Set Up Your Project

Link your cartridges, add an account and a connection, pick a code version and send your first change to a sandbox from a JetBrains IDE

From a fresh install to the first uploaded change. Install the plugin first, see Installation

Have these ready

  • The project with your cartridge sources, opened at its root
  • The instance hostname, for example dev01-realm-customer.demandware.net
  • A Business Manager account for that instance, or your team's encrypted credentials file and its secret key
  • The code version you develop against. You can also create one from the IDE

Open your project

Open the project root, the folder that holds your cartridges

Click Open on the Welcome screen, or choose File › Open… while another project is open. Pick the folder that holds your cartridges, click Open, then Trust Project. The IDE indexes the project, and only Find New Cartridges shows in the main toolbar until a cartridge is linked
RoutemacOSWindows and Linux
Welcome screen, no project openProjects › OpenProjects › Open
Main menu, another project openFile › Open...File › Open... (behind ☰ in the new UI)
Find Action⇧⌘A, type open, choose Open...Ctrl+Shift+A, then the same

Select the project root and click Open. On the Trust and Open Project prompt click Trust Project, then let indexing finish. Until a cartridge is linked, the plugin shows only Find New Cartridges and More in the main toolbar

Use Getting Started

Intellij SFCC: Getting Started walks a project through setup in an editor tab: seven setup steps, then a short tour of the main toolbar, the tool windows, B2C Explorer, the Project view menu and B2C Entry Points. Five steps are tracked: Activate, Add credentials, Add a connection, Link cartridges and Select site scope. Upload and deploy and the B2C project view come last and are not counted

Click Setup in the status bar to open Getting Started on the first open step. Each button runs the real action in the IDE, and the guide moves to the next step as soon as one is done. Once all five tracked steps are done, the item reads just Setup

After indexing, the tab opens by itself in the first project you open after installing the plugin, SFCC or not. From then on it opens every time you open an SFCC project whose setup is unfinished: linked cartridges, cartridges on disk not linked yet, a dw.json that names a host, or a connection. The page ships with the plugin, so it works offline and matches the plugin version. Its docs and pricing links open in your browser

Every step has a button that runs the real action in the IDE:

  • Activate plugin opens the IDE's license dialog, where you start the 7-day trial or activate a license. Check activation checks again
  • Add account opens New Account
  • Add connection opens the connections editor on a new connection
  • Find new cartridges lists the cartridges and modules in the project that are not linked yet
  • Select site scope opens B2C Site Scopes
  • Turn on Auto Upload turns it on for the active connection, so check the connection and code version in the main toolbar first
  • Show B2C project view opens the Project tool window on the Salesforce B2C Commerce view

The first time it opens by itself, a tooltip points at the Setup item in the status bar, or a notification names the Help menu in a project without SFCC code. To come back to it later, use any of these routes. The tab opens on the first unfinished step

RouteWhat to do
Status barClick Setup 2/5 at the right end of the status bar. Once all five main steps are done it reads Setup
Help menuHelp › Intellij SFCC Getting Started
Main toolbarMore › Getting Started
Find Action⇧⌘A (Ctrl+Shift+A), type Getting Started and choose Intellij SFCC Getting Started

Tick Don't open automatically on the page to open it only from these routes, in every project in this IDE. Tick Show only the panda in the status bar to drop the item's text. Its tooltip still shows the progress

If the IDE runs without its built-in browser (JCEF), Getting Started never opens by itself and the routes above open this page instead. Follow the steps below

Projects without SFCC code

In a project with no cartridges, no dw.json and no connection, the plugin stays out of the way: no Setup item, no SFCC tool windows, and Getting Started does not open. Cartridges in test or fixture folders do not count. When Find New Cartridges finds nothing, it offers Create Cartridge… and Set Up Anyway, which shows the setup in that project from then on. Opening a tool window from More does the same

B2C Explorer, B2C Credentials, B2C ODS and B2C OCAPI appear with SFCC code. B2C Entry Points, B2C Metadata, B2C Sync Log and the Site Scope item appear once a cartridge is linked. Cartridges cloned or copied in while the project is open show them without a restart, and nothing hides again until the next start

