Debugging Sitecore Commerce SDK

Sitecore Commerce Engine is a light weight .Net Core application which is extended with plenty of other plugins (Pricing, Carts, Promotions, Search etc.), which in turn are other independent .Net Core projects, to make an Experience Commerce solution.

Sitecore provides an SDK which can be used as a starting point for customizing the commerce solution. You can use this SDK to extend the commerce solution either by adding new plugins or extending the existing plugins.

Debugging the .Net Core applications are slightly different. To make .Net Core applications run across multiple platforms like Windows, Linux, Unix etc. it uses Kestrel web server. Kestrel web server is by default specified in ASP.Net Core project templates and Sitecore Commerce Engine is no exception. 

SPEAK 2.0 Part 4 - Structures

SPEAK Structure rendering creates a structure/layout for the SPEAK applications.

There are mainly four types of Structure renderings,

1. DashboardPageStructure
2. ListPageStructure
3. TaskPageStructure
4. DialogPageStructure

NOTE: There are 3 more Lagecy Structures available in Sitecore 9.3. These structures might get removed in next versions of Sitecore.

• LagecyDashboardPageStructure
• LagecyListPageStructure 
• LagecyTaskPageStructure

SPEAK 2.0 Part 3 - PageCode

For any SPEAK application, PageCode is the required component. PageCode initializes the SPEAK application.

PageCode serves two purposes,

• It allows you to write business logic for your SPEAK application.
• Sets which SPEAK version to use to render the applications.

NOTE: There are two versions available as of now. SPEAK 1.1 and SPEAK 2.0. We will be using SPEAK 2.0 in our examples

You can write business logic for your SPEAK application using PageCode component. You can do it in two ways.

• Javascript PageCode

• Javascript business logic is easy to maintain over time and makes application more responsive
• Prefer this approach if you don't have security constraint over business logic

• C# PageCode

• Sitecore gives you provision to write C# code also for writing business logic for your SPEAK application

SPEAK 2.0 Part 2 - Page Layouts

Sitecore provides three layouts to create SPEAK applications. You can find these layouts in core database at this location  /sitecore/client/Speak/Layouts/Layouts

NOTE: All examples and screenshots are taken from Sitecore 9.3 initial release

SPEAK 2.0 Part 1 - Introduction

Greetings Reader!!

This is the first blog in the SPEAK 2.0 series. In this blog, we will understand what is SPEAK, what it is built with and what it offers to Sitecore developers.

What is SPEAK?

SPEAK is an acronym for "Sitecore Process Enablement and Accelerator Kit". Sitecore provides a library of SPEAK compatible components, visual layouts, and styles that developers need in order to implement applications.

SPEAK uses latest browsers standards and HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript libraries like Require JS to build the interface for the controls