Solution Sites Overview

The Commerce Server Solution Sites provide a starting point for building commercial Web sites that use the functionality provided by Commerce Server 2002. There are two Solution Sites available, the Retail site and the Supplier site.

These sites consist of the same set of files, configured to behave differently. This was done because both types of sites incorporate much of the same functionality, differing only in a few particular ways. Further, this ability to reconfigure the sites provides for the possibility of easily constructing a different type of site that blends the functions of the Retail and Supplier sites.

The Retail site serves as the starting point for building a business-to-consumer Web site. This is a typical internet shopping site, allowing, for example, access by the general public and purchases with credit cards.

The Supplier site serves as the starting point for building a business-to-business Web site. Specifically, the Supplier site models situations such as a business that supplies products to other businesses. The businesses buying the products must be known in advance to the selling business. The Supplier Site includes features that allow for the delegation of some administrative functions to the buying businesses themselves.

Commerce Server 2002 includes the following Solution Sites:

  • Blank site. You can use this Solution Site as a starting point for building your own custom site. It includes all of the Commerce Server 2002 resources. The Blank site is installed with Commerce Server 2002.
  • Visual Basic .NET Site. You can use this Solution Site as a starting point for building your own custom site using Microsoft Visual Basic .NET without using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. The Visual Basic .NET Site (VB.pup) is installed with Commerce Server 2002.
  • C# Site. You can use this Solution Site as a starting point for building your own custom site using Microsoft C# without using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. The Visual Basic .NET Site (CSharp.pup) is installed with Commerce Server 2002.
  • Data Warehouse Site. The Data Warehouse Configurator uses this site, which contains a version of the Commerce Server Business Desk application that only includes the Analysis and Security modules. The Data Warehouse site (DW.pup) is installed with Commerce Server 2002.
  • Retail site. You can use this Solution Site as a starting point for building a business-to-consumer site. It includes business-to-consumer functionality for personalization, merchandising, catalog search, customer service, and business analytics. It includes the Customer Service, which enables users to manage their own profile information and to view their order status. The Retail site is available at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=6491.
  • Supplier site. You can use this Solution Site as a starting point for building a business-to-business site. It uses Active Directory in Microsoft Windows 2000 to provide secure user authentication and group access permissions. It provides purchase order and requisition handling, XML-based catalog updates and exchange, and trading partner self-service. It includes the Partner Service, which enables a delegated administrator (a contact at a supplier company) to manage organizational information, purchase orders, and order status for that supplier company. The Supplier site is available at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=6491.

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  • You must grant the ASPNET user permissions to access Commerce Server databases when you build custom Commerce Server sites Microsoft Visual Basic .NET or Microsoft C# (VB.pup or Csharp.pup) Solution Sites.

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