Getting started with Storefront Dynamics Starter Site development environment and project

Storefront Dynamics is a suite that exposes online channels defined in Dynamics ERP on Episerver. The suite contains solutions specific for each Dynamics ERP version.

• Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations and Dynamics 365 for Retail. Storefront 365 integrates Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations with Episerver.
• Dynamics AX 2012 R3. Storefront AX integrates Dynamics AX 2012 R3 with Episerver.
• Dynamics Business Central and Microsoft NAV. Storefront NAV uses LS NAV from LS Retail to integrate NAV with Episerver.

Dynamics business logic is used during the shopping experience in several cases. When an article is displayed on a product page, the business logic calculates the price. When the visitor adds articles to the shopping cart, price and discounts are calculated, and the cart itself is entirely managed by Dynamics business logic.

Finally, when the visitor creates an order, the Dynamics business logic is used to manage the checkout flow. The checkout includes cart editing, selection of delivery methods, selection of payment methods and the payment transactions created, and the last step of creating an order. The sales transaction is created and managed by the Dynamics Retail Server.

Storefront Dynamics Integration Framework imports the products and navigation defined in Dynamics ERP for an online retail channel into Episerver catalog and loads the search engine used by Episerver with the information. The web site then uses the search engine and Episerver for instant access to the information, optimized for high performance, and renders the web site on demand. The navigation and the pages are filtered and loaded with information.

Storefront Dynamics Starter Site is a startup site that is a fully functional e-commerce site using the channel definition and the Retail Business Logic of Dynamics ERP. Our partners uses the startup site as a platform for fit and gap analysis and as a foundation for the extensions and customizations needed for an e-commerce project. The starter site is also suitable as a demo site with its simple user interface and basic features.

Storefront Dynamics already contains the common features of an e-commerce solution and the integration needed with Dynamics ERP. The e-commerce project can directly focus on the customer experience and the features that are of benefit to the company.

Storefront Dynamics Integration Framework is distributed as an add-on to Episerver and is available from Episerver as NuGet packages for Microsoft Visual Studio. Storefront starter site is available for download at Avensia Storefront Partner Web at:

https://www.avensiastorefront.com/partner-section/downloads/

User stories

The starter site is distributed with user stories describing all functional requirements that are fulfilled in the site. Download the user stories and use them for a fit and gap analysis and as a documentation of what features the start site implements. The user stories are available at the download section of Avensia Storefront Partner Web.

The user stories are written with a description that describes the requirement. They also have acceptance criteria that describe the steps to perform to verify that the user story is fully implemented. All user stories are grouped in use cases (epics) that describes the overall requirement.

Download Storefront Dynamics starter site for the ERP system used, and build it using Microsoft Visual Studio. Then publish it as a web application.

Storefront Dynamics starter site

Storefront Dyamics starter site is a Microsoft Visual Studio Solution that includes the source code of the starter site and the extensions used with the starter site. The solution also downloads and uses components using NuGet. The solution includes

• The starter site in Episerver with all common e-commerce features needed in an e-commerce website. The start site includes fully functioning pages. A start page, a category page, a product page, a search result page, a checkout page and an order confirmation page. It also includes My pages features with a profile page, order history page and a wishlist page.
• The Visual Studio solution includes
• Storefront 365 Starter Site. The source code for the starter site including
• Implementation of Episerver Find.
• Implementation of Episerver Perform.
• InRiver Connectors.
• Retail Extensions for discounts, returns, Stripe payment connector, PayPal payment connector, and channel attributes.
• Storefront AX Starter Site. The source code includes
• Implementation of the Lucene search engine.
• Identity Provider downloaded as a separate solution from Avensia Storefront Partner Portal.
• Storefront Dynamics Integration Framework. The integration framework imports the product catalog and channel definitions into Episerver where it is indexed in the search engine and ready to be exposed in the start site. The integration framework is included in the starter site as a NuGet package.
• Episerver. Episerver CMS and Commerce including the administration tools are included as NuGet packages.

Storefront Dynamics and Identity Providers

Identity providers are used for customer authentication. Each version of Dynamics ERP uses different methods for customer authentication.

