ProductStore - WebSite - VisualTheme

[Bruno Busco]

David,
while working on https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-2172 and
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-2106
I came to a point where I think I need a clarification (or a link
where I can read some information).

I had the conviction that a WebSite entity was a way to model a webapp in OFBiz.
An entity where all webapp parameters were hosted.
This was the reason why I extended the definition of a WebSiteId to
almost all webapp web.xml files (rev. 744502) and I created also the
correspondent WebSite entity in seed data to match with the new
WebSiteId (rev. 744518).
In this way every webapp has now a relative WebSite entity.
To a WebSite is associated a VisualThemeSetId that allows us to select
a set of VisualThemes and make them applicable to all selected
WebSites and thus to their relative webapps.

Could you please give me a hint about this my understanding becouse
now I have some questions:

1) If a WebSite entity is a webapp rappresentation shouldn't be
defined in the framework and not in the Content application?

2) I am now going to replace the fields styleSheet, headerLogo,
headerMiddleBackground, headerRightBackground in the ProductStore
entity with a link to a VisualTheme but is this correct? Or should we
have The ProductStore pointing to a WebSite and the WebSite pointing
to the selected VisualTheme ? Should we add a VisualThemeId field to
the WebSite entity?

3) Right now, when the user selects a new VisualTheme, the Lookup
shows only the themes that are associated to the VisualThemeSet to
which is associated the WebSite associated to the current webapp
(sorry for the bad sentence). The selected theme is then used for all
the webapps that share the same GlobalDecorator. So I think this is
not really correct. Should, maybe, we select the Themes that should
appear int the LookUp in the GlobalDecorator itself and not using the
WebSite?

Sorry for having put all this questions together.
I want to be sure my further contributions will go in the right
direction and do not generate issues.

Many thanks,
Bruno

[David E Jones-3]

On Feb 15, 2009, at 2:05 PM, Bruno Busco wrote:

> David,
> while working on https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-2172 and
> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-2106
> I came to a point where I think I need a clarification (or a link
> where I can read some information).
>
> I had the conviction that a WebSite entity was a way to model a  
> webapp in OFBiz.
> An entity where all webapp parameters were hosted.
> This was the reason why I extended the definition of a WebSiteId to
> almost all webapp web.xml files (rev. 744502) and I created also the
> correspondent WebSite entity in seed data to match with the new
> WebSiteId (rev. 744518).
> In this way every webapp has now a relative WebSite entity.
> To a WebSite is associated a VisualThemeSetId that allows us to select
> a set of VisualThemes and make them applicable to all selected
> WebSites and thus to their relative webapps.
>
> Could you please give me a hint about this my understanding becouse
> now I have some questions:
>
> 1) If a WebSite entity is a webapp rappresentation shouldn't be
> defined in the framework and not in the Content application?

The WebSite entity IS defined in the framework, in the "webapp"  
component. It is extended in the content application to facilitate  
associating content with it.

> 2) I am now going to replace the fields styleSheet, headerLogo,
> headerMiddleBackground, headerRightBackground in the ProductStore
> entity with a link to a VisualTheme but is this correct? Or should we
> have The ProductStore pointing to a WebSite and the WebSite pointing
> to the selected VisualTheme ? Should we add a VisualThemeId field to
> the WebSite entity?

The WebSite points to the ProductStore, so no we would not want it  
going the other way around. Right now we have the WebSite pointing to  
a visual theme set so we know which themes are applicable for the  
site. For most sites/webapps we want the user to be able to select the  
theme, but not for ecommerce and that is where the ProductStore comes  
in.

For ecommerce sites we typically won't want the user to select a  
theme, but rather than should be configured in the back-end admin  
apps. An ecommerce site will always have a ProductStore associated  
with it, and we have been using that to parameterize visual and other  
elements of ecommerce sites, so it makes sense to have there.

> 3) Right now, when the user selects a new VisualTheme, the Lookup
> shows only the themes that are associated to the VisualThemeSet to
> which is associated the WebSite associated to the current webapp
> (sorry for the bad sentence). The selected theme is then used for all
> the webapps that share the same GlobalDecorator. So I think this is
> not really correct. Should, maybe, we select the Themes that should
> appear int the LookUp in the GlobalDecorator itself and not using the
> WebSite?

