Comm-Dev-101 Salesforce Certified B2C Commerce Developer Exam Topics and Questions

This topic deals with getting a Salesforce B2C Commerce environment ready for development work. You configure your IDE, connect it to a sandbox via WebDAV, import data files through Business Manager, set cartridge paths, create new sites, and assign storefront data. The cost comes from precision: wrong cartridge order, missed site configuration, or a botched import leaves you debugging deployment failures instead of writing code.

– Development environment and cartridge deployment

You need to connect your IDE to a sandbox using WebDAV so you can push cartridges to the correct version directories. The version directory structure matters because B2C Commerce expects cartridges in specific paths, and a misplaced file means the platform will not load your code. Cartridge path configuration follows next: you add cartridge names to the path in the correct sequence so the platform knows which code to execute and in what order. Path precedence determines which version of a controller or template wins when multiple cartridges provide the same resource. Get the sequence wrong and you will see unexpected behaviour or missing functionality on the storefront. This section also covers importing data files using the Business Manager Import/Export modules. Data imports populate products, prices, inventory, content assets, and other entities. You need to know which module handles which file type and how to trigger the import without overwriting live data.

– Site creation and configuration

Creating a new site in Business Manager means setting the default currency and taxation type according to business requirements. Currency and tax settings affect how prices display and how orders calculate totals, so choosing the wrong defaults cascades into every transaction. Once the site exists, you assign storefront data configurations: locale settings, payment methods, shipping methods, customer groups, price books, inventory lists, and content libraries. Each configuration ties the site to the data it needs to function. Miss a price book assignment and products will not display prices. Skip a shipping method and checkout fails. The exam expects you to know which configurations are mandatory for a functioning site and which are optional enhancements.

How B2C Commerce Setup is tested

At 11 percent, this topic generates around a dozen items. Questions present a scenario where something is misconfigured and you identify the fix, or they describe a requirement and you choose the correct setup step. You might see a cartridge path in the wrong order and need to spot which cartridge should move. Another item could give you a site that will not display prices and ask what configuration is missing. The trap is choosing an answer that sounds plausible but does not match the platform's actual behaviour. For example, cartridge path order is left to right, and the leftmost cartridge wins when two provide the same resource. Candidates who assume right to left or alphabetical order lose marks. Data import questions often hinge on knowing which Business Manager module handles which file type, and choosing the wrong module wastes time in the real exam environment because you cannot trial-and-error your way through multiple-choice items.

Once the site exists, you work with its data and configuration in Business Manager. This topic covers the product data model, inventory and price books, payment and shipping configuration, and the content system that powers pages and slots. The challenge is breadth: you move between product management, order enablement, and content authoring, and each area has its own interface and logic. Candidates who know development but skip Business Manager tasks will guess their way through this section.

– Product data, categorization, and commerce entities

The product data model includes products, variants, product sets, bundles, categories, inventory lists, and price books. You use Business Manager to create and manage these entities, assign products to categories, configure search models so products appear in storefront search results, and link inventory and pricing so the platform knows what is in stock and what it costs. The product search model determines which attributes are searchable and how results rank. Misconfigure it and products vanish from search or appear in the wrong order. Inventory lists control stock levels per site, and price books define pricing per currency and customer group. The exam expects you to know how these entities relate: a product without a price book assignment will not display a price, and a product with zero inventory may still appear on the storefront depending on inventory settings.

– Order enablement and content management

Configuring payment and shipping information in Business Manager enables shoppers to complete orders. Payment methods link to payment processors, and shipping methods define cost, speed, and carrier. Miss a configuration step and checkout fails or displays no shipping options. Content management uses Content Assets for reusable text and media, Page Designer for building marketing pages, Content Slots for injecting content into templates, and Content Folders for organizing assets. You need to know when to use each tool. Content Assets suit small, reusable pieces like banners or promotional text. Page Designer suits full pages where marketers need layout control. Content Slots inject content into existing templates at predefined locations. Choosing the wrong tool means rework or a content structure that does not scale.

