There is no doubt that Magento 2 brings a lot of benefits for an online store owner or service provider. When using Magento 2 extensions, you must have already heard of ‘Fully Support REST API’. This article is an overview of what is Magento 2 API, the types of it, how to use and popular extensions support API.
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API stands for Application Program Interface.
The way for two applications or services to communicate with one another is called an “interface”.
From a technical standpoint, APIs play an extremely important role in supporting two different programs in communicating with each other. They allow the capabilities of one computer program to be used by another.
As a result, Magento 2 APIs are widely implemented for devices such as the iPhone, Facebook, browser extensions, and others.
It’s important to have the knowledge to distinguish API types for further working with it. Firstly, you should understand the term authentication.
Authentication is defined as “is the act of proving an assertion, such as the identity of a computer system user. In contrast with identification, the act of indicating a person or thing’s identity, authentication is the process of verifying that identity” (wikipedia source)
Magento uses authentication to determine the user form of the caller. API calls’ resource accessibility is determined by the user’s access rights (administrator, integration, client, or guest).
There are three types of authentication that we can use in Magento 2.
Let’s dig in, so you can determine what types are right for your certain business purpose.
Token-based authentication is a protocol that allows users to verify their identity, and in return receive a unique access token. Users then access the website or app that the token has been issued for as long as the token remains valid.
In the token-based authentication, the user data is encrypted and sent back to the client as a JWT (JSON Web Token) with a password.
The user state is stored on the server’s memory in session-based authentication. The server using a session-based authentication system can create and store the session data for each user. The user logs in and then can store the session Id in a cookie on the user browser.
On subsequent requests to the server, the session Id is submitted, and the server compares it to the stored session data before performing the requested action.
OAuth is a token-passing mechanism that allows a device to monitor which third-party applications have access to internal data without having to expose or store user IDs or passwords.
An integration in Magento is a third-party program that uses OAuth for authentication. The resources that the application can access are specified by the integration. Access to all services may be given to the application.
It is a fact that APIs enable companies to expand their revenue more quickly than ever before. They are vital tools for business in all industries, and here are 2 main use cases in Magento 2 stores:
Here are some examples that integration with 3rd-party software is applied:
Customer Relationship Management for Magento 2: This module allows the admin to track the customer.
QuickBooks Online: This tool is a cloud version of QuickBooks Desktop to allow you to keep track of all business transactions, cash flows, inventories, and other details from anywhere (and at any time).
Odoo Bridge For Magento 2: is a flexible tool that allows you to integrate your Magento store with Odoo in a seamless manner.
Magento PWA Studio is the best example application of API in mobile app development. It is a set of required tools that help online merchants to develop their online stores with a native app-like experience.
For further information, please read more here
We are so proud to inform you that there are numerous useful extensions supporting REST API from Landofcoder. A lot of our modules now have this updated functionality which allows third-party applications to ask and receive responses quickly. Let’s take an overview of the most outstanding ones:
There are still a number of extensions that support REST API from us, if you want to dive deeper into details, then you can see it in here https://landofcoder.com/
Due to its convenience in allowing the third party application to request and receive a response in a blink, Rest API-supported Magento 2 extensions have become the trend in the marketplace. As a result, we want to list the 5 best extensions from other Magento Extension Providers as your reference to help you to improve your business in the new year of 2021.
Wrapping it up, nowadays Magento 2 API are multifunctional tools for businesses to expand their benefits. We hope that after reading this post, you will have a better understanding of API in Magento 2, the types, usage, and best Magento 2 API extensions.
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