Tag: APIs

Guide to REST APIs

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What is a REST API?

A RESTful web service or API is a type of application program interface that uses HTTP requests and is based on “representational state transfer” (REST) technology. Application program interface, or API, is code that sets the uniform standard for how a developer writes a program that needs to request something between operating systems or applications. Using HTTP requests, REST API can perform operations like GET, POST, PUT and DELETE.

 

Benefits of Utilizing a REST API

A REST API is preferable to SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) API technology for a number of reasons. RESTful APIs are:

  • Lightweight
  • Easy to maintain
  • Scalable and flexible
  • Efficient and fast
  • High-performing
  • Smaller and consume less bandwidth
  • Able to be used without expensive, third-party tools

In addition, documentation for REST is easier to understand, returns readable results and permits many different data formats. REST is also especially good for cloud-based applications because of its stateless calls, which are beneficial because nothing is kept between REST executions and because stateless calls are easy to redeploy and to scale. These are all good reasons to select REST instead of SOAP, especially when using CSG Forte products and features like our Virtual Terminal, reporting or Forte.js.

 

CSG Forte API Solutions

CSG Forte’s REST API can be used for a number of scenarios, including transaction management, application submission, Webhooks, tokenization and customized application design. It supports multiple programming languages, such as JSON, Java, PHP, Ruby and VB.NET.

REST is best suited for those merchants who are tech-savvy and have developer resources to consume our API calls, such as ISVs with multiple merchants or third-party app developers that aim to receive and leverage our webhooks.

For code samples, visit our documentation. If you need assistance determining which API is right for you, contact us at 866.290.5400.

Forte Places 2nd in The Strawhecker Group’s “Best in Breed” API Set Award

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A payments gateway needs to be easy to use, fully functional and intuitive for developers. Today, The Strawhecker Group (TSG), an industry leader in payments consulting and analytics, released their 2021 “Best in Breed” API Assessment, powered by the firm’s Gateway Enterprise Metrics (GEM) platform.

Part of the assessment centered around evaluations of API Sets. In a competitive field Forte placed second out of 20 payments companies in the “Best of Breed” API Set awards. Here’s how the scores were awarded.

 

 The Assessment

TSG assessed features and functionality without integration and focused on APIs offered, response codes and versioning. TSG conducted the evaluation without assistance from gateway personnel, allowing them to accurately rank a processor’s gateway from three major standpoints—understandability, functionality, and self-sufficiency. The objective of the report was to provide a better understanding of how a gateway’s API affects merchants, developers, and the consumer.

The report was broken down into three areas: APIs, response codes and versioning.

  • APIs—According to the report, Forte provides very informative descriptions of the available APIs. Having added multiple APIs since the last assessment, the setup was presented logically and intuitively.
  • Response Codes—TSG found that Forte’s response codes were easy to locate and that in many cases, the descriptions offered substantial detail on any encountered issue.
  • Versioning—The versioning was found within the web service URL and listed as three versions, with multiple changes within each version.

Forte offers a unified end-to-end payments platform that easily adapts to changing needs and empowers companies to transform their payments operations into a competitive business strategy. By leveraging world-class technology, Forte continues to innovate and endeavor to make payments faster, smarter, and simpler.

Forte Tied for 2nd in The Strawhecker Group’s GEM API Integration Review

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Earlier this year, the Strawhecker Group (