REST (Representational State Transfer) and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) are web service architectures for building distributed systems. However, with service upgrades, more systems are transitioning from SOAP to REST. The REST API has the following benefits compared to SOAP:
- Lightweight: RESTful APIs typically have smaller message sizes and lower overhead. This results in faster data transmission and less network traffic, critical for mobile applications and other performance-sensitive scenarios.
- Scalability: REST is more scalable by design due to its statelessness and simplicity. It is simpler to distribute client requests over various servers or microservices since each request from a client provides all the information required for understanding and handling the request.
- Caching Support: REST can use HTTP caching features to reduce redundant data transfers and boost performance when data doesn’t change frequently.
- Security: RESTful services can implement standard security protocols like OAuth2 for authentication and SSL/TLS for data encryption to provide users with high-level protection options.
The Acumatica REST API shares the same business logic as SOAP. The difference lies in the setup and configuration that are shown below.
Supported Versions
| Acumatica Version | StarShip Version | StarShip Source Interface | API Method | Endpoint |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022R2 | 22.3 | Acumatica 6.0 – 2022 R2 | SOAP | VTechEndPointV5_2022R2_0004 |
| 2022R2 | 23.0 | Acumatica 2022 R2 | REST | VTechEndPointV6_2022R2_0007 |
| 2023R1 | 23.1.3 | Acumatica 2022 R2 – 2023 R1 | REST | VTechEndPointV6_2023R1_0001 |
| 2023R2 | 24.0 | Acumatica 2022 R2 – 2023 R2 | REST | VTechEndPointV6_2023R2_0001 |
Each iteration of the StarShip is designed to be compatible with not only the specific Acumatica version it is intended for but also ensures seamless support for all previous Acumatica versions, ensuring a consistent and reliable user experience across different software iterations.
Pre-Requisites
You must publish a new customization project in Acumatica before using REST API integration with Acumatica. Endpoints are mandatory to download, upload, publish, and configure. For more information, please refer to Create the V-TECH Endpoints.
Here are the different versions of the Acumatica REST API endpoints.
- Acumatica 2022 R2: VTechEndPointV6_2022R2_0007
- Acumatica 2023 R1: VTechEndPointV6_2023R1_0001
- If you use Rate Quote, you must also download StarShip Rate Quote V2_0001.
- When publishing in Acumatica, only one VTechEndPoint can be used. If the old SOAP endpoint is already published, it must be unpublished before publishing the new REST one.
Company Setup
The company setup process for REST API is the same as for SOAP API. Please refer to Set Up the Acumatica Company.
The Acumatica Contract Service URL field differs from its SOAP API and can be obtained within the Acumatica platform as mentioned below:
- On the Web Service Endpoints page, select any Vtech Endpoint.
- Select the Assist Edit icon and click OpenAPI 2.0 under Service Definition.
NoteA new tab in the browser will open. Copy the entire Contract API Link populated on the URL field that should be required to paste on the StarShip environment.
- On the StarShip environment, select the Setup tab and choose the Acumatica company under Source Interfaces.
- Click the Edit icon on the Companies page and paste the copied URL from the new browser tab into the Acumatica Contract Service URL field.
- Click Submit.
Shipping
The Acumatica REST API shares the same business logic as SOAP. To know how to import and ship against Acumatica sales orders or Shipments and write-back, refer to Acumatica Shipping.
A new functionality has been added for REST API integration. To understand how to filter through shipment documents by Order Number, refer to Acumatica Options > Additional Options > Search shipment documents by sales order number.
There will be continuous addition of new functionality for REST API integration.
