ISML Skill
This skill guides you through creating and working with ISML (Isomorphic Markup Language) templates in Salesforce B2C Commerce. ISML templates combine HTML with dynamic server-side tags.
Overview
ISML templates are server-side templates that generate HTML. They use special tags prefixed with is and expressions in ${...} syntax to embed dynamic content.
File Location
Templates reside in the cartridge's templates directory:
/my-cartridge
/cartridge
/templates
/default # Default locale
/product
detail.isml
tile.isml
/home
homepage.isml
/util
modules.isml # Custom tag definitions
/fr_FR # French-specific templates
/product
detail.ismlEssential Tags
Conditional Logic
<isif condition="${product.available}">
<span class="in-stock">In Stock</span>
<iselseif condition="${product.preorderable}">
<span class="preorder">Pre-order</span>
<iselse>
<span class="out-of-stock">Out of Stock</span>
</isif>Loops
<isloop items="${products}" var="product" status="loopstate">
<div class="product ${loopstate.odd ? 'odd' : 'even'}">
<span>${loopstate.count}. ${product.name}</span>
<isif condition="${loopstate.first}">
<span class="badge">Featured</span>
</isif>
</div>
</isloop>Loop status properties:
count- Iteration number (1-based)index- Current index (0-based)first- Boolean, true on first iterationlast- Boolean, true on last iterationodd- Boolean, true on odd iterationseven- Boolean, true on even iterations
Variables
<!-- Set a variable (scope is required) -->
<isset name="productName" value="${product.name}" scope="page"/>
<!-- Use the variable -->
<span>${productName}</span>
<!-- Remove a variable -->
<isremove name="productName" scope="page"/>Scopes (required): page, request, session, pdict
Output
<!-- Basic output (HTML encoded by default) -->
<isprint value="${product.name}"/>
<!-- Unencoded output (use carefully) -->
<isprint value="${htmlContent}" encoding="off"/>
<!-- Formatted number -->
<isprint value="${price}" style="CURRENCY"/>
<!-- Formatted date -->
<isprint value="${order.creationDate}" style="DATE_SHORT"/>Include Templates
<!-- Include local template -->
<isinclude template="product/components/price"/>
<!-- Include with URL (remote include) -->
<isinclude url="${URLUtils.url('Product-GetPrice', 'pid', product.ID)}"/>Decorator Pattern
Base decorator (layouts/pagelayout.isml):
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>${pdict.pageTitle}</title>
</head>
<body>
<header>
<isinclude template="components/header"/>
</header>
<main>
<isreplace/> <!-- Content inserted here -->
</main>
<footer>
<isinclude template="components/footer"/>
</footer>
</body>
</html>Page using decorator:
<isdecorate template="layouts/pagelayout">
<isslot id="home-banner" context="global"/>
<div class="homepage-content">
<h1>${pdict.welcomeMessage}</h1>
</div>
</isdecorate>Expressions
Expressions use ${...} syntax to embed dynamic values:
<!-- Property access -->
${product.name}
${product.price.sales.value}
<!-- Method calls -->
${product.getAvailabilityModel().isInStock()}
<!-- Built-in objects -->
${pdict.myVariable} <!-- Controller data -->
${session.customer.firstName} <!-- Session data -->
${request.httpParameterMap.pid.stringValue}
<!-- Operators -->
${price > 100 ? 'expensive' : 'affordable'}
${firstName + ' ' + lastName}
${quantity * unitPrice}Built-in Utilities
URLUtils
<!-- Controller URL -->
<a href="${URLUtils.url('Product-Show', 'pid', product.ID)}">View</a>
<!-- HTTPS URL -->
<a href="${URLUtils.https('Account-Show')}">My Account</a>
<!-- Static resource -->
<img src="${URLUtils.staticURL('/images/logo.png')}" alt="Logo"/>
<!-- Absolute URL -->
<a href="${URLUtils.abs('Home-Show')}">Home</a>Resource (Localization)
<!-- Get localized string -->
${Resource.msg('button.addtocart', 'product', null)}
<!-- With parameters -->
${Resource.msgf('cart.items', 'cart', null, cartCount)}StringUtils
<!-- Truncate text -->
${StringUtils.truncate(description, 100, '...')}
<!-- Format number -->
${StringUtils.formatNumber(quantity, '###,###')}Custom Modules
Define reusable custom tags in util/modules.isml:
<!-- Definition in util/modules.isml -->
<ismodule template="components/productcard"
name="productcard"
attribute="product"
attribute="showPrice"
attribute="showRating"/>
<!-- Usage in any template -->
<isinclude template="util/modules"/>
<isproductcard product="${product}" showPrice="${true}" showRating="${true}"/>Component template (components/productcard.isml):
<div class="product-card">
<img src="${product.image.url}" alt="${product.name}"/>
<h3>${product.name}</h3>
<isif condition="${pdict.showPrice}">
<span class="price">${product.price.sales.formatted}</span>
</isif>
<isif condition="${pdict.showRating && product.rating}">
<span class="rating">${product.rating} stars</span>
</isif>
</div>Caching
<!-- Cache for 24 hours -->
<iscache type="relative" hour="24"/>
<!-- Daily cache (expires at midnight) -->
<iscache type="daily" hour="0" minute="0"/>
<!-- Vary cache by parameter -->
<iscache type="relative" hour="1" varyby="price_promotion"/>Place <iscache> at the beginning of the template.
Content Type
<!-- Set content type (must be first in template) -->
<iscontent type="text/html" charset="UTF-8"/>
<!-- For JSON responses -->
<iscontent type="application/json" charset="UTF-8"/>
<!-- For XML -->
<iscontent type="application/xml" charset="UTF-8"/>Embedded Scripts
<isscript>
var ProductMgr = require('dw/catalog/ProductMgr');
var product = ProductMgr.getProduct(pdict.pid);
var price = product.priceModel.price;
</isscript>
<span>${price.toFormattedString()}</span>Best Practice: Keep <isscript> blocks minimal. Move complex logic to controllers or helper scripts.
Comments
<!-- HTML comment (visible in source) -->
<iscomment>
ISML comment - stripped from output.
Use for documentation and hiding sensitive info.
</iscomment>Tag Location Constraints
Not all ISML tags can be used anywhere. Important constraints:
| Tag | Allowed Location |
|---|---|
<iscontent> | Must be before DOCTYPE declaration |
<isredirect> | Must be before DOCTYPE declaration |
<isprint> | Only in <body> |
<isbreak> | Only in <body>, inside <isloop> |
<iscontinue> | Only in <body>, inside <isloop> |
<isnext> | Inside <isloop> |
<isreplace> | Must be within <isdecorate> tags |
<isactivedatahead> | Only in <head> |
Tags that can be used anywhere: <isif>, <isloop>, <isinclude>, <isset>, <isremove>, <iscache>, <iscomment>, <ismodule>, <iscookie>, <isstatus>.
Best Practices
- Use
<iscomment>instead of HTML comments for sensitive info - Place
<iscontent>first in templates that need it - Define modules in
util/modules.ismlfor consistency - Keep templates simple - move logic to controllers/helpers
- Use decorators for consistent page layouts
- Enable caching on cacheable pages with
<iscache> - Encode output - default encoding prevents XSS
Detailed Reference
For comprehensive tag documentation:
- Tags Reference - All ISML tags with examples
- Expressions Reference - Expression syntax and built-in functions