Configuration Programming Concepts

The following topics describe the configuration objects in Commerce Server and how to use them.

AppConfig Object

GlobalConfig Object

SiteConfig and SiteConfigReadOnly Objects

AdminWebServer Object

AppConfig Object

The most important function of the AppConfig object is to retrieve site configuration properties, such as i_FormLoginTimeOut, i_SitePrivacyOptions, various database connection strings, and so on. The GetOptionsDictionary method of the AppConfig object performs this function; however, before using this method, the AppConfig object must be initialized.

Many of the properties that the GetOptionsDictionary method retrieves can be viewed using Commerce Server Manager in the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). The App Default Config node, in the Site Resources folder of the site, in Commerce Server Manager displays the current setting values.

The following table lists the names of the keys in the dictionary returned by the GetOptionsDictionary method of the AppConfig object that are mapped in the App Default Config node in Commerce Server Manager.


Programmatic Name
Commerce Server Manager
App Default Config Mapping
f_AltCurrencyConversionRate Currency: Alternate currency conversion rate
i_AddItemRedirectOptions Add item redirect options
i_AddressBookOptions Address Book Options
i_AltCurrencyLocale Currency: Alternate currency locale
i_AltCurrencyOptions Currency: Alternate currency options
i_BaseCurrencyLocale Currency: Base currency locale
i_BillingOptions Payment options: Billing options
i_BizTalkOptions BizTalk Options
i_CookiePathCorrectionOptions Cookie Path Correction Options
i_CurrencyDisplayOrderOptions Currency: Currency display order options
i_DelegatedAdminOptions Delegated admin options
i_FormLoginOptions Form login options
i_FormLoginTimeOut AuthManager Auth Ticket Timeout
i_HostNameCorrectionOptions Host Name Correction Options
i_PaymentOptions Payment options
i_SiteDefaultLocale Site default locale
i_SitePrivacyOptions Site privacy options
i_SiteRegistrationOptions Site registration options
i_SiteTicketOptions Site ticket options
s_AltCurrencySymbol Currency: Alternate currency symbol
s_BaseCurrencySymbol Currency: Base currency symbol
S_BizTalkCatalogDocType BizTalk Catalog Doc Type
S_BizTalkOrderDocType BizTalk PO Doc Type
S_BizTalkSourceQualifierID BizTalk Source Org Qualifier
s_BizTalkSourceQualifierValue BizTalk Org Qualifier Value
s_BizTalkSubmittypeQueue BizTalk Submit type
s_PageEncodingCharset Page encoding charset
s_SMTPServerName SMTP server name
s_WeightMeasure Unit of Measure for Weight
s_BizTalkConnString BizTalk Interchange Manager Database

The following table lists keys in the dictionary returned by the AppConfig.GetOptionsDictionary method which are not mapped in the App Default Config node in Commerce Server Manager.

Programmatic Name Value or Description
s_CommerceProviderConnectionString Biz Data Service: s_CommerceProviderConnectionString
s_ProfileServiceConnectionString Biz Data Service: s_ProfileServiceConnectionString
s_CatalogConnectionString Product Catalog: connstr_db_Catalog
s_TransactionConfigConnectionString Transaction Config: connstr_db_TransactionConfig
s_TransactionsConnectionString Transactions: connstr_db_Transactions
s_BizDataStoreConnectionString Biz Data Service: s_BizDataStoreConnectionString
s_CampaignsConnectionString Campaigns: connstr_db_Campaigns
i_IsFullTextSearchInstalled Indicates whether SQL Server has full text search enabled
s_SiteName Name of the site
s_NonSecureHostname This value is set in the Global.asa file to the non-secure host name of the application.
s_SecureHostname This value is set in the Global.asa file to the secure host name of the application.

GlobalConfig Object

The GlobalConfig object contains two groups of methods. The first group includes such methods as the MakeArrayFromSimpleList method; their function is obvious from the method name, and will not be discussed here. For more information about these methods, see GlobalConfig Object. The second group of methods is used to create sites and manipulate configuration data at the global level.

SiteConfig and SiteConfigReadOnly Objects

The SiteConfig object contains two groups of methods. The first group includes such methods as the MakeArrayFromString method; their function is obvious from the method name, and will not be discussed here. For more information about these methods, see SiteConfig Object. The second group of methods is used to create site-level resources, manipulate configuration data at the site level, and import and export site-level resources.

The SiteConfigReadOnly object allows access to more configuration data than does the SiteConfig object. With the SiteConfigReadOnly object, group resource values are returned when you access references to resources. In contrast, the SiteConfig object only returns references to the names of the resources.

The following is a list of schema class names which are used by the CreateComponentConfig method of the SiteConfig object in creating resources.

Admin Database Class Name Resource Name Used to Reference Resource in Code
MSCS_Catalog Product Catalog
MSCS_AppConfigDefault App Default Config
MSCS_TransactionConfig Transaction Config
MSCS_Transactions Transactions
MSCS_Campaigns Campaigns
MSCS_AuthManager Site CS Authentication
MSCS_DirectMailer Direct Mail
MSCS_Predictor Predictor
MSCS_Datawarehouse_Group Global Data Warehouse
MSCS_Datawarehouse_Site Site Data Warehouse
MSCS_BizDataStore Profile Service
MSCS_Address IIS Applications (for example, Retail or RetailBizDesk)
MSCS_UPMDtsTask Profiling System DTS Task Information

AdminWebServer Object

The AdminWebServer object is used to enumerate the Web sites on a server and display the properties of those sites.

Active Server Page (ASP) scripts that access the Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) metabase require administrator privileges on the computer on which IIS is running. When you execute these scripts from a remote computer, you must connect through a secure connection, such as the Microsoft Windows NT Challenge/Response Authentication method. It is suggested that you create a server or directory for your administrative .asp files and set the directory security authentication method to Windows NT Challenge/Response for the server or directory.


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