: Find more detailed information about how to customize commerce storefront in an ODE & WebSphere Commerce integrated environment.
  
  
• Revised installation procedure for WebSphere Commerce integration: Find more detailed information about revised installation instructions for the OmniFind Discovery Edition integration for WebSphere Commerce.
  
  
• Installing the WebSphere Commerce integration in a multi-tier environment: Find more detailed information about how to integrate OmniFind Discovery Edition with WebSphere Commerce when the applications are installed on different servers.
  
  
• Visit the developerWorks resource page for OmniFind to read articles and tutorials and connect to other resources to expand your OmniFind skills.
  
  
• Visit the developerWorks WebSphere Commerce zone to read articles and tutorials and connect to other resources to expand your WebSphere Commerce skills.
  
  
• WebSphere Commerce Information Center: Access topics in all WebSphere Commerce manuals.
  
  
• In the Architecture area on developerWorks, get the resources you need to advance your skills in the architecture arena.
  
  
• Browse the technology bookstore for books on these and other technical topics.
  
  

Discuss

• Check out developerWorks blogs and get involved in the developerWorks community.
  
  

About the authors

Xiaomei Wang is a technical consultant in Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Partner Technical Enablement team at the IBM Toronto Lab. Her current assignment is assisting business partners with integrating IBM Discovery products into their solutions. She has worked for eight years at IBM, and has extensive knowledge in the DB2 family of products. Xiaomei is a IBM Certified Solution Experts (Content Manager, DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Database Administration, DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Application Development, DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Advanced Technical Expert, and Business Intelligence), and also a Red Hat Certified Technician. You can reach herat xiaomeiw@ca.ibm.com.

Marc Grosse is a technical alliance manager in the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Global Technical Sales team within IBM Information Management. Marc is currently working with Accenture around partner business development, solution recruitment, and skills enablement. Previously, he was responsible for providing technical support in recruiting and enabling business partners across the OmniFind suite of products. Marc has been with IBM for 3 years and has in-depth knowledge of the ECM suite of products. Prior to IBM, Marc spent 6 years working in project management, delivering customer solutions with software vendors in the Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management space. Marc is certified as a Content Management and Discovery technical sales specialist. You can reach him at mgrosse@us.ibm.com.

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Table of contents

• Introduction
• Integration architecture overview
• Supported integration software stack
• Integration setup overview
• Prepare a system environment
• Install the WebSphere Commerce software stack
• Publish starter stores
• Populate the store with your own catalog data
• Install OmniFind Discovery Edition, Commerce Module, and the Fix Pack
• Integrate WebSphere Commerce
• Summary
• Resources
• About the authors
• Comments

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