The project "Experience API" it is primarily a intermediated layer between clients and enterprise services powered by GraphQL protocol and is tightly coupled to a specific user/touchpoint experience with fast and reliable access, it represents an implementation of Backend for Frontend design pattern (BFF).

The context diagramm

Key features

• “Experience API” project at beginning consists from these three functional blocks :

  • Digital Catalog API
  • Recommendations Gateway API (prototype)
  • Shopping experience API (scheduled)

• Use GraphQL protocol to leverage more selective and flexible control of resulting data retrieving from API

• Fast and reliable indexed search thanks to integration with ES 7.x and single data source for indexed search and data storage. (<= 300ms)

• Autonomy. Shared nothing with rest VC data infrastructure except index data source.

• Tracing and performance requests metrics

Prerequisities

• VC platform 3.0 or later
• The platform is configured to use ElasticSearch engine

appsettings.json

"Search": {
        "Provider": "ElasticSearch",
        "Scope": "default",       
        "ElasticSearch": {
            "Server": "localhost:9200",
            "User": "elastic",
            "Key": "",
            "EnableHttpCompression": ""
        }
    },

• The settings “Store full object in index modules” are enabled for catalog and pricing modules:

• Rebuild index

Digital catalog experience API - Getting started.

• Deploy vc-module-experience-api module into the platform of 3.0 version or latest, guided by this article https://github.com/VirtoCommerce/vc-platform/blob/dev-3.0.0/docs/deploy-module-from-source-code.md
• Restart the platform instance
• Open GraphQL UI playgoround in the browser http://{platform url}/ui/playground

The sample requests:

{
  product(id: "0f7a77cc1b9a46a29f6a159e5cd49ad1")
  {
    id
    name

    properties {
      name
      type
      values
    }
  }
  
  products(query: "sony" fuzzy: true filter: "price.USD:(400 TO 1000]")
  {
    totalCount
   	items {
       name
       id
       prices (currency: "USD") {
        list
        currency
      }
    }
  } 
}

Recommendations gateway API - Getting started.

• Install Digital catalog experience API see above.
• Install Recommendations Gateway API module
• Add to the platform configuration file appsettings.json the following settings from this example https://github.com/VirtoSolutions/vc-module-experience-api/blob/master/samples/RecommendationsGatewayModule/RecommendationsGatewayModule.Core/Configuration/samples/vc-recommendations.json this settings add vc product association APIs as downstream for product recommendations.
• Open GraphQL UI playgoround in the browser http://{platform url}/ui/playground to start consume API. The recommendations example GrapQL request:

  recommendations(scenario:"vc-recommendations" after: "10" first: 5 itemId: "8b7b07c165924a879392f4f51a6f7ce0") 
  {
    items
    {
      scenario      
      product
      {
        id
        name       
      }
    }
  }