Setting up your extension development environment

You can use the Extensibility Workbench to extend IBM® Sterling Store Web.

Using the extensibility tool, you can customize the application as needed for your business. You can add UI widgets such as labels, text boxes, check boxes, and others. You can either modify the default properties of any widget or add new widgets and specify the layout bindings, and theme properties for these widgets. You can synchronize the differences in theme entries, bundle entries, and templates.

Before you begin

Set up your extension development environment by doing the following steps:
  • By default, all extensions are saved in the installation directory. Therefore, ensure that the installation directory is accessible on the server where Sterling Store is deployed.
  • Ensure that the installation directory has both read and write permissions. For users who extend the application must have write permission.
  • It is suggested that you deploy the application in exploded development Web Archive (WAR) mode. Use the wscdev.war (Sterling Store Development WAR) file. This file contains more folders and web.xml entries that are required for extensibility. In production, you must deploy wsc.war with the required extensions created by using the wscdev.war file.

    To set up the extensibility environment, do the following steps:

    1. Create the wscdev.war file by running the following command:
      buildwar.sh (buildwar.cmd for Windows) -Dappserver=<application server> -Dwarfiles=wscdev
      Note: If you use EAR mode for deployment, include wscdev WAR in the build EAR command. For more information about building the EAR and WAR files, see Installing topicInstalling topic on the corresponding version of the Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite information center.
    2. Deploy the application WAR.
    3. Ensure that the value of the uiExtensibilityMode system argument for the application server is set to true.

      By default, the extensions are created in the <INSTALL_DIR>/extensions/<app>/webpages/ directory. Here, <app> refers to the application code.

      Optionally, you can create extensions in any other directory by setting the value of system argument to uiExtensibilityWorkspaceDir. For example, -DuiExtensibilityWorkspaceDir=<workspace directory>. Here, <workspace directory> refers to the directory where extensions are created. Before you create WAR, copy the extensions from workspace directory to install directory.

    4. For Extensibility Workbench, use wscdev.war. Ensure that the URL to log into the Extensibility Workbench is http://<IP address>:<port>/wscdev/store/login.do? from the desktop.
      Note: You can customize mobile windows by entering the mobile URL from a desktop device. The mobile URL is http://<IP address>:<port>/wscdev/store/mobile/login.do?.
Note:
  • To extend the application, it is suggested that each user has a dedicated runtime and application server deployment. Otherwise, the extensions might be overwritten.
  • You can plug in the custom code in the <screen-name>Extn.js file. If the <screen-name>Extn.js file is already present, and if you modify a screen, the existing <screen-name>Extn.js is not overwritten. Instead, a new <screen-name>Extn_sample.js is created to ensure that the custom code is not lost. You can use the new sample file as reference.