Module Development Basics

Commerce Server Business Desk is a user interface framework implemented primarily as Active Server Pages (ASP) containing Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (DHTML). This framework provides a structured environment in which third party developers can easily extend the management functionality provided with Microsoft Commerce Server 2000. This environment includes structured page navigation, standard mechanisms for data manipulation, shared utility routines, and a multitude of conventions that help assure a consistent user experience.

By default, every Commerce Server Web site has a distinct instance of Business Desk associated with it. Though Business Desk shares the same set of commerce resources with the Web site, such as various databases, it exists as a separate Active Server Page (ASP) application, with a directory structure and virtual root of its own.

Particular types of management functionality are implemented within Business Desk as distinct Business Desk modules. Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 ships with a number of Business Desk modules that are designed to manage many of the different types of data used by a commercial Web site. Nevertheless, requirements for new Web site features, and their corresponding management functionality, are bound to occur. This drove the highly extensible design of Business Desk, and to the creation of this set of topics that describe how to build a new Business Desk module.

This section contains:

  • Skill Set Assumptions. Describes the assumptions made by these topics regarding the skill set of the developer intent on building a new Business Desk module. Provides some references for learning more about the required technologies.

  • Summary of Required Steps. Summarizes the steps required for building a new Business Desk module. Provides links to topics containing more detailed information required to complete those steps.

  • Business Desk Terminology. Introduces the terminology associated with the basic aspects of Business Desk.

  • Typical Module Workflow. Describes how the pages and corresponding workflow within a Business Desk module are typically arranged.


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