I spent about an hour on the phone earlier this week with a Commerce Server 2007 developer who asked a very basic but vital question… "What do I do if the StarterSite doesn't fit my scenario?"
First off, the Commerce Server development team has done an excellent job with the new StarterSite. It's a great reference even if it doesn't fit your scenario (such as a strictly B2B site) since it demonstrates some really innovative web techniques and includes some excellent server controls as well. I highly recommend setting up a development instance using the StarterSite, even if you just use it to see how things work in CS2007.
Secondly, it's really very straight-forward to implement Commerce Server functionality in any ASP.NET 2.0 web application if you understand how the various subsystems (Profiles, Catalog, Orders, Inventory) work together. It also helps to be able to see some sample code so I've put together a list of my old posts to help get you started.
Please feel free to ping me via my blog if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.
Commerce Server 2007: Begin with the End in Mind!
Commerce Server 2007: Development Tip #1 – Returning a User's Catalogs
Commerce Server 2007: Development Tip #3 – Creating a New User
Commerce Server 2007: Development Tip #4 – Returning Site Terms
Commerce Server 2007: Development Tip #5 – Using the RegionCodeDataSet
Commerce Server 2007: Development Tip #6 – Adding Items to your Basket
Commerce Server 2007: Development Tip #7 – Using the CatalogItemsDataSet
Commerce Server 2007: Development Tip #8 – UpmRoleProvider
Commerce Server 2007: Development Tip #9 – Shipping Addresses
Commerce Server 2007: Integrating Commerce Server Orders with BizTalk Server
and there's more to come in future posts…
Technorati Tags: Commerce Server 2007