Ryan R. Donovan's Microsoft WebLog : CS2009

A Bit About Negative Discounts

rdonovan — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:01:00 GMT

A few questions have come up about how can you do negative discounts. (For the record, a negative discount would increase a price. e.g. - If you qualify, raise the price of Item X by 10%.)

The net is that Commerce Server doesn't really support this. The better ways to accomplish this are:

Set all prices higher, and then have broad discounts for those that should receive the lower price (e.g. - 80% of customers might get the discount)
Also affect this through pricing rules in targeted virtual catalogs/catalog sets (e.g. - if you qualify, you get the virtual catalog with the higher price versus the lower price)

Hope this helps.

BizTalk Server 2009 now works with Commerce Server

rdonovan — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:55:00 GMT

All internal testing has now completed - and we can gladly state that BizTalk Server 2009 works with Commerce Server, without issues or any special black magic required. This applies to both Commerce Server 2007 SP2 and Commerce Server 2009.

Hope this helps!

Data Migration to CS2009 from Prior Versions

rdonovan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:20:00 GMT

A question got asked to me today about how to migrate data from Commerce Server 2002. It was obvious from reading it, that at least one person doesn't know that there is a data migration tool.

It will take data from all versions prior, specifically:

Commerce Server 2000
Commerce Server 2002
Commerce Server 2002 FP1
Commerce Server 2007

and migrate it to Commerce Server 2009. What's the catch? Some of the old catalog entities that got dropped in lieu of Catalog Sets and Virtual Catalogs in CS2002 (when migrating from CS2000) will be flattened. Other than that, everything will migrate with full integrity - ASSUMING that there were no unsupported changes made to Commerce Server's schemas (e.g. - you did not edit SQL Server directly and went through the provided schema editing tools).

THe best practices are, of course:

Backup your source data
Don't run the migration on the live source - do it on a copy

But with that - you should be good to go! Hope this helps...

"R2" TAP and the ROI of Life on the Bleeding Edge

rdonovan — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:19:00 GMT

Recently, we have launched the Technology Adoption Program (TAP) for Commerce Server 2009 Code Name "R2" - which is the next version of Commerce Server. This is highlighted in the team blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/commerce/archive/2009/06/22/the-next-version-of-commerce-server-codename-r2-is-on-its-way.aspx - where you can get the full details.

If you sign up, you will get:

One-on-One briefing
Early access to next-generation bits
Direct interaction with the product group

The obvious question is what's in it for me? If I sign-up to be on the bleeding edge - surely I'll have a bumpier road than if I went with a released version. Although that is true, you will also get at least 1-2, possibly more years less lifespan out of the solution.

Investments required in an eCommerce deployment, like Point-of-Sale (POS), are typically large and complex. The goal is to get as long of a runway as possible out of an investment. For POS, it is typically 7+ years, with 10 being idea. For eCommerce, it should be at least 5 years, with more being ideal. TAP helps you achieve just that. By deploying early, you will be live in production before the start of the 5-year standard support lifecycle clock starts. Deploying on a previous version can mean that you will get less than 5 years, some cases considerably so. Above the 5-year standard support lifecycle, Microsoft products enter what is known as extended support - see http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy. At that point, support options become considerably more limited - and potentially costly. So, a little up front bleeding edge roughness...can save a whole lot downstream if you want to use your deployment for a long time!

Something to consider! Hope this helps!

Commerce Server 2009 for the MSIB Customer (MS Solution for Internet Business)

rdonovan — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:24:00 GMT

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…there used to be a solution offering called the Microsoft Solution for Internet Business (MSIB). The MSIB solution integrated Commerce Server 2000 and 2002, Content Management Server 2001 and 2001, and SharePoint 2001 into a single Internet-facing site for customer deployment.

This solution unfortunately became somewhat orphaned given Content Management Server being folded into SharePoint, and SharePoint itself going through major evolutions with the 2003 and 2007 generations – along with Commerce Server 2007. This was a hot topic some time back – I wrote two posts:

The sad part is, we have never come up with a great encore that offered full feature parity to migrate customers towards, until now…

The SharePoint Commerce Services feature of Commerce Server 2009 provides complete feature parity with the old MSIB feature-set. Details are as follows….

Integrated Site and Catalog Search

Here, customers can search the site and get results returned from both static content (visa vis SharePoint) and dynamic content (visa vis the Commerce Server Catalog).

Inline Catalog Editing

In this instance, through a visual popup implemented in Silverlight, properties of the catalog can be edited inline by navigating the site. Upon submission, changes will be persisted back to Commerce Server and caches refreshed.

Content Management

SharePoint brings complete content management capabilities to Commerce Server sites, including the abilities to:

Have versioning with check-in/check-out
Workflow/approvals on content changes
The ability to make content, layout, and other look-and-feel changes through either the Web-based interface or SharePoint Designer

***

With these features in place, customers now have 1:1 feature migration – and then some – and can finally migrate away from MSIB to a modern platform. I wish it had not taken this long to get here, but as they say – better late than never!