How Work With a B2C Site is tested

This topic accounts for 12 percent, so expect around a dozen items. Questions describe a business requirement and ask which Business Manager task or configuration achieves it. You might see a scenario where products do not appear in search results and need to identify the missing search model configuration. Another item could describe a checkout failure and ask which payment or shipping setting is misconfigured. Content questions often present a requirement like displaying a banner on the homepage and ask whether to use a Content Asset, a Content Slot, or Page Designer. The trap is choosing a tool that could work but is not the correct fit for the requirement. Candidates lose marks when they confuse Content Assets with Content Slots, or when they assume inventory settings always hide out-of-stock products. The exam rewards knowing what each tool does and when the platform enforces a dependency, like price books for displaying prices.

At 24 percent, this is the second-heaviest topic and the one where Business Manager tasks blend into development decisions. You configure search, logging, custom attributes, custom objects, OCAPI permissions, and cache settings. You also diagnose performance issues using profilers and logs. The topic punishes candidates who treat Business Manager as a marketer's tool: these tasks require understanding how configuration changes affect code behaviour and storefront performance.

– Search configuration and refinement

Site search preferences control which product attributes are searchable, how search terms map to results, and which fields contribute to ranking. You modify these settings to enable searching for a specified term or attribute, and you create search refinements so shoppers can filter results by brand, price range, colour, or other facets. Sorting definitions let shoppers reorder results by price, name, or custom attributes. The exam expects you to know where in Business Manager these settings live and what happens when a refinement is misconfigured. A common trap: enabling an attribute for search does not automatically make it a refinement. You configure those separately. Another: search settings are site-specific, so changes in one site do not propagate to others unless you export and import the configuration.

– Logging, custom attributes, and custom objects

Logging categories in Business Manager control what gets written to log files and at what level. You configure categories for custom code, set log levels to debug or error, and access the logs to troubleshoot issues. The platform writes logs per category, so misconfigured categories mean missing data when you need it. Custom attributes extend existing system object types like Product, Customer, or Order. You add an attribute in Business Manager, define its type and constraints, then reference it in code. The exam tests whether you know when a custom attribute suffices versus when you need a custom object. Custom objects store data that does not fit an existing system object. You define the object type, its attributes, and its key definition. Choosing a custom object when a custom attribute would work adds unnecessary complexity. Choosing a custom attribute when the data does not belong on an existing object type causes schema problems.

– Performance, caching, and OCAPI permissions

Performance issues appear as slow page loads, timeouts, or high server load. You use profilers and logs to inspect code performance, identify bottlenecks, and implement solutions like cache configuration. The platform caches pages, content, and data queries, and you configure cache settings per page type or include. The exam expects you to recognize when caching helps and when it causes stale data. OCAPI permissions control access to Data and Shop APIs. You configure permissions per client ID, specifying which resources and HTTP methods are allowed. Misconfigured permissions block legitimate requests or expose sensitive data. The exam tests whether you know the difference between Data API, which manages backend data, and Shop API, which supports storefront operations. Service configurations define connections to external systems, and you recognize how they apply to the development process: services need credentials, endpoints, and timeout settings before your code can call them.

How Data Management Using Business Manager Usage is tested

This topic generates around 25 items, more than any other except Application Development. Questions present a requirement or a problem and ask which configuration or tool resolves it. You might see a scenario where a product attribute is not searchable and need to identify the missing search preference. Another item could describe slow page performance and ask which cache setting or profiler result points to the bottleneck. Custom attribute versus custom object questions describe a data storage need and ask which approach fits. The trap is choosing the heavier solution when a lighter one works, or missing the constraint that custom attributes belong to existing object types while custom objects stand alone. OCAPI questions often give you a permission error and ask which setting in Business Manager fixes it. Candidates lose marks when they confuse Data API with Shop API, or when they assume all performance issues are caching problems. The exam rewards knowing which tool diagnoses which issue and what each configuration change actually does to the platform.

Application Development is the exam's centre of gravity at 53 percent. You write ISML templates, build and extend JavaScript controllers, create Page Designer components, handle forms with validation and CSRF protection, implement localization, write to custom logs, integrate services, use hooks, optimize code for performance, call OCAPI from external systems, and develop scheduled jobs. This topic is where the exam separates candidates who can read documentation from those who have written and debugged live storefront code.

– ISML templates and controller development

ISML templates render storefront pages and use tags for local includes, remote includes, and components. Local includes pull in other templates at render time. Remote includes make a separate HTTP request for a template fragment, which helps with caching. Components are reusable ISML modules. You need to know when each inclusion method applies: local includes suit simple partials, remote includes suit cached fragments, and components suit logic-heavy reusable blocks. JavaScript controllers handle requests, call models or helpers, process data, and render templates or return JSON. You create new controllers and extend existing ones using models, decorators, factories, and helpers. The exam expects you to follow API best practices: use models for business logic, decorators to transform data for the view, factories to instantiate objects, and helpers for utility functions. Mixing concerns in a controller makes code hard to maintain and violates the patterns the platform expects.

– Page Designer, forms, and localization

Page Designer lets marketers build pages without touching code. You develop page types and components that define what a marketer can add and configure. A page type sets the overall structure. Components are the building blocks marketers drag onto the page. The exam tests whether you know how to expose configuration attributes in a component so marketers can change text, images, or behaviour without developer help. Forms accept, validate, and persist customer information. You modify form appearance using ISML and form definitions, add validation rules in the form XML, include CSRF protection to prevent cross-site attacks, and use bindings to map form fields to persistent object attributes. Miss CSRF protection and the form is vulnerable. Skip validation and bad data reaches your database. Localization ensures pages display in the expected language. You implement it in templates using resource bundles, in form definitions using locale-specific labels, in static files by creating language-specific versions, and in properties files that store translatable strings. Persistent object attributes can have locale-specific values, and you configure that in Business Manager.

– Logging, services, and hooks

Logging code writes non-sensitive data to custom log files at different log levels. You use the Logger API, specify the log category, choose the level (debug, info, warn, error), and avoid logging sensitive data like credit card numbers or passwords. The exam expects you to know which level suits which situation: debug for development, error for production issues, and info for significant events. Services integrate external systems. You deploy a service instance, configure credentials and endpoints in Business Manager, then call the service from your code. The exam tests whether you know how to handle service responses, timeouts, and errors. Hooks extend functionality or capture events at defined extension points. You register a hook in a hooks JSON file, write the hook script, and the platform calls your code when the event fires. Common use cases include modifying a basket before checkout, enriching product data before rendering, or logging an event for analytics.

– Code quality, OCAPI, and scheduled jobs

Code that violates best practices costs performance and scalability. The exam presents code with issues and asks you to identify and fix them. Common violations include querying inside a loop, not using caching, mixing business logic with presentation, or ignoring API deprecation warnings. You need to recognize the issue and know the correct pattern: move queries outside loops, enable caching where appropriate, separate concerns into models and controllers, and update deprecated API calls. OCAPI Shop and Data APIs enable external systems to interact with B2C Commerce. Shop API supports storefront operations like searching products or creating baskets. Data API manages backend data like customers or orders. You use OCAPI when an external system needs programmatic access, and the exam tests whether you know which API suits which task and how to authenticate requests. Scheduled jobs perform tasks on a recurring basis. You develop a job in Business Manager, write a job script that contains the logic, and configure the schedule. Jobs suit tasks like data imports, cache warming, or cleanup routines. The exam expects you to know how to pass parameters to a job and how to handle errors without crashing the job runner.

How Application Development is tested

At 53 percent, this topic dominates the exam with around 55 items. Questions span ISML syntax, controller structure, Page Designer component development, form handling, localization implementation, logging calls, service integration, hook registration, code review for best practices, OCAPI usage, and job script development. An item might show an ISML template with a rendering issue and ask which tag or include type fixes it. Another could present a controller that mixes business logic with presentation and ask how to refactor it. Form questions often hinge on CSRF protection: the form submits but fails validation, and you identify the missing token. Localization questions describe a requirement for multi-language support and ask which files or settings need changes. Code review items present a snippet with a performance problem and ask which change improves it. The trap is choosing a fix that works but does not follow platform conventions, or missing the specific API method the platform expects. Candidates lose marks when they confuse local and remote includes, skip CSRF protection, log sensitive data, or choose the wrong OCAPI API for the task. The volume of items means a weak area here costs more marks than a weak area anywhere else.