I don't like the idea of selecting a theme for each app, but I agree  
we need something and the best thing to associate the theme selection  
with would probably be a theme set.

In other words, when we save a selected theme it should be associated  
with the user and with the theme set it applies to, so the user can  
have one selection per theme set. In this way the GlobalDecorator  
could get the user logged in as it does now, and also get the theme  
set ID from the WebSite record and then lookup the theme to use based  
on those.

> Sorry for having put all this questions together.
> I want to be sure my further contributions will go in the right
> direction and do not generate issues.

No problem. Thank you for writing your questions in a good way and  
after doing research. So many don't provide adequate detail or haven't  
done any research, and when you do research and then write about what  
you've found in relation to your questions it gives context and adds  
details and makes it possible to actually answer the question without  
guessing too much.

-David

[Bruno Busco]

Thank you David for the info and suggestions provided.
I hope to have implemented correctly.

If not please advise.

-Bruno

2009/2/16 David E Jones <[hidden email]>:

>
> On Feb 15, 2009, at 2:05 PM, Bruno Busco wrote:
>
>> David,
>> while working on https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-2172 and
>> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-2106
>> I came to a point where I think I need a clarification (or a link
>> where I can read some information).
>>
>> I had the conviction that a WebSite entity was a way to model a webapp in
>> OFBiz.
>> An entity where all webapp parameters were hosted.
>> This was the reason why I extended the definition of a WebSiteId to
>> almost all webapp web.xml files (rev. 744502) and I created also the
>> correspondent WebSite entity in seed data to match with the new
>> WebSiteId (rev. 744518).
>> In this way every webapp has now a relative WebSite entity.
>> To a WebSite is associated a VisualThemeSetId that allows us to select
>> a set of VisualThemes and make them applicable to all selected
>> WebSites and thus to their relative webapps.
>>
>> Could you please give me a hint about this my understanding becouse
>> now I have some questions:
>>
>> 1) If a WebSite entity is a webapp rappresentation shouldn't be
>> defined in the framework and not in the Content application?
>
> The WebSite entity IS defined in the framework, in the "webapp" component.
> It is extended in the content application to facilitate associating content
> with it.
>
>> 2) I am now going to replace the fields styleSheet, headerLogo,
>> headerMiddleBackground, headerRightBackground in the ProductStore
>> entity with a link to a VisualTheme but is this correct? Or should we
>> have The ProductStore pointing to a WebSite and the WebSite pointing
>> to the selected VisualTheme ? Should we add a VisualThemeId field to
>> the WebSite entity?
>
> The WebSite points to the ProductStore, so no we would not want it going the
> other way around. Right now we have the WebSite pointing to a visual theme
> set so we know which themes are applicable for the site. For most
> sites/webapps we want the user to be able to select the theme, but not for
> ecommerce and that is where the ProductStore comes in.
>
> For ecommerce sites we typically won't want the user to select a theme, but
> rather than should be configured in the back-end admin apps. An ecommerce
> site will always have a ProductStore associated with it, and we have been
> using that to parameterize visual and other elements of ecommerce sites, so
> it makes sense to have there.
>
>> 3) Right now, when the user selects a new VisualTheme, the Lookup
>> shows only the themes that are associated to the VisualThemeSet to
>> which is associated the WebSite associated to the current webapp
>> (sorry for the bad sentence). The selected theme is then used for all
>> the webapps that share the same GlobalDecorator. So I think this is
>> not really correct. Should, maybe, we select the Themes that should
>> appear int the LookUp in the GlobalDecorator itself and not using the
>> WebSite?
>
> I don't like the idea of selecting a theme for each app, but I agree we need
> something and the best thing to associate the theme selection with would
> probably be a theme set.
>
> In other words, when we save a selected theme it should be associated with
> the user and with the theme set it applies to, so the user can have one
> selection per theme set. In this way the GlobalDecorator could get the user
> logged in as it does now, and also get the theme set ID from the WebSite
> record and then lookup the theme to use based on those.
>
>> Sorry for having put all this questions together.
>> I want to be sure my further contributions will go in the right
>> direction and do not generate issues.
>
> No problem. Thank you for writing your questions in a good way and after
> doing research. So many don't provide adequate detail or haven't done any
> research, and when you do research and then write about what you've found in
> relation to your questions it gives context and adds details and makes it
> possible to actually answer the question without guessing too much.
>
> -David
>
>