Hope this helps!

Commerce Server 2009 - for the 2007 user

rdonovan — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:05:00 GMT

A colleague asked me the other day – if I have a CS2007 site and don’t feel like changing it (much) at the moment, what’s in it for me to upgrade to Commerce Server 2009? A very good question indeed – I thought…

First, Commerce Server 2009 does not break any compatibility with Commerce Server 2007. So, code that runs on CS2007 will run on CS2009 – unmodified.

Second, Commerce Server 2009 includes a number of fixes over and above SP2 from Commerce Server 2007. So to get the most stable version of the CS2007 bits, one should be running CS2009.

Third is support lifecycle; Microsoft’s standard support policy is 5 Years of Standard Support and 5 Years of Extended Support. Standard support began in 2006 for Commerce Server 2007, versus 2009 for the 2009 version. So you automatically get 3 more years of support.

Fourth and finally is platform support – CS2009 is tested with the latest and greatest – and will be evolved throughout its support lifecycle.

With respect to some other questions:

Performance of the Core System (old) APIs will be about the same on '09 versus '07 - '09 does have more fixes as reported by customers rolled in than '07 SP2 though
The new Commerce Foundation APIs when used in an ASP.NET site will perform marginally better than the old Core System APIs if used correctly; less so if used incorrectly

So – that’s it in a nutshell. Hope this helps!

A Bit About the CS2009 “R2” June CTP

rdonovan — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:30:37 GMT

Life has been busy. Busy working on the next version of Commerce Server, that is. A few weeks back we posted the June CTP of CS2009 code name “R2”. This is the first CTP of the next version of Commerce Server, which will be available by 1st Quarter 2010. Some key changes in this CTP versus the released version of Commerce Server 2009 include:

Commerce Server is now x64-only
Setup is now integrated into a single install/configuration experience
The Template Pack site is now the out-of-box default experience
Products and categories can now be updated (as opposed to just queried) through the Commerce Foundation API
Business Administration Toolbar and Cross-Sell/Up-Sell Manager are now included – as the start of delivering the product’s next-generation business user experience
The Commerce Foundation can now be run as a service for full 3-tier deployments

For more details and to get this, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=dfaca6d6-6e1a-4067-8857-61ff1300bf6b&displaylang=en.

Enjoy!

Pointers for Securing a Commerce Server Deployment

rdonovan — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:34:00 GMT

Someone asked me for resources on how to harden a Commerce Server deployment. The best starting point is:

Deployment - see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd464584.aspx
Securing a Deployment - can be found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd442366.aspx

Hope this helps!

Some Virtual Catalog FAQs for April

rdonovan — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:47:00 GMT

I was sent several questions about Virtual Catalogs over this last month. So here are the answers...

Q: My understanding is that items and categories are including in a Virtual Catalog by creating INCLUSION RULES. Is there a limit to the number of INCLUSION RULES that I can create?

A: No. Though, practically speaking, there is a limit of ~80 base catalogs to a virtual catalog. And understand that the more of these there are, the more work SQL is having to do to stitch it all together. The best advice - is be practical and use common sense.

Q: At what point (# of items) do you think a VIRTUAL CATALOG should be MATERIALIZED?

A: It is a good practice to always materialize virtual catalogs in production. This minimizes query overhead. And not materialize them in the environment being used for business users - to ensure that data is always up to date.

Q: If I create a virtual catalog with 1,000 specific items (no variants or categories) do I need to rebuild the virtual every time I rebuild the base?

A: Base catalogs don't get rebuilt. So the scenario described would not apply. If you are using a Virtual Catalog View (virtual on virtual), it would apply as the Base would change, needing a rebuild of the Virtual, which would in turn need a rebuild of the Virtual View. You need to rebuild whenever underlying data changes - and this is triggered automatically by the Catalog system.

Hope this helps!

CS2009 Template Pack, Inline Editor, and Localization Guide Now Available

rdonovan — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:58:00 GMT

I am super-excited to announce that today we have shipped:

Commerce Server 2009 Template Pack: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=147778
Commerce Server 2009 Inline Product Property Editor: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=147779
A new white paper "Localizing Your Commerce Server 2009 Site using Site Variations": http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=147752

The Template Pack provides a styled HTML skin over and above the "white label" default site shipped in Commerce Server 2009. It is meant to be easily redesigned to easily accommodate your own look-and-feel. It also includes a Mobile site, which has been optimized for both Windows Mobile and the iPhone.

The Inline Product Property Editor provides a Silverlight control that lets you edit catalog data within your site - a great asset for business users as you no longer have to fly blind when making standard, day-to-day catalog product changes.

Lastly, one of the most compelling features of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) is Site Variations. It lets you completely localize your site in another language without having to recompile it. This white paper tells you how to do that with Commerce Server 2009, MOSS, and the SharePoint Commerce Services feature of CS2009.

Hope this helps - enjoy!

