Business Desk Conventions
The Commerce Server Business Desk modules that ship with Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 were developed taking into account established standards for Microsoft Windows applications and defacto standards for Web applications. The goal was to improve both the usability of the Business Desk application and the maintainability of the Business Desk code base. Usability is improved because adherence to the standards tends to increase the consistency between modules developed by different individuals or organizations. Maintainability is improved because the code base is more consistent, allowing new developers to more quickly understand and more successfully modify the code that implements Business Desk.
The topics in this section serve two purposes. First, once developers of new Business Desk modules have learned the standards used, the more easily they will be able to comprehend the Business Desk source code and use it in their new modules, both in terms of invoking Framework functions and in terms of re-using sections of existing code.
Second, to the degree that developers adopt and apply these standards in their own modules, Business Desk usability and maintainability is preserved, benefiting the business managers using it to maintain their Web sites, and any new developers that must learn the now-extended code base to perform future maintenance.
This section contains:
Coding Practices. Describes the coding practices used in the Business Desk Framework and module code.
Fonts and Color Scheme. Describes the default Business Desk color scheme and the justification behind it. Includes information on how to modify the color scheme.
Icons. Describes the icon scheme used in Business Desk. Also provides information about when and how to use various icons.
Accessibility. Describes accessibility practices employed in Business Desk. Provides an accessibility checklist for use in module development.
Localization. Describes how to make the process of localizing a Business Desk module as easy as possible.
Title Bar. Describes the conventions adopted for the text shown in the title bar.
Task Bar. Describes the conventions adopted by existing Business Desk modules with respect to the taskbar.
ListSheets. Describes standards established for ListSheet HTCs.
EditFields. Describes standards established for EditField HTCs.
Find Pane. Describes standards established for the find pane.
Modal Dialog Boxes. Describes standards established for modal dialog boxes employed by both Business Desk modules and the Framework itself.
Confirmation, Warning, and Error Dialogs. Describes the standards adopted with regard to confirmation messages.
Asynchronous Behavior. Describes various aspects of how asynchronous behavior is implemented within Business Desk, allowing new modules to successfully integrate with those mechanisms.
Error Messages. Describes the standards adopted with regard to error messages.
Status Messages. Describes the standards adopted with regard to status messages.
Links Between Modules. Describes the conventions adopted with regard to direct linking between actions that belong to different modules.
Help Topics. Describes the behavior of the online Help system built into Business Desk. Information about how to develop Help topics for new modules as well as information about how such help can be integrated into the existing system is provided.