How to Connect to an API to Communicate Efficiently with Your B2B and EDI Partners

If you distribute your products through retail channels, chances are you already have some sort of EDI solution in place to communicate with your trading partners — whether that's a VAN, a web portal, or a true B2B/EDI file transfer solution.

But increasingly, retailers are adopting APIs to manage B2B document exchanges, such as purchase orders, invoices, and shipping notifications. Many legacy and popular EDI solutions do not enable trading partners to connect to these new API driven marketplaces and storefronts. However, CData Arc makes it easy for your organization to connect with trading partners using APIs and EDI alike.

Here, we cover where APIs are becoming a popular replacement for EDI and how you can leverage CData Arc to easily communicate with partners using APIs for B2B communications. The first step is to understand what APIs are and what APIs can do.

What is an API?

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of rules and protocols that allows one software application to interact with another. It defines the methods and data formats that applications can use to communicate and exchange information. APIs enable different systems, whether within the same organization or between different companies, to work together seamlessly. They act as intermediaries that facilitate the integration of various software components, ensuring that data can be accessed, modified, and transmitted efficiently.

APIs play a crucial role in modern software development, especially in the context of B2B (Business-to-Business) and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) partnerships. In these scenarios, companies often need to exchange large volumes of data, such as purchase orders, invoices, and shipping notifications. APIs provide a standardized way to automate these interactions, reducing the need for manual data entry and minimizing the risk of errors. By leveraging APIs, businesses can streamline their operations, improve accuracy, and enhance overall efficiency in their communication with partners.

Moreover, APIs offer significant flexibility and scalability. They can be designed to support various types of data formats and communication protocols, making it easier to integrate with different systems. This adaptability is particularly beneficial for organizations that need to connect with multiple partners, each with their own unique systems and requirements. With APIs, businesses can quickly adapt to changing needs and expand their capabilities without having to overhaul their existing infrastructure. This makes APIs an essential tool for maintaining efficient and reliable B2B and EDI communications.

Major B2B trading partners and e-commerce platforms using APIs

The use of APIs for trading partner communications is a growing trend. You'll need to adopt API communications to connect with several key EDI partners:

• Amazon (Seller Central)
• Walmart
• Home Depot
• Lowe's
• Wayfair
• Shopify
• Magento

You can communicate with all of these major B2B partners and many more using APIs. Though some of these are primarily brick and mortar have also built online storefronts to compete with Amazon and these also rely on APIs. while Wayfair still allows its partners to connect EDI, it not only gives its partners the opportunity to connect using APIs but incentivizes that switch by displaying the products of vendors that use APIs higher in the search results than those using EDI.

Additionally, if you're working with a small to medium-sized companies that currently lack EDI processes and want to automate your intercompany communication with them, consider an API-driven process. Implementing API communications is much faster and easier than using traditional EDI. While EDI relies on complex, opaque document formats and thus requires EDI specialists, many developers today use technologies such as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), Open Data Protocol (OData) and Swagger Open API Specification that make API creation faster and easier. You can even use CData API Server to generate your own company API in minutes.

How to connect to an API: Step-by-step

The following steps provide a framework for how to use an API to get data in a reliable and repeatable way.

Get familiar with the API's documentation

Before you begin integrating an API, it's essential to thoroughly review its documentation. This documentation provides critical information about the API's endpoints, request and response formats, authentication methods, and error handling procedures. Understanding these details will help you design effective API requests and avoid common pitfalls. Most API providers offer comprehensive guides, examples, and FAQs to assist developers in getting started.

Get the API key

APIs often require an API key for authentication and to track usage. The API key acts as a unique identifier that grants you access to the API en. To obtain an API key, you typically need to sign up for an account with the API provider and request the key from their developer portal. Store this key securely, as it is necessary for all your API requests and should not be exposed in public repositories or shared openly.

Write the API request

Once you have the API key, the next step is to construct your API request. An API request typically includes a URL endpoint, the HTTP method (such as GET, POST, PUT, or DELETE), headers, and any necessary parameters or payload data. Use the information from the API documentation to format your request correctly. For instance, if you are fetching data, you might need to append query parameters to the URL or include specific headers for authorization.

Follow the documented protocol

Adhering to the API documentation protocol is crucial for successful communication. Each API has its own set of rules and conventions, such as rate limits, pagination methods, and error handling procedures. Make sure your requests comply with these guidelines to avoid issues like being throttled or receiving unexpected errors. Properly handling responses and errors according to the documentation ensures your integration is robust and reliable.

Test your requests

Before deploying your API integration, it is essential to thoroughly test your requests. Use tools like Postman or Curl to send test requests and inspect the responses. Verify that your requests are formatted correctly and that the API responds as expected. Testing helps you identify and fix issues early, ensuring that your application interacts smoothly with the API. Additionally, consider setting up automated tests to regularly check the functionality of your API integration.

4 Best practices for connecting to an API

To worki with APIs, you'll need to understand of best practices that are frequently followed when using an API.

Use integrations with the same deployment model as your applications

When integrating with an API, it’s essential to ensure that the integration shares the same deployment model as your applications. This means that if your application is cloud-based, the API integration should also be designed to operate in the cloud. This alignment simplifies deployment, scaling, and maintenance, as both components can leverage the same infrastructure and tools. Consistency in the deployment model helps avoid complications that arise from mismatched environments, ensuring smoother and more reliable operation.

Decouple the integration logic from your applications

Decoupling the integration logic from your main application code is a crucial best practice. By separating these components, you can isolate changes and updates to the API integration without impacting the core functionality of your application. This modular approach improves maintainability and reduces the risk of introducing bugs. Use middleware, microservices, or integration platforms to handle API interactions, allowing your main application to remain focused on its primary tasks.

Capitalize on API's real-time capabilities

One of the significant advantages of APIs is their ability to facilitate real-time data exchange. Take full advantage of this capability by designing your integrations to handle real-time updates and notifications. This can enhance the responsiveness and efficiency of your business processes. For example, using webhooks or push notifications can ensure that your system is immediately informed of changes, reducing latency and improving the timeliness of your operations.

Document APIs thoughtfully

Comprehensive documentation of your API integrations is vital for long-term maintainability and collaboration. Clearly document the purpose, configuration, and usage of each integration, including details about the endpoints, request/response formats, error handling, and any dependencies. Good documentation ensures that other developers can understand and work with your integrations, facilitating troubleshooting and future enhancements. It also helps maintain consistency and quality as your integration evolves over time.

CData Arc makes API integration easy

CData Arc provides a simple visual integration canvas that allows you to see and manage all your API partner integrations. This canvas includes the following capabilities:

Workspaces

CData Arc allows you to create and manage individual workflows using the Workspaces capability. Workspaces provide a drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy for you to organize and configure your integrations and insert connectors.

Out-of-the-box, standard connectors

Easy-to-use REST API and SOAP connectors allow you to connect to a wide range of front-end web services. We also offer out of the box connectors that enable you to connect to specific platforms, such as Shopify or Amazon Seller Central.

Webhooks

CData Arc's built-in Webhook Connector can receive inbound API requests so you can automatically pull in purchase orders or other documents instead of having to go out and run a query to access these documents.

Webinar: How to Integrate With Your B2B Partner's APIs

Not only does CData Arc enable you to exchange documents using both APIs and EDI, but it also offers comprehensive security and built-in encryption. To see how you can set up API-based partner document exchanges and automate your B2B integrations in minutes, check out our webinar: How to Integrate with Your Partner's APIs.