In this edition of the e-conomic developer newsletter, you can read about our new token-based API connection model, find info on our new Developer Network resources, get further app optimizing tips, learn about the e-conomic Hackathon, plus much more.
New token-based connection model
We have introduced a new token-based API connection model in which you can access data in e-conomic user agreements without having to store user credentials.
With this model, users grant access to an app through e-conomic's Grant access page and in return obtain a token. This token needs to be returned to you, either manually or using a URL redirect, to allow your app to connect to the e-conomic API.
We encourage all partners to implement the token-based model, and with time we expect this to be the only way for apps to connect to the API. See our connection tutorial to learn more about the flow and technical details.
The benefits with the model include:
You no longer need to store usernames and passwords of e-conomic users, meaning all security related to sensitive data is handled by e-conomic
Users can disable access for individual apps in e-conomic using the new Apps list, instead of having to disable access for all apps simultaneously
When users change their passwords, users no longer need to notify you, and you in turn don't have to spend time updating your records
Define access levels through roles
As part of the token-based model, it is now possible to manage which parts of a user's data an app can access.
When modifying the URL of the Grant access page so users will be redirected back to your app page, you can include the role, currently either superuser or sales, in the query string.
Different sets of entities are accessible for each role, thus allowing for graduated app access to user data.
To allow developers to find all e-conomic developer resources from one place, we’ve created a new Developer Network distribution page aimed specifically and exclusively at developers, with links and pointers to all documentation, tutorials, samples and other resources available to developers.
Also, we have moved both the Developer Toolkit (SDK) and the API Documentation to Github to allow for easier maintenance. We will not keep these resources up-to-date at their old locations, so please make sure to always use the latest updated version available at Github.
Finally, a live demo app running on Amazon cloud servers is now available, with more content to be added continually.
We very often see developers implementing an order-to-invoice flow – first creating the order, then upgrading it to a current invoice, and finally booking it. But unless you actually send the order to your customer in order for them to upgrade and book it or to get their confirmation, you may just as well create current invoices from scratch – thus skipping both creating and upgrading the order, leading to a much shorter and faster workflow.
The only situation where creating orders you don’t send to your customer can be justified is if you’re using the Stock Management add-on module, and you don’t book the invoice shortly after having created it. This is because current (non-booked) invoices themselves don’t reduce the number of available items in stock (as exposed in the Available property of the IProduct class), whereas orders do.
However, as long as you book the current invoice shortly after creating it, you may as well skip the order step altogether.
First e-conomic Hackathon
At the recent Company Days we organized our very first e-conomic Hackathon, providing teams of developers and others from the organization with a full day to come up with the most valuable hack to the e-conomic application.
This really brought out the competitive, collaborative and creative spirit in our developers, as well as some hectic activity with the midnight deadline approaching!
We were all very impressed with the quality of the suggested improvements, and over the coming months a lot of the ideas from the Hackathon will be implemented in the application.
Improved initialization time
We've improved the performance on the initialization step of the Developer Toolkit significantly.
It used to take 30+ seconds to initialize before you could connect and use the API. This is now down to 1.5 seconds. Note that the performance of subsequent calls to the API is the same as previously.
Getting Started
To get started building apps and integrations, take a look at our Developer Network pages where you'll find all the resources available to you.
We also recommend that you sign up for a free 14-day trial to see how e-conomic works and find out what you can and can't do using the system.
In case you would like to uphold access to your trial setup and data beyond the 14 days, you can contact our Apps team and ask them to extend your trial.
