LiteCommerce platform overview

LiteCommerce platform was initially developed as a scalable and flexible base for a wide range of ecommerce applications. No matter if you are using LiteCommerce as add-on shopping cart for your HTML site or running it as a feature packed enterprise level online store or ASP (Application Service Provider) solution you are still using the same core platform.

Scalable architecture

What are the benefits of having one scalable platform for an end user:

Cost effective upgrades. Expanding your business to a new level always implies certain growing pains. Changing information infrastructure of your company requires investments in new software and consulting. With LiteCommerce you continue to use the same platform expanding its capabilities by installing necessary add-ons.

Smooth learning curve and less expensive Personnel training, employees are working in their usual environment. Only the functionality introduced by new features needs to be studied.

Invest into additional features when you really need it. The situation in ecommerce market is changing rapidly. The money invested in creating of your online store now can be devalued as soon as you will find that your business had overgrown the capabilities of your current software. The possible way is to keep sufficient reserve capacity by purchasing the software with the features that are unnecessary at the moment but may come up handy in future. When using a scalable platform the necessary functionality can be added at any moment without any difficulty.

LiteCommerce software platform is a robust kernel which introduces generic capabilities for e-commerce software at the same time it could be expanded with add-ons modules that introduce a specific capability.

Technology overview

LiteCommerce is fully written using object oriented PHP and has several technological benefits that make it usable for a wide range of e-commerce solutions:

Run Time Class compiling. High flexibility of LiteCommerce platform is achieved by means of "Run time Class Compiling" technology. PHP class compiler dynamically builds a tree of classes depending on the configuration of the installed add-ons, after that the PHP code is assembled and executed. As a result we get a dynamically reconfigurable tree of PHP classes which can be changed by installable add-ons. Using this technique a developer has the possibility to override any method or property of existing classes or fit his own classes in any place of class hierarchy. Unlike traditional API based plug-ins this technology allows creating modules that introduce functionality that was not foreseen during creation of the base software and provide a convenient way for in-depth software customization. Customizations made as add-ons have several significant benefits. Any existing method can be enriched with a new functionality or completely replaced without any modifications of original PHP files. The source code is highly isolated from the mainstream code that remains unchanged and can be easily patched or upgraded. Run time Class Compiling technology is also optimized for smooth performance. The compiled code is cached and reused to avoid overhead created by class compiler. If any changes are made to the source code or a new add-on is installed the compiler does necessary recompilation automatically.

Template Driven Architecture. LiteCommerce powered systems use custom written template engine with template syntax derived from FLEXY template engine. All control structures are enclosed in HTML tags, that guarantee authentic visualization in HTML editors. The software is completely template driven. Necessary classes and their instances are created on demand from the visualization subsystem which improves general performance and reduces memory overhead. Such architecture dramatically simplifies software customization. Classes acquired or created by a programmer can be registered within the system and then their properties can be accessed from the templates for direct visualization. Necessary instances are constructed, initialized and fully destroyed.

Template Code Wrapping Engine

Separation of code and design. Concept of templates that separate program logic from design has proved its efficiency and now is widely used for web based applications. Usually this is not a question whether to use templates or not, the question is "How much program logic should be in templates?" It is possible to completely strip off logic from the templates however such "dumb" templates provide minimum ability for customization. If there is too much logic in the templates it will look like a program and will give much grief to an inexperienced user who just wants to make some minor design adjustments.

Template code wrapping. To resolve the controversy about the quantity of program logic in templates LiteCommerce features Template Code Wrapping engine which allows obtaining templates in raw and user friendly wrapped formats. Users with advanced technical knowledge can take templates as they are (in raw format) and can edit templates manually in any text editor.

Template code wrapping engine is helpful if a user is going to edit templates with WYSIWYG HTML editor or just does not want to be confused by control structures in templates. Template decorator scans the templates and substitutes complex control structures with visual HTML markers. Each template is framed with the standard HTML code to constitute the completed HTML page. As a result we receive a set of plain HTML files that can be edited in any WYSIWYG HTML editor or by hand. For easy navigation in the template tree templates are connected with hyperlinks.

After customization is finished decoration engine transforms the customized templates back into their original form that LiteCommerce template engine can understand. At this step necessary validation checking is performed to ensure that no vital data was accidentally deleted during customization.

Security

Besides standard security measures that are commonly used during development of products based on web scripting languages we introduced several important architectural solutions for safer operation in unstable internet environment.

Centralized request brokering mechanism. All incoming HTTP requests are passed through a centralized request broker where they are translated, validated and then forwarded for execution to data handlers of appropriate classes. This minimizes the possibility of hacking the software by crafting malicious GET POST COOKIE requests even if register global setting at your host is turned on.

Cryptographic data protection. We use industry standard encryption algorithms for protecting your data located on the web server. Strong asymmetric encryption ensures data security. Decryption keys are not stored on the web server, so even if an intruder manages to penetrate into your server easy access to encrypted data is impossible. For data encryption LiteCommerce is using GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) free analog of PGP encryption software. GPG is royalty free and do not have export limitations.

Customizable SSL encryption. Depending on the desired security level of your site you can secure various areas of your online shop. When a customer enters the secured area he will automatically be redirected to secure SSL connection to ensure data confidentiality. Desired security policy can be defined from the administrator's interface.

Source code availability

Our company has rich experience in developing and distributing the software with open source code. Through years open source concept proved its efficiency and is highly demanded by our customers. Availability of the source code gives several significant benefits for end users including: the ability to customize the software according to their needs, the possibility to create third party modules and compatible software, and the opportunity to better understand the way the software works.

About 97% of LiteCommerce source code is open and less than 3% is distributed in binary form. Source code of user level and kernel of the software are open providing opportunity for software customization and third party developers. LiteCommerce is written in object oriented PHP by experienced professional programmers and complies with commonly used coding stardards.

Sample 1: Product class
Sample 2: Order class