SharePoint Designer Now Free - Great for CS2009 users...

rdonovan — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:42:00 GMT

As of this week, Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer is now available for free. You can download it from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointdesigner/default.aspx. This will be a great tool for use in editing the pages in the Default Site in Commerce Server 2009 - or any other supporting file (e.g. - Resource File) or page created in SharePoint Commerce Services on top of Commerce Server 2009. Hope this help!

Feedback Requested: Removal of CS2000/CS2002 ISAPI Authorization Filter

rdonovan — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:05:00 GMT

When we shipped Commerce Server 2007, we began supporting ASP.NET Authentication for SQL Authentication and ADFS for Windows Authentication. In fact, this became the preferred and directed method to handle site authentication for Commerce Server. The legacy ISAPI authentication filter was maintained for backward compatibility, but was marked as deprecated. This story did not change for Commerce Server 2009.

For the next version of Commerce Server, we are proposing to remove the legacy CS2000/CS2002 ISAPI Authorization filter entirely, effectively forcing you to use ASP.NET Authentication or ADFS. If this will cause you a problem, please leave us a comment.

Commerce Server 2009 Now Available & related useful links

rdonovan — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:10:00 GMT

I am pleased to announce that Commerce Server 2009 is complete and has released to manufacturing. It will be available in April through Microsoft's worldwide volume licensing and is available for download NOW by MSDN subscribers.

In the meantime, to get started - there are several really useful resources:

CS2009 is available to MSDN Subscribers - see http://msdn.microsoft.com/ to login/download or view http://blogs.msdn.com/commerce/archive/2009/03/03/microsoft-commerce-server-2009-is-now-available-on-msdn.aspx for further information.
Documentation and samples are available for viewing and download including:

The new Commerce Server Web Site has launched at http://www.microsoft.com/commeceserver/
The new Commerce Server Partner Portal site has launched at https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40013175

Separately Software Smith has revived the Commerce Server book and is now offering training for both 2007 and 2009. Check Glen's site out at http://www.software-smith.com/.

Hope this helps!

Still using Commerce Server 2002? What you need to know...

rdonovan — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:01:00 GMT

A reader sent me a question the other day asking about the status of support for Commerce Server 2002. It entered Extended Support as of July 8, 2008 - see http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-us&x=13&y=14&p1=1552 for details.

What does this mean? It means that non-security hot fixes, no-charge incident support, and design changes/feature requests are no longer available. Hot fixes can be acquired through the purchase of an extended support agreement. See http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy for more information.

Commerce Server 2002 customers should really consider upgrading to Commerce Server 2009, which includes (over Commerce Server 2002 and Commerce Server 2007 (CS2007)):

Support for the latest Windows Server, SQL Server, BizTalk Server, .NET Framework, and Visual Studio platforms (enhanced in both CS2007 and CS2009)
Considerable performance enhancements since Commerce Server 2002 (enhanced in both CS2007 and CS2009)
Inventory subsystem (added in CS2007) for managing quantity-on-hand and stock-out scenarios
Significant redesign of Virtual Catalog to allow for increased granularity and multiple levels of aggregation (added in CS2007)
BizTalk Adapters (added in CS2007) for interchange of Profile, Order, Catalog, and Inventory data with external systems and trading partners
The ability to customize order schemas and utilize SQL tables (as opposed to Binary Large Objects or BLOBs) for data storage (added in CS2007)
SmartClient Business User Tools for use on Windows desktops (added in CS2007, replaces the Business Desk)
Commerce Server Staging, for transactional staging of code, assets, and Commerce Server business data + programmatic extensibility model for custom actions (added in CS2007)
Complete data management API and ASP.NET Web Service for Catalog, Orders, Inventory, and Marketing (added in CS2007)
Production-ready ASP.NET site for quickly getting started (added in CS2007)
SQL Reporting Services for analytics reports (added in CS2007)
Next-generation .NET 3.5+ API programming model for developing Commerce Server sites (added in CS2009); this will be the unified programming model for future versions of Commerce Server
Integration between Commerce Server and Windows SharePoint Services 2007 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 + Search Server 2008, including ~29 ready-to-use, business user-configurable Web Parts for rapidly developing sites using SharePoint and Commerce Server (added in CS2009)
Commerce Server Default SIte, which provides a production-ready reference implementation of Commerce Server and WSS + Commerce Server and MOSS (added in CS2009)
Data migration from Commerce Server 2000, 2002, 2002 Feature Pack 1, and 2007 (in CS2009)

Hope this helps!

Useful Help Resources: CS2009 Forums and Commerce Support Blog

rdonovan — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:08:00 GMT

Today marks the launch of the Commerce Server 2009 Forums on MSDN. Now you have a place to discuss all things CS2009...at http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/commserver2009/threads/. Add it to your bookmarks and we hope to see you there!

Separately, please welcome Charles Teague and the Commerce Support team to the world of blogging. When you call Microsoft for help on Commerce Server, you are in Charles' and his colleagues extraordinarily capable hands. Charles' personal blog can be found at: http://blogs.msdn.com/charles/. The Commerce Support Team blog is at http://blogs.msdn.com/CommerceSupport/.

Hope these help!