The Order Processing Pipeline

The Commerce Server pipeline is a software infrastructure that links one or more components and that runs them in sequence on an OrderForm or Dictionary object. Commerce Server version 3.0 uses this infrastructure to implement two pipeline models: the order processing pipeline (OPP) and the Commerce Interchange Pipeline (CIP).

This guide explains how the OPP works, and how to use the OPP in Commerce Server 3.0 sites. Topics covered include the following:

• The Order Processing Pipeline (OPP) Overview. Provides a detailed overview of the default OPP. The default OPP provides a group of components, which is divided conceptually into stages. These components operate on an OrderForm, an object that stores customer and purchase data. All of these components can be configured within the Commerce Server Win32®-based or Active Server Pages (ASP) Pipeline Editor. In addition, the Commerce Server 3.0 pipeline takes advantage of the capabilities of Microsoft® Transaction Server (MTS).
• The Default Components. Provides a detailed reference for the components that you can use in the default pipeline.