Search for orders using OrderContext

17 min

This topic describes how to work with the order search API, including:

The capabilities and limitations of Optimizely Commerce Connect order search

API classes and properties

Code examples of different scenarios

Description of the search stored procedure

Searching for orders is a common part of ecommerce solutions, such as integrating with ERPs and custom administrative interfaces where orders are exported, filtered, or edited. You often need to load orders based on submission date, status, or particular properties or meta-field properties of the order or cart, including properties of its child objects (for example, shipments or line items).

Classes in this topic are available in the Mediachase.Commerce.Orders namespace.

Search pattern

The following pattern is the simplest way to execute order search in Commerce Connect using the API.

Begin the search code with:

OrderSearchOptions searchOptions = new OrderSearchOptions();
    searchOptions.StartingRecord = 0; //or whatever you want to specify for paging purposes
    searchOptions.RecordsToRetrieve = 10000; //or whatever you want to specify for paging purposes searchOptions.Namespace = "Mediachase.Commerce.Orders";

Then continue with:

OrderSearchParameters parameters = new OrderSearchParameters();
    
    //the following is for returns-only purchase orders... for shopping carts, specify ShoppingCart parameters.SqlMetaWhereClause = "";
    searchOptions.Classes.Add("PurchaseOrder"); 
    
    parameters.SqlWhereClause = sqlQuery.ToString();
    
    //If you are searching for shopping carts (non serializable cart system), you can call the Search<Cart> method and return an array of Cart objects
    PurchaseOrder[] purchaseOrderCollection = OrderContext.Current.Search<PurchaseOrder>(parameters, searchOptions);

The SQL query above is OrderGroupId IN (SELECT OrderGroupId FROM .).

Use order search

The order search returns arrays of OrderGroup objects: ShoppingCart, PaymentPlan, and PurchaseOrder.

The order search is only intended to return shipments, line items, payment objects or any other objects or data in the order. The Order Search API does not conduct an order search for those types of objects alone. The API lets you search for carts, orders, and payment plans based on properties, including metafields associated with any of the objects in an OrderGroup and any outside database tables you may want to use for filtering or joins.

The search pattern implemented in the API has two parts:

Get a list of OrderGroupIds as search results using the stored procedure ecf\_OrderSearch. Insert those values into a database table OrderSearchResults with a GUID that separates it from other search results. This is the search phase, based on criteria passed to the search.

The OrderGroupIds are loaded from OrderSearchResults, and the corresponding array of ShoppingCart, PurchaseOrder, and PaymentPlan is loaded and returned.

Note You can sort based on OrderGroup table fields only.

Primary classes and properties

Mediachase.Commerce.Orders.Search.OrderSearchOptions

This class lets you specify the number of records to return, if results are to be cached, the type of OrderGroup data to be returned, and the starting record number (for paging).

Properties

CacheResults – This is inherited from SearchOptions but is not actually used by order search.

RecordsToRetrieve

StartingRecord – Integer. Use these fields to page search results.

Classes

StringCollection – This lets you specify the order metadata object on which you want to create a subquery. For example, to find all shipments where a shipment metafield value is a particular value, specify ShipmentEx for the classes property. This is a string collection. In most cases, you only need to specify one class.

You can specify the following classes with the corresponding database table that is queried:

CashCardPayment (OrderFormPayment_CashCard)

CreditCardPayment (OrderFormPayment_CreditCard)

ExchangePayment (OrderFormPayment_Exchange)

GiftCardPayment (OrderFormPayment_GiftCard)

InvoicePayment (OrderFormPayment_Invoice)

LineItemEx (LineItemEx)

OrderFormEx (OrderFormEx)

OrderGroupAddressEx (OrderGroupAddressEx)

OtherPayment (OrderFormPayment_Other)

PaymentPlan (OrderGroup_PaymentPlan)

PurchaseOrder (OrderGroup_PurchaseOrder)

ShipmentEx (ShipmentEx)

ShoppingCart (OrderGroup_ShoppingCart)

Note You must specify at least one class, even if you don't specify a SQLMetaWhereClause in the parameters object. If you do not specify SQLMetaWhereClause but specify an OrderGroup, it filters the results for that type only.

Namespace

For order searches, this should always be Mediachase.Commerce.Orders.

Mediachase.Commerce.Orders.Search.OrderSearchParameters

This class lets you specify where clauses necessary to narrow the order search.

Properties

OrderByClause – This clause can use only OrderGroup table fields. If this field is not set, OrderGroupId is used.

SqlMetaWhereClause – This field matches with the OrderSearchOptions.Classes field to form a subquery based on an OrderGroup metaclass. This clause looks like this: "META.CardType = 'Visa'" where the option classes collection contains "CreditCardPayment". That returns all orders, carts, and payment plans with visa payments. META is the SQL alias for the table associated with the class you specify. See Classes.

