API Configurations & Application Programming

Computer API Configurations or APIs or “Application Programming Interfaces” are used to connect services to one another. An API allows a connection from one web service to another and many times website owners will need to implement an API in order to make certain services work, especially when the desire is to share data between two websites.

We have configured and connected hundreds of APIs for websites and our team can help install or connect an API for customers who are looking for a web developer to handle an API integration for their website. APIs are complex and involve developing computer software to the exact specification of the API wanting to be utilized with most API requirements being different; it is not a plug and play interface, these are custom builds based on the specifications of the API desired.

An example of an API in use, or one in which we built, is the Yellow Pages being connected to a local listing service called Yext using an API. In this instance, Yext, wanted to be able to add or insert business listings into the Yellow Pages website automatically using an API. To accomplish this, the Yellow Pages website had to utilize Yext’s API to give Yext the ability to connect to the Yellow Pages database and insert listings live. The API was developed according to Yext’s specifications and the two services were configured to work together allowing the API to handle the removal and addition of listings which are then displayed on the Yellow Pages website.

A second example of an API in which we built and configured is a used cars website which wanted to be able to scan a VIN number and dynamically generate the vehicles Make, Model and Transmission Type (automatic or manual) based on data which would be received by a company called Data One Software which provided a cross checking service to “explode a VIN number” in order to retrieve data about that vehicle through the Vehicle Identification Number. The Data One service was subscribed to, for a fee, and the API credentials and connection protocols where delivered to the used cars website operators. We then configured the used cars website to connected to the Data One API once per day and scan all the VINs of all the vehicles to ensure the correct Makes and Models where in the database as well as ensuring the vehicles where listed with the correct transmission type allowing the system to have a full-proof way of cross checking data based off of the data provided from the Data One API.

Thousands of sites and apps offer APIs for data to be shared between two services. If you need help connecting or building an API, please contact us for more information on custom API development.

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