Dynamics 365 and Storefront 365 Identity Provider

Using Storefront 365 with Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations requires that an Identity Provider is configured. Storefront 365 is distributed with Azure Active Directory B2C implemented as the default provider used in the starter site. The identity provider must support OAuth 2.0 specification. The requirements of the identity provider are entirely based on Dynamics Retail Server. There is customization required of the starter site if any other identity provider is used.

Dynamics AX and Storefront AX Identity Provider

Episerver Commerce is used for user account information with Storefront AX that is using Dynamics AX 2012 R3.

Dynamics NAV and Storefront NAV Identity Provider

LS NAV manages the user account information in a solution using LS Omni. All account information is stored and managed in LS NAV.

The development environment

A recommended setup is that every developer uses a development computer of their own with an online retail channel defined in Dynamics ERP for each and every developer. The development computer may be a virtual machine in the cloud, or a local machine at the desk.

The development computer requires access to

• Storefront 365. Storefront 365 requires access to the Dynamics Retail Server and to Microsoft Azure Active Directory B2C.
• Storefront AX. Storefront AX requires access to the Real-Time Service and uses the Dynamics Commerce Runtime for all business logic. Storefront AX requires access to the Identity Provider used in the solution. An identity provider is available for download for Storefront AX on Avensia Storefront Partner Portal.
• Storefront NAV. Storefront NAV requires access to the LS Omni server included in LS NAV. 

The development environment requires the following components installed

• A development computer with Windows 8 or higher version.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Express with advanced services, or later version.
• Microsoft Internet Information Server 7 or later version.
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 with C# 7.0 or later version.
• Source control software for source code versioning is recommended.

The development environment also requires some setup in Dynamics 365 and the development computer.

• Connection to a Dynamics Retail Server.
• Connection to Microsoft Azure Active Directory B2C.
• An online retail channel defined in Dynamics ERP. In a team of several developers, one channel per development computer is recommended.

The development environment requires the following components installed for Dynamics AX 2012 R3.

• A development computer with Windows 8 or higher version.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Express with advanced services, or later version.
• Microsoft Internet Information Server 7 or later version.
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 with C# 7.0 or later version.
• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Retail SDK.
• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Channel Database Utility.
• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 ASynch Client.
• Source control software for source code versioning is recommended.

The development environment also requires some setup in Dynamics AX and the development computer.

• Connection to a Dynamics AX server with Dynamics AX 2012 R3 installed with Retail Headquarter and Real-Time Service.
• A Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Channel Database created locally on the development computer.
• ASynch Client installed on the development computer, with access to the ASynch Server.
• A retail online channel defined in Dynamics AX that is synchronized with the channel database on the development computer. In a team of several developers, one channel per development computer is recommended.

The development environment also requires some setup in LS NAV and the development computer.

• Connection to the LS Omni Server from LS Retail.
• A web store defined in LS NAV.

Simple steps for setting up the project

1. Install all software described above on the development computer.
2. Create a retail online channel in Dynamics ERP.
3. With Dynamics AX 2012 R3
1. Create the channel database on the development computer
2. Install and configure the ASynch Client.
3. Run full synchronization of the channel database.
4. With Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
1. Publish the online channel and its catalogs.
5. With Dynamics 365 NAV
1. Publish the web store.
6. For all versions
1. Publish the online channel/web store.
2. In Visual Studio, load the Storefront 365 Solution, and let Visual Studio update all NuGet packages to the latest version.
3. Configure Storefront 365
1. URL for the Dynamics Retail Server
2. Channel settings for the online channel that will be published
3. For Dynamics 365, setup and configure the Azure Active Directory B2C.
4. In Visual Studio, build the startup site project and publish it to a web application.
5. Manually execute the Storefront 365 jobs in Episerver.
1. Browse the web application to login to Episerver administration tools.
2. Execute the staging job.
3. Execute the catalog import job.
4. Execute the Search Engine Full Index job.

The Storefront Dynamics Starter Site is now fully functioning and will display products and navigation. It also supports a complete shopping experience where sales transactions are synchronized with Dynamics ERP and its omnichannel solution.