Connect your project

A few seconds after the project opens, a notification lists the cartridges and modules found. Click Review…, uncheck what you don't work on or click Ignore on a row to stop suggesting it, then click Link. Link All links everything in one click when no name is taken. If no notification appears, click Find New Cartridges in the main toolbar, or ⇧⌘A (Ctrl+Shift+A) › Find New Cartridges

When the project opens, a notification lists the cartridges and modules it found. Review… opens the dialog, where the vendor copy is ignored and Link links the rest

Most plugin actions stay hidden until at least one cartridge is linked, see Cartridges & Modules

Add your account

Open B2C Credentials on the right tool window bar (or View › Tool Windows › B2C Credentials). On the Accounts tab click +, enter the Username in the same text case as on the instance and the Password, and click Add

Click B2C Credentials on the right tool window bar, or press ⇧⌘A (Ctrl+Shift+A), type B2C Credentials and press Enter. On the Accounts tab click +, enter the Username and Password, then click Add

If your team shares an encrypted credentials file, link it on the Settings tab instead, see Sync credentials to a file

Add the connection

In B2C Explorer on the right tool window bar, click + › Add Connection. While there are no connections, Select Connection in the main toolbar reads Add Connection and opens the same editor

Click B2C Explorer on the right tool window bar. Add Connection opens the connections editor on a new empty connection. Fill in the name, hostname and account, run Test Connection to load the code versions, then close the dialog: every change is already saved

Enter a Name, paste the Business Manager URL from your browser into Hostname (it is cut down to the host) and choose the Account. Click Test Connection, pick your Code Version or create one with Add Code Version, then click Close, see Connections

Make it active

Click Select Connection in the main toolbar and choose the connection, the target of uploads, deploys and the debugger. Then pick your code version in Select Code Version next to it

Check the remote side

In B2C Explorer expand Code versions under the connection, then your version. Your cartridges are listed there once they have been uploaded

Select Connection makes the connection active and expands it in B2C Explorer. The code version combo next to it picks the upload target, and a listing under Code versions confirms remote access

Projects with a dw.json

If the project has a dw.json and no saved connections yet, the plugin imports it once when the project opens. After that, manage connections in B2C Explorer, see Connections

Send your first change

Upload all cartridges once

Click Deploy Code in the main toolbar, keep the active connection ticked and click Deploy to upload every linked cartridge and module to its code version. Progress shows in B2C Sync Log, see Deploy Code

Keep the instance in sync

Turn on Auto Upload in the main toolbar to upload every file you change in a linked cartridge. To send one file by hand, right-click it and choose Upload ... to ..., see Upload & Auto Upload

Check the storefront

The selected code version is only where files go. If it isn't the instance's active version, activate it in Business Manager or from B2C Explorer, see Code versions

If setup fails

What you seeWhat to do
No new cartridges notification and no plugin buttonsRun Find New Cartridges, or link the folders by hand. If you chose Don't Ask Again, tick Look for new cartridges and modules when the project opens in the dialog to turn the startup check back on
The Account list is emptyAdd the account in B2C Credentials, or link your team's credentials file
Test Connection fails with an authentication errorCheck the username's text case and the password. If the instance wants an access key for WebDAV, add it to the account, see Access keys
The host can't be reachedCheck the hostname, and your VPN if the instance is only reachable through it
Deploy Code or Auto Upload is missing from the toolbarSelect a connection in Select Connection
Completion and navigation don't workCheck the license, link the cartridge and wait for indexing, see JavaScript

Pipeline Editor performance

If scrolling or zooming in the Pipeline Editor lags, add -Djcef.remote.enabled=false to the IDE's custom VM options and restart the IDE

Open the custom VM options with Open VM Options in the panel above the graph or Help › Edit Custom VM Options…, add -Djcef.remote.enabled=false on its own line, save, then quit the IDE and start it again
RoutemacOSWindows and Linux
Pipeline EditorOpen VM Options in the panel above the graphOpen VM Options in the panel above the graph
Main menuHelp › Edit Custom VM Options...Help › Edit Custom VM Options... (behind ☰ in the new UI)
Find Action⇧⌘A, type vm options, choose Edit Custom VM Options...Ctrl+Shift+A, then the same

Put the option on its own line and keep the lines already in the file. Save, quit the IDE (⌘Q on macOS, File › Exit on Windows and Linux) and start it again. Closing the project or the tab is not enough

The option affects every embedded browser in the IDE, see Performance for the full guide and how to undo it

Where to go next

On this page