SqlWhereClause – A SQL WHERE clause that lets you specify additional order search criteria to form a subquery in the search stored procedure.

Using the META keyword here refers to a different alias than using it in the SqlMetaWhereClause, where it is an alias for the table associated with the class specified in the options object. In the SQLWhereClause, it refers to a table in memory that has two columns:

Key – The OrderGroupId.

Rank – Part of the meta WHERE clause subquery. (You probably do not want to use META here.)

Only the OrderGroup table is referenced directly in the SQL WHERE clause. So, you could have a clause like OrderGroupId IN (SELECT OrdergroupId FROM Shipment WHERE NOT ShipmentTrackingNumber IS NULL).

Note You cannot add an ORDER BY clause here because it is part of a subquery.

The following fields are not used for order search:

JoinSourceTable

JoinSourceTableKey

JoinTargetQuery

JoinTargetTableKey

JoinType

OrderByClause – A SQL OrderBy clause that you can order the record. You can use any column name of columns in OrderGroup table, or META.<column-name> for columns in the metaclass table. For example, OrderGroup_PurchaseOrder.

Mediachase.Commerce.Orders.OrderContext

This class is a singleton with several methods to find orders.

FindActiveOrders() – Retrieves purchase orders where the OrderGroup.Status is either InProgress or PartiallyShipped.

Current.Search<Cart>() – Finds shopping carts based on parameters and options specified with the two other classes.

FindPaymentPlans() – Finds payment plans based on parameters and options specified with the two other classes.

FindPurchaseOrders() – Finds purchase orders based on parameters and options specified with the two other classes.

FindPurchaseOrdersByStatus() – Retrieves orders with particular order statuses.

Code examples

The code is common and first defined for all of the following code examples.

Sample code

OrderSearchOptions searchOptions = new OrderSearchOptions();
    searchOptions.StartingRecord = 0;
    searchOptions.RecordsToRetrieve = 10000;
    searchOptions.Namespace = "Mediachase.Commerce.Orders";

The following examples have code that follows the code above.

Example 1

Retrieves purchase orders with a tracking number that is like a particular pattern, and with a tracking number (a meta-field) assigned to at least one shipment in the purchase order.

OrderSearchParameters parameters = new OrderSearchParameters();
    searchOptions.Classes.Add("PurchaseOrder");
    parameters.SqlMetaWhereClause = "META.TrackingNumber LIKE '%PO%'";
    parameters.SqlWhereClause = "OrderGroupId IN (SELECT OrdergroupId FROM Shipment WHERE NOT ShipmentTrackingNumber IS NULL)";
    PurchaseOrder[] purchaseOrderCollection = OrderContext.Current.Search<PurchaseOrder>(parameters, searchOptions);

Example 2

Retrieves purchase orders containing line items with a RMANumber (a meta-field) associated with them.

OrderSearchParameters parameters = new OrderSearchParameters();
    searchOptions.Classes.Add("LineItemEx");
    parameters.SqlMetaWhereClause = "NOT META.RMANumber IS NULL";
    parameters.SqlWhereClause = "OrderGroupId IN (Select ObjectId FROM OrderGroup_PurchaseOrder)";
    PurchaseOrder[] purchaseOrderCollection = OrderContext.Current.Search<PurchaseOrder>(parameters, searchOptions);

Note The SqlWhereClause is used to ensure that only purchase orders are returned. If you do not do this, you may get carts (or payment plans, if they exist in your system) also in the dataset, and you will see errors like Index 0 is either negative or above rows count.

This is because the metadata object load is getting confused by the different metafields in a purchase order instead of a cart. If you query orders using the API and do not specify which OrderGroup object as the metaclass, add this where filter in the SQLWhereClause. You can make a compound WHERE clause including this filter.

Example 3

Retrieves shopping carts where line items have an expiration date (a metafield) greater than a particular value.

OrderSearchParameters parameters = new OrderSearchParameters();
    searchOptions.Classes.Add("LineItemEx");
    parameters.SqlMetaWhereClause = "META.ExpirationDate > '1/1/2012'";
    parameters.SqlWhereClause = "OrderGroupId IN (Select ObjectId FROM OrderGroup_ShoppingCart)";
    Cart[] cartCollection = OrderContext.Current.Search<Cart>(parameters, searchOptions);

Example 4

Retrieves purchase orders that have shipments with a specific shipping status (as defined by a metafield).

OrderSearchParameters parameters = new OrderSearchParameters();
    searchOptions.Classes.Add("ShipmentEx");
    parameters.SqlMetaWhereClause = "NOT META.PrevStatus IS NULL";
    parameters.SqlWhereClause = "OrderGroupId IN (Select ObjectId FROM OrderGroup_PurchaseOrder)";
    PurchaseOrder[] purchaseOrderCollection = OrderContext.Current.Search<PurchaseOrder>(parameters, searchOptions);

Example 5

This is a more complex SQL where clause that returns all orders that contain SKUs whose name contains a substring by using a join with the CatalogEntry table.

StringBuilder sqlQuery = new StringBuilder();
    sqlQuery.Append("OrderGroupId IN (SELECT OrderGroupId From LineItem li ");
    sqlQuery.Append("INNER JOIN CatalogEntry en ");
    sqlQuery.Append("ON li.CatalogEntryId = en.Code ");
    sqlQuery.Append("WHERE en.Name LIKE '%Wine%')");
    
    OrderSearchParameters parameters = new OrderSearchParameters();
    searchOptions.Classes.Add("PurchaseOrder"); parameters.SqlMetaWhereClause = "";
    parameters.SqlWhereClause = sqlQuery.ToString();
    PurchaseOrder[] purchaseOrderCollection = OrderContext.Current.Search<PurchaseOrder>(parameters, searchOptions);

Note You do not have an SqlMetaWhereClause but do specify a PurchaseOrder class.

You can add any subquery, allowing the most flexibility.

Example 6

Joins several order metadata tables in the SQL where clause. This is a better, easier way to do more complex order searches with multiple order meta-classes, rather than using the options Classes collection to filter order metaclasses.

Note The following query appears to have the potential to return duplicate ordergroupids, as an order can have multiple shipments or line items. However, the order search stored procedure ensures that only distinct order IDs are returned.

StringBuilder sqlQuery = new StringBuilder();
    sqlQuery.Append("OrderGroupId IN (SELECT li.OrderGroupId From LineItem li ");
    sqlQuery.Append("INNER JOIN LineItemEx ex ");
    sqlQuery.Append("ON li.LineItemId = ex.ObjectId ");
    sqlQuery.Append("INNER JOIN Shipment sh ");
    sqlQuery.Append("ON li.OrderGroupId = sh.OrderGroupId ");
    sqlQuery.Append("INNER JOIN ShipmentEx shex ");
    sqlQuery.Append("ON sh.ShipmentId = shex.ObjectId ");
    sqlQuery.Append("WHERE ex.ExpirationDate > '1/1/2011'");
    sqlQuery.Append("AND NOT shex.PrevStatus IS NULL)");
    
    OrderSearchParameters parameters = new OrderSearchParameters();
    searchOptions.Classes.Add("PurchaseOrder");
    parameters.SqlMetaWhereClause = "";
    parameters.SqlWhereClause = sqlQuery.ToString();
    PurchaseOrder[] purchaseOrderCollection = OrderContext.Current.Search<PurchaseOrder>(parameters, searchOptions);

Note Always test queries in SQL Management Studio first, and remember the closing ) for your SqlWhereClause property value.

Stored procedure breakdown

The first part of the order search performs a dynamic search for orders based on the OrderSearchParameters and OrderSearchOption properties set in code.

This is the final query built based on settings you specify. The stored procedure that uses these properties to create a list of order ids is ecf\_OrderSearch.

declare @Page_temp table (TotalRecords int, OrderGroupId int);
    with OrderedResults as
    (SELECT count([OrderGroup].OrderGroupId)
      OVER() TotalRecords, [OrderGroup].OrderGroupId, Rank, ROW_NUMBER()
      OVER(ORDER BY ) RowNumber
      FROM [OrderGroup] OrderGroup
      INNER JOIN (select distinct U.[KEY], U.Rank from 
       (select 100 as 'Rank', META.ObjectId as 'Key',
        * from <database table associated with the order metaclass in the options Classes property> 
        META WHERE <SQLMetaWhereClause>) 
      U) META
      ON OrderGroup.[OrderGroupId] = META.[KEY]
      (<SQLWhereClause>))
    INSERT INTO @Page_temp (TotalRecords, OrderGroupId)
    SELECT top(<RecordsToRetrieve>) TotalRecords, OrderGroupId FROM OrderedResults
    WHERE RowNumber > <StartingRecord>;;
    
    select @RecordCount = TotalRecords from @Page_temp;
    
    INSERT INTO OrderSearchResults (SearchSetId, OrderGroupId)
    SELECT [SearchSetId], OrderGroupId from @Page_temp;

Note The query for metadata is built using the class you specify and the SQLMetaWhereClause you specify (already mentioned above). The META where clause inside the SQLMetaWhereClause is different from the META alias available to the SQLWhereClause.

If no SQLWhereClause is specified, the query executes without the AND [SQLWhereClause] portion. The same goes for SQLMetaWhereClause.

The Application ID is managed internally by Commerce Connect.