Overview of the Import/Export Process

Follow a set of basic steps to complete import and export.

The basic steps for import are as follows:

1. Create an XML file that conforms to the Salesforce B2C Commerce schema for that type of system object. See the Import/Export Object Cheatsheet for a list of all B2C Commerce objects and the schema files used to import them.
2. Transfer the XML file from the merchant backend system to a B2C Commerce instance. For Staging or Production instances, you also must set up a secure connection for the file transfer. Sandboxes don't require a secure connection.
3. Import the XML file into the instance database. You can do this import manually through Business Manager or by creating a custom pipeline. B2C Commerce provides import pipelets for most standard imports. Salesforce recommends using standard import pipelets whenever business objects must be loaded into B2C Commerce as opposed to implementing custom logic with script or pipelets. The standard import pipelets can deal with large data sets, are fast and reliable, and use system resources efficiently.

The basic steps for export are as follows:

1. Export the database objects to an XML file. The export file uses the same schema definition that is used to import the database objects. You can do this export manually through Business Manager or by creating a custom pipeline. To automate data exports, create a pipeline. B2C Commerce provides export pipelets that can be used for most exports. Sometimes, the export pipelets allow more granularity in the objects you choose to export than can be selected in Business Manager.
2. Transfer files from the instance to the merchant backend system. You might need to set up a secure connection, depending on the PCI-DSS requirement for transfer of the data or the requirements of the backend system.

For recurring import/export processes, you can configure batch jobs for both file transfer and import/export. You can also use pipelets for programmatic control of the import/export process.