I am currently evaluating BV Commerce 5 for use in a project for a client. The client is a already a licensed user of the product. They have a new project will require integration of BCV 5 with internal systems. For example, creating user accounts, products, categories, etc... I can see from the installation of the demo version, which I have installed locally, that web services exist in the product. However, i can not seem to find an documentation or programmers guide for those web services. So, I would like to know.

1. Are the web services documented and where would I find that documentation.

2. Do the web services provide a complete interface into the product, and if not which features are exposed through the webs services.

3. Has this been successfully done before.

My goals here are to not have to reverse engineer, reinvent the wheel, or suggest another product.

Thank you

1. Are the web services documented and where would I find that documentation.

They are not documented. However, the web service methods correspond exactly to the API exposed by BVSoftware.Bvc5.Core; and the entire BVC5 front end was written to use BVSoftware.Bvc5.Core; and you have all of the front-end source code; so all you need to do is find corresponding code in the front-end and then use similar logic. For example, to create a user, find the UI page that creates a user, then look at the code, then use the same logic in your web service client.

I realize that is reverse engineering, but it seems to go very quickly for me. The API is very consistent. Each object type has very similar methods. So once you have worked with one, you can easily guess any others.

2. Do the web services provide a complete interface into the product, and if not which features are exposed through the webs services.

Nearly everything in Core is exposed in the web service. The only things missing are direct access to the objects exposed via an interface such as shipping providers.

3. Has this been successfully done before

I use the web service for the BVC5 implementation of Shipper. Works fine, though the initial load time is horrendous.