Microsoft .NET Server Solutions for the Enterprise

Setup, One-Time, and Infrequent Tasks

By far the largest one-time task associated with remote shopping is the creation of a Web site that provides the appropriate remote shopping support. There are several possible starting points from which this might begin:

• The supplier does not have an existing retail Web site. In this case, the entire Web site infrastructure will need to be introduced so that customers who are engaged in remote shopping on the site can access the required functionality. The required functionality will depend on the nature of the remote shopping to be implemented. It might be essentially the same functionality as a retail Web site, with the ability to browse a product catalog and manipulate a shopping basket. On the other hand, it might be something quite specific, such as a series of Web pages that implement a wizard for configuring a product chosen in the trading partner's buyer application.

  If the required functionality is more like the former example, the AFS Solution Site could provide an effective starting point for Web site development, and offers the advantage of also being able to serve as an effective starting point for a convention retail Web site as well. If the required functionality is more like the latter example, a custom-designed Web site is probably required, although many of the brand new routines in the AFS Solution Site could be reused. See the "Implementation" section at the end of this chapter for more information about the AFS Solution Site and the new code that distinguishes it from the prior Solution Sites.