Guide to EasyCargo API (part 1)

While browsing our website, you might have come across the term API. This abbreviation is closely related to the IT industry, so you may not fully understand what this service is about and what benefits you can get from it. In this article, we will discuss what an API is and how it works. We thought it would be worth familiarizing you with this topic, as it will help you extend the functionality of your company’s software. Therefore, we decided to create a three-part series to cover this topic decently. Today, we will focus on the theoretical use of an API. At the conclusion of this article, you will learn what the upcoming articles of this series will contain.

The diagram above shows the role of the API in a very simple way. However, it is worth answering the following question beforehand – what is an API anyway? This acronym stands for application programming interface. There are different types of APIs – we have a REST API. The different types of APIs and their meanings should not matter very much to you, so we will not strictly focus on the different types of APIs here. An application programming interface is a specific set of solutions by which you can use the data of another service through your own website or software. What does this mean? If your company has an internal service for handling e.g. transport, you can download data from your account in EasyCargo, which will then be delivered directly to the company software.

However, to communicate with EasyCargo or other software via API, you still need an API key. An API key allows us to identify your site when it interacts with EasyCargo. If you would like to obtain one, please contact us by using our contact form. Once the key is generated, you can find it from your user profile in the top right corner by clicking on the Show API Key button.

Note: handle your API key as you would your account password – keep it to yourself.

With the most important information about APIs behind us, we can finally move on to explain the role of the application programming interface based on the diagram below.

We think that by this part of the article you have already understood the idea of how the API works. You can find the EasyCargo application programming interface at this link. We still want to draw your attention to the fact that all the query examples in the API documentation are written using HTTP. We recommend using the more secure HTTPS protocol.

We think that by this part of the article, you now understand how an API works. We want to draw your attention to the fact that all of the query examples in the API documentation are written using HTTP. Furthermore, we recommend using the more secure HTTPS protocol.

In summary, the first part of this series focused mainly on explaining what an API is and the idea behind it. The next article will contain more practical information applicable to real-world usage. We will try to make you more familiar with using an API with EasyCargo as well as other information when using our API client. You will see for yourself that the appropriate queries to the EasyCargo programming interface will result in the requested data. In the last part of this series, we will discuss what communicating through the API with EasyCargo makes possible.