IMPORTANT: Ektron has discontinued new development on its eCommerce module. If you have a license to eCommerce, you will continue to receive support, but if you need to upgrade, contact your account manager for options.
NOTE: eCommerce requires a special license from Ektron. Only members of the Administrators group or those assigned the Commerce Admin role can access the eCommerce screens within the Workarea. If you do not see the Commerce folder under Settings tab of the Workarea, it may be because your license does not support eCommerce. For licensing information, contact [email protected].
NOTE: While some earlier Ektron versions supported PCI compliance, version 9.10 does not offer PCI support. You may still enable PCI compliance mode in the web.config file if that helps your eCommerce site. To learn about enabling PCI compliance mode, see the 7.6 eCommerce Compliance Guide.
Ektron eCommerce gives you a tool set for building the online marketplace you want. Ektron lets you manage both your website and online marketplace from the same interface.
Ektron’s eCommerce solution is a flexible and feature-rich platform that offers the functionality that shoppers expect in an online marketplace.
eCommerce has the following features.
ektron.cms.commerce
APIApplication Programming Interface makes any commerce configuration possible, letting you connect it to your back-end systems.The Ektron eCommerce architecture is composed of several key systems:
The eCommerce API is situated within the core Ektron system with customization and integration points. The following figure shows the eCommerce API within the overall Ektron architecture.
Ektron leverages Windows Workflow Foundation for order processing.
Windows Workflow Foundation is a framework that lets you create system or human workflows. It consists of a namespace, an in-process workflow engine, and designers for Visual Studio. It comes with a programming model, a re-hostable and customizable workflow engine, and tools for quickly building workflow-enabled applications on Windows.
Windows Workflow Foundation gives site developers complete control over how your store “works.” The workflow is extensible and can integrate with third-party ERP/CRM systems. There are default Ektron activities such as email notification and inventory checks. You can customize the workflow to match your organization's business processes.
Ektron’s eCommerce solution lets you not only sell durable goods, but also memberships and subscriptions. It uses a provider model, and the default implementation provisions users into groups.
You let shoppers buy membership directly on your site (access to assetAn external file, such as a Microsoft Word document or image, stored in one of these Ektron siteroot folders: assets, privateassets, uploadedfiles and uploadedimages. An asset can be managed like native Ektron content.s or content) and configure recurring billing at any interval.
Ektron OnTrek is a sample eCommerce site. Within that site, you can try out a customer shopping experience by going to http://[siteroot]/OnTrek/
. Login to OnTrek and go to Products > Software. A product catalog screen appears. For information about Ektron OnTrek, see OnTrek in Ektron.
Click the Add to Cart link below a product. You can proceed through a sample checkout process. OnTrek uses the following eCommerce server controlA server control uses API language to interact with the CMS and Framework UI to display the output. A server control can be dragged and dropped onto a Web form and then modified.s to facilitate this process.
This chapter also contains the following topics.
See also: Using eSync with eCommerce