Data Sources
You use data sources to expose your data store to the Profiles resource, so that the data collected on your Web site, with profile definitions, can be stored in the data store. Commerce Server 2000 supports OLE DB databases and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) sources.
Data sources contain the following components:
Data objects. Expose a table in an OLE DB database or a class in an LDAP source to a profile definition. The process of creating a data object does not create a new table in your database or a new class in your LDAP source. Instead, creating a data object makes the table or LDAP class visible to the Profiles resource. The table or class must exist before you create a data object to expose it.
Data members. Expose a column in a table in an OLE DB database or an attribute of a class in an LDAP source to a profile property. For example, you use a profile definition to collect information from users when they register on your Web site. The user information (such as first name, last name, and e-mail address) is collected by profile properties. Each property is associated with a data member, which maps (or directs) the information collected to the database column or LDAP attribute that will store it.
When you create a data member, you do not create a new column in your database table or a new attribute in the class in your LDAP source. Instead, you make the column or LDAP attribute visible to the Profiles resource. The column or attribute must exist before you create a data member to expose it.
The following figure shows how the parts of the physical schema of data storage, data sources, and profile definitions fit together.
.gif "Ee810597.cs_mmc_datamapper_datamap(en-US,CS.10).gif")