The Sample E-Commerce Scenario

Various aspects of this chapter's sample e-commerce application include business to consumer as well as business to business functionality. I'll describe how SQL Server's support for XML has been used to implement functionality within the application and also how BizTalk Server 2000 has been used to enhance the B2B aspects of the solution.

The sample application isn't intended to represent a fully functional application that can be deployed in a production environment. In particular, the sample is limited to single-machine installations and makes no use of compiled software components or SSL encryption. Nevertheless, by means of this application I can show you how to solve common e-commerce problems using SQL Server and XML.

The application is available in the Sample Application folder on the companion CD and can be installed by extracting the source files to your hard disk and running Setup.bat. Refer to the Introduction for the system requirements for installing and running the sample application.

When installed, the application creates a number of shortcuts on your desktop. Closer inspection reveals that the installation script has created three SQL Server databases (RetailSite, SupplierSite, and DeliveryCo); four folders in your WWWRoot directory (RetailSite, SupplierSite, OrderPicking, and DeliveryCo); and three SQLISAPI applications (SupplierSiteXML, OrderPickingXML, and DeliveryCo).

Overview of the E-Commerce Scenario

The scenario on which the sample application is based involves the exchange of data among three trading partners: an online retailer, a supplier, and a package delivery company. Customers can order goods through the online retailer's Web site using a browser. The orders are then forwarded to the supplier, where warehouse employees use an intranet-based order picking application to prepare the goods for delivery. When the various items in an order have been prepared, a delivery request is sent to the package delivery company, which arranges to pick the goods up from the supplier and deliver them to the customer. Each time the supplier receives an order, an invoice is generated and sent to the retailer that placed the order. Additionally, the supplier publishes its product catalog in an extranet, allowing retailers to download it and update their own databases. You can see this scenario represented graphically in Figure 9-1.

As I said before, this scenario gives us a number of commonly faced e-commerce challenges and provides a relatively realistic context in which to evaluate the use of SQL Server and XML to meet those challenges.

Figure 9.1 - The sample e-commerce scenario

Challenges in the E-Commerce Scenario

The challenges in the sample e-commerce scenario include many of the common issues relating to the building of an effective e-commerce solution. Most of these issues involve solving one of two problems: getting data out of a database and sending it to its destination, or receiving data and inserting it into a database. As we've seen throughout this book, SQL Server provides a number of ways to extract data in XML format from a database and insert XML data into a database. We'll see many of these techniques used in the sample application, and we'll examine various ways to transmit the data from source to destination.

Here are the specific areas of functionality that I'll cover in this chapter:

• The online retail Web site
• Order processing at the supplier
• Arranging package deliveries
• Updating the catalog
• Invoicing the retailer

As we examine each of these aspects of the solution, I'll explain the rationale behind the design and assess possible extensions or alternative solutions. Remember that this application is for illustrative purposes only: you could choose from countless other ways to implement the solution.