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New API Forum
Welcome to the new forum to discuss all things API related!
The API will be released officially tomorrow.
The API will be released officially tomorrow.
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Developer :: Bluepark -
Rich
Do you know of any resources/websites/books we can use to help understand how to use this API? Or should we just wait until the clever forum members start posting instructions?
Ian -
Les, You will not find much in the way of introductions out there. Basically an API (Application Programming Interface) is an opening of a database or resources to a limited group of people (in our case BP users that want to try it). All mature online businesses have an API e.g. Ebay, Amazon etc etc.
What Rich has provided is another way of interacting with our sites data. Instead of logging in through a web browser and working through the web forms and interface that we are all familiar with at www.yoursitename.com/admin we can now get a computer program / 3rd party to update our BP data automatically. This is very useful for example with third-party suppliers and channels. Up until now any volume updating was done 1 screen at a time or using the csv import/export. Now we can update/delete/create all aspects of our data behind the scenes ad hoc.
For example I sell on Amazon but I dont sit down and create an order on Bluepark every time an Amazon Order arrives. But that is exactly what access to an API could do. It can keep all these third-party channels and suppliers synchronised in near real-time.
Do I want to maintain my listings, stock levels etc on Amazon AND Bluepark and Ebay and Play.com etc etc with its numerous headaches or do I want 1 data store that communicates via the API to the other 3? Its a battle of data stores, whoever has the best most easily accessible data store retains my business, traffic and loyalty. The API will allow you to scale your business rather than 1 person inputting data or importing CSV files.
You will find that many of the 'wouldnt it be nice if bluepark could do x' type questions are now possible using the API. The actual mechanics of how it gets done are a bit technical but Rich has thought it out well and it is straightforward. You will find many people on Elance.com, Odesk.com etc that can work with what Rich has provided.
To put it in the metaphor of a car. Rich and his team makes the car, you are the driver.
Rich has just opened the bonnet, you can now be a mechanic.
I hope this helps.
RobComment
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Cheers Rob
I sell on Amazon too, will we get instructions on how to update stock and add products automatically or is it a case of learning how to do it (I'm no mechanic,
) or paying for someone to do it for me?
IanComment
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Well, BP are I think going to ultimately connect to Amazon, but you in theory can now download Amazon Orders using the Amazon API and insert them into BP, using the BP API, down-dating stock at the same time. That is what I intend to do. I have been using the Amazon API but have had to build yet another data store in the middle. I can now connect the two with a state-less connection and forget the data store in the middle.
The instructions are sort of implicit in the API Specification. In the car metaphor, hes opened the bonnet and hes wrote you the Haynes manual (API Specification) but what you do after that is up to you. The beauty of the API is that we don't have to wait for Rich to build it for us, we all have different priorities and budgets we now have choice. We can bolt on what we want when we want. This is quite liberating.
To answer your question you can do either depending on your skill-set /patience level. The great thing about API's is that it is all documented to a third-party. You can make the software specification to do this in a few sentences. You can unveil what you want from a business sense in layers with access rights much like you would to a new employee.
RobComment
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