Whether you want to connect your Magento store with a mobile app or create a shopping application, Magento has now made it easier with its advanced technology.
You would be surprised to know that Magento is one of the top eCommerce platforms used in the United States. And, most Magento platforms are from the US only.
So, there is no doubt in saying that Magento is gradually increasing its market capture through its technology.
Today, with a single API, Magento mobile app development becomes easy and you can increase your reach.
By reading this article, you will learn about API, how it works, how to connect with a mobile app, and how it benefits your business.
Let’s dive into this blog.
What is API or Application Programming Interface?
Application Program Interface is a technology that allows computers to connect and communicate with each other. API is a kind of software interface as it is a service that uses a set of definitions and protocols for communication.
How Do APIs Work?
The architecture of the API is similar to the kind of client and server. The app that sends requests is called a client. And, the application that sends a response to the request is called a server. For example, when you request to check the weather report from the mobile app, you get a response from the weather database. In this case, your mobile app is the client and the weather database is the server.
There are various types of APIs that developers create for different types of needs. Let’s know each of the APIs in brief here.
SOAP APIs
The SOAP APIs are known as Simple Object Access Protocols. In this API, the client and server communicate with simple XML language. Usually, this API is used in eCommerce website development.
RPC APIs
The RPC APIs are known as Remote Procedure Calls. In this API, the client app completes a function on the server, and the server sends the output to the client.
REST APIs
The REST APIs are known as Representational State Transfer. This API is very well-known among developers who use it to connect clients and servers. The client sends data to the server and the server processes the data to send back the output to the client.
Let’s now understand the Magento 2 APIs.
What is Magento 2 APIs?
Magento API is a framework that facilitates developers and integrators for establishing smooth communication using web services with the Magento system. This web API of Magento covers both SOAP and REST.
Let’s learn about the Magento 2 API features that allow developers to create a Magento mobile application easily.
Magento 2 API mainly offers three main types of API support.
- REST API allows developers to send and receive data using the HTTP protocol.
- SOAP API allows developers to WSDL files per the user’s requests.
- GraphQL – This is an alternative to SOAP and REST for the design front.
Moving further, let’s know how Magento API helps.
- Creating a mobile shopping application with Magento 2 integration.
- Integration with CRM and ERP system with Magento 2 platform.
- Creating Javascript widgets for your web stores with the Magento admin panel.
Why Use Magento API?
Magento API opens up a new door for integrating the Magento framework with multiple platforms and applications. So, with Magento API, you can develop and incorporate new app components in an existing application or architecture. This way, you can help businesses to collaborate with IT technology. With API, you can quickly achieve data management and make effective business decisions.
How to Use Magento 2 API to Create a Shopping App?
Mobile phones are everywhere now. Each of us uses a mobile phone in our day-to-day life. And, most importantly, from waking up in the morning to sleeping at night we use mobile phones for several big and small tasks. That includes buying food and buying electronic items. We use mobile phones and these phones have become an integral part of our life.
So, it is not wrong to say that creating a shopping app for your Magento web store is the most beneficial thing.
However, if you are a non-technical person and want to create your own Magento mobile app, then you can hire an experienced eCommerce developer. This way, you can focus on your core business strategies and side-by-side get your Magento app developed through experts.
Magento offers its API that helps to create a shopping app that is easily accessible from mobile devices.
But, you might think about how to create an online shopping app using API. Or what are the ways to develop a mobile app using Magento API?
Magento API supports two types of API functions. Magento REST API is a predefined set of functions that allow eCommerce developers to perform requests and get responses using the HTTP protocol. The REST API follows three types of authentication through which you can connect your applications with REST API.
- Token-based authentication for mobile authentication
- Admin and users authentication with login credentials
- OAuth authentication for third-party access and functioning
So, how to get started with Magento 2 API, follows these steps.
Step 1. Login into your Magento 2 Admin Panel.
Step 2. Go to System then User Roles and click on the Add new role button.
Step 3. Enter the Role name.
Step 4. Now, enter the password in the password field, and use your Magento 2 admin password.
Step 5. On the left side of your screen, click on Role Resources.
Step 6. Under Resource Access, select the role you want for your web service.
Step 7. Hit the save button.
Once you are done with creating a role with the web series on Magento 2, now you need to create a web service user. Follow the below steps.
Step 1. Go to System, then All Users, and then click on Add New User.
Step 2. Enter your required information that includes the User’s First Name, Last Name, Email, and Password.
Step 3. On the left side of the screen, click User Role after that select the newly created role. Once with all these steps, click the Save User button.
Now, you need to use the authentication users by passing a newly created username and password for sending and receiving responses with variables.
So, these are the basic steps that help you to use API services for creating new users.
Conclusion
Converting your Magento store into an online shopping mobile app is easy to process if done in the right way. API services make that easy so you can easily integrate third-party services, create a mobile app for your store, and more. We hope this article has helped you to clear all your doubts.
If you are planning to create a Magento mobile app, then let’s get in touch. We are a leading Magento mobile app development company.