CSFLoadAdvertisements
Use this component with the CacheManager object to load advertising content from a database.
Note
Although the CSFLoadAdvertisements component implements two pipeline component interfaces (IPipelineComponent and IPipelineComponentAdmin), it is not a pipeline component, it does not appear in the Pipeline Editor, and it cannot be used or configured in the Pipeline Editor.
Configuration Values
You can configure this component in two ways:
By using the settings of the caches element of the Web.config file. For more information see caches Element.
By using code. The following code sample provides an example of how to configure the component.
Set dictConfig = CreateObject("Commerce.Dictionary") dictConfig.ConnectionString = CONNECTIONSTRING Set oCacheManager = CreateObject("Commerce.CacheManager") Set oCacheManager.LoaderConfig("Advertising") = dictConfig oCacheManager.LoaderProgId("Advertising") = "Commerce.CSFLoadAdvertisements" oCacheManager.RefreshInterval("Advertising") = 900 Set dictCache = oCacheManager.GetCache("Advertising")
The following table describes the CSFLoadAdvertisements configuration values needed by using code.
Key |
Description |
|---|---|
ConnectionString |
The connection string for the campaigns database. |
LoadAdvertisementsProcedure |
Specifies the name of the stored procedure that the Cache Loader component uses to load the Advertising cache. |
Evaluator |
Evaluates marketing expressions. |
Values Read
None.
Values Written
None.
Remarks
You can use the CSFLoadAdvertisements component with the CacheManager object to load advertising content for use later in your application.
When run by the CacheManager object, the CSFLoadAdvertisements component uses two pipeline dictionaries (Order and Context) to determine how to run and how to return information to the CacheManager object.
The CSFLoadAdvertisements component first opens a connection to the database and gets the list of ads. The component uses a ContentListFactory object to populate a ContentList object with the data. The component then breaks the retrieved data into templates, target groups, and page groups.
The following table describes the columns in the ContentList object returned by the CSFLoadAdvertisements component. Column names appear in alphabetical order.
Note
Target_groups are replaced by a list of expression-action pairs that are loaded as a SafeArray per campaign item where ( arr[0]=expr0, arr[1]=action0 ) ... ( arr[2N]=exprN, arr[2N+1]=actionN ) These SafeArrays are stored in a column called target_actions in the content list in the ads and discounts cache.
Column |
Type |
Flags |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
ad_type |
short (CLCOL_I2) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The type of the current Advertisement object. |
ad_weight |
Int (CLCOL_I4) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The weight of a house ad. This value has no meaning for a paid ad. |
campaign_id |
Int (CLCOL_I4) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The unique identifier of the containing campaign. |
customer_id |
Int (CLCOL_I4) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The unique identifier of the customer. |
date_end |
date/time (CLCOL_DATE) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The date and time, in the local time zone, the current CampaignItem is set to end. |
date_start |
date/time (CLCOL_DATE) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The date and time, in the local time zone, the current CampaignItem is set to start. |
days_of_week |
short (CLCOL_I2) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The value indicating on which days of week this ad should run. |
eff_date_start |
date/time (CLCOL_DATE) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The date and time when the last checkpoint happened. |
event_name |
String (CLCOL_STRING) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The name of the current CampaignItem object. |
events_scheduled |
Int (CLCOL_I4) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The number of events that are scheduled for this ad. |
events_served |
Int (CLCOL_I4) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The number of events that were served to date. |
exposure_limit |
Int (CLCOL_I4) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The exposure limit of the current DisplayableCampaignItem object. |
Height |
short (CLCOL_I2) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The height of the current DisplaySize object. |
Industry |
String (CLCOL_STRING) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The industry code of the current Advertisement object. |
invalid_nod |
Boolean (CLCOL_BOOL) |
0 (DEFAULT) |
A Boolean flag that, if True, means that the need of delivery will be recalculated for the item. |
item_id |
Int (CLCOL_I4) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The unique identifier of the current CampaignItem object. |
Name |
String (CLCOL_STRING) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The name of the current CampaignItem object. |
need_of_delivery |
real (CLCOL_R4) |
0 (DEFAULT) |
The need of delivery for the item — the initial score of the item. |
prev_events_served |
Int (CLCOL_I4) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The number of events that were served since the last CheckpointTime. |
Score |
real (CLCOL_R4) |
6 (CLCOL_PRIVATE | CLCOL_SCORE_COLUMN) |
Value that is read and written by several CSF pipeline components to determine whether an ad needs to be displayed. A higher score means that the ad is more likely to be returned by the CSF pipelines. |
Size |
String (CLCOL_STRING) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The tag of the current DisplaySize object. |
target_actions |
SafeArray (CLCOL_VARIANTARRAY) (( arr[0]=expr0, arr[1]=action0 ) ... ( arr[2N]=exprN, arr[2N+1]=actionN ) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
A list of expression-action pairs that are loaded per campaign item. This replaces target_groups from previous Commerce Server versions. |
Template |
String (CLCOL_STRING) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The display template name. |
time_of_day_end |
short (CLCOL_I2) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The value indicating when this ad should stop running each day. |
time_of_day_start |
short (CLCOL_I2) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The value indicating when this ad should start running each day. |
Values |
IDispatch (CLCOL_DISPATCH) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
A dictionary of DisplayPropertyValues associated with this ad. |
Width |
short (CLCOL_I2) |
1 (CLCOL_READONLY) |
The width of the DisplaySize object. |
Abbreviations in the table are enumerated values for the ContentList object.
If necessary, you can add additional custom fields into the ContentListFactory cache by overriding the default query for CSFLoadadvertisements. Overriding the query is an advanced programming technique, and requires that you have detailed knowledge of SQL queries.