Currency Modes
In Commerce Server 2000, the Order Processing pipelines work in two modes: compatibility mode and high precision mode. The default mode is compatibility mode. In this mode, monetary values are maintained in both formats, though under different dictionary keys. Compatibility mode allows Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition pipelines to run without change. It also allows for mixing Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition and Commerce Server 2000 components.
In high precision mode, only the high-precision currency type is used. This provides better performance because the pipeline maintains only one set of keys. It also avoids possible loss of precision in converting the values to and from the lower-precision integer format.
You can change the mode of a pipeline in the Pipeline Editor. For more information, see Pipeline Properties. If you use the high-precision mode all the components in the pipeline must support the high-precision currency type.
If you use compatibility mode and you use all Commerce Server 2000 components or all Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition components within a stage, you do not have to modify your pipeline. Each stage that uses monetary types includes a Required component at the end of the stage. These components automatically update both sets of keys used in compatibility mode.
If you mix Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition components and Commerce Server 2000 components within a stage, you will need to surround the Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition component with the MoneyConverter component to ensure that the dictionary values are kept current for both types of components. For more information, see MoneyConverter.