b2c-business-manager-extensions

Business Manager Extensions Skill

This skill guides you through creating Business Manager (BM) extension cartridges to customize the admin interface.

Overview

BM extensions add custom functionality to Business Manager through a single bm_extensions.xml descriptor plus a controller that renders ISML pages:

Extension Type	Purpose
Menu Items	Add a navigation section (a container in the Admin or a site's menu)
Menu Actions	Add a functional link/page under a menu item — wired to a controller node
Dialog Actions	Add buttons to existing BM pages at defined extension points
Form Extensions	Add fields to existing BM search forms (order/customer search)

⚠️ Schema essentials (read first)

These are the most common mistakes. The descriptor uses the bmmodules/2007-12-11 schema (bmext.xsd), not the extensibility/* namespace.

• Namespace is http://www.demandware.com/xml/bmmodules/2007-12-11.
• name, short_description, and description are child elements with a required xml:lang attribute — NOT attributes and NOT resource keys. Localize by repeating the element per language. There is no name="..." attribute.
• <icon> is a plain string element holding a path (<icon>icons/q.png</icon>), NOT <icon path="..."/>.
• position is ascending: lower numbers appear higher in the menu. Core BM items run 2000–12000, so custom items typically use a large number (e.g. 99999) to sit at the bottom, or -1 to float a "Home" action to the top.
• The dialog-action extension-point attribute is xp_ref (underscore), and dialog actions link to a menu action via a child <menuactions><menuaction-ref action-id="..."/></menuactions> element — there is no menuaction-ref attribute.
• Use the file encoding ISO-8859-1 to match platform samples.

To confirm any detail against the authoritative schema:

b2c docs schema bmext

File Structure

/bm_my_extension
    /cartridge
        bm_extensions.xml              # Extension definitions (required)
        bm_my_extension.properties     # Cartridge properties (required)
        /controllers
            MyExtension.js             # Controller for menu actions
        /templates
            /default
                /extensions
                    mypage.isml        # Custom BM pages
        /static
            /default
                /icons
                    my-icon.png        # Menu icons