The CommerceTracker and CMS-only mode
CMS-only mode occurs when you disable the xConnect tracker and xDB. Two common scenarios for this are:
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when there is a period of peak sales (for example, during Black Friday), you can disable the xConnect tracker and xDB so that Sitecore processes requests at a faster pace.
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when you have no need to collect data or perform analytics.
In CMS-only mode, no tracking occurs; hence, interactions are not recorded or persisted in xDB. Furthermore, no xDB contacts are maintained so new user registrations are not associated with an xDB contact or corresponding Personal and Emails facets and one result of this is that the user name and email address are not visible in the Experience Profile or in marketing automation campaigns. If or when xDB is re-enabled, and the user logs into the storefront, a new contact (with corresponding facets) is created for the user. User information is synchronized and information is available in xDB for use by other modules such as the Experience Profile and Marketing Automation.
In Commerce, the tracker enabled and disabled (CMS-only) modes are handled by an abstraction called the CommerceTracker.
To handle CMS-only mode, do not use xConnect Tracker directly in storefront and Commerce Connect customizations. Instead, use the CommerceTracker.
When the storefront uses CMS-only mode, the CommerceTracker orchestrates the activity of the providers ensuring the appropriate provider is loaded based on the current platform configuration. Two providers are used:
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PlatformTrackerProvideris used when xDB is enabled and interacts with the Sitecore xConnect Tracker. -
CookieTrackerProviderimplements tracking using a cookie (SC_COMMERCE_GLOBAL_COOKIE), which is saved and maintained by the browser.
CommerceTracker is a static class.
The following table shows the properties of the CommerceTracker class.
|
Property |
Returns... |
|---|---|
|
Current |
The tracker based on the current system configuration that supports the ICommerceTracker interface. |
|
IsXdbEnabled |
True if xDB is enabled; otherwise, False. |
The two default trackers implement the ICommerceTracker interface.
Properties and methods
ICommerceTracker supports the following properties and methods:
|
Properties |
Returns... |
|---|---|
|
ContactId |
The ID of the current contact. When in the Experience Editor, both versions return a static GUID to make sure the same user is always used. The With the |
|
ContactUserName |
The |
|
EndVisit |
Clears the tracker cookie and customer must re-enter credentials. |
|
IdentifyAs(source, username) |
The |
Extensibility
The type implementing the ICommerceTracker interface is instantiated dynamically based on the Connect configuration. The Sitecore.Commerce.config file contains the following default entries that can be patched:
<platformCommerceTracker type="Sitecore.Commerce.Providers.PlatformTrackerProvider, Sitecore.Commerce.Connect.Core" singleInstance="true"/>
<cookieCommerceTracker type="Sitecore.Commerce.Providers.CookieTrackerProvider, Sitecore.Commerce.Connect.Core" singleInstance="true"/> By replacing the loaded types, you can change or extend functionality. You can provide your own types that implement the ICommerceTracker interface or extend an existing one.