To gain Access and be Authenticated by Empower's API, follow the following steps:
1. Get an API User Name and Password from Empower - this will be provided on request and will be in the form of apiCompanyNamexxxx (where company name is your Company Name and xxxx is a string).
Note that:
- The API User Name should only be used to access the API - other modules (e.g. Management, Factory, etc.) will not be able to be accessed by the API User Name.
- The User Name that you currently use to access Empower will not work for the API.
For the security of your data, Empower's API will verify that Clients or third party developers or systems are permitted to initiate a transaction before they make one. Empower will then authenticate each request. If the request cannot be authenticated, an appropriate message is returned.
2. In the SOAP request header, your application or SOAP client must set the API Username and Password elements (provided to you in #1 above) to pass an API username/password combination.
The following example shows part of the AuthenticationCredential elements.
<soapenv:Header>
<web:AuthenticationCredential>
<web:UserName>apiCompanyNameAbcd </web:UserName>
<web:Password>apiPassword</web:Password>
</web:AuthenticationCredential>
</soapenv:Header>These elements are required for all SOAP requests.
3. The API Connection/Authentication can be tested by a simple call to the function
PingWithAuthenticated(message As String) As String
You will get the message string back if the ping test is successful.
For an example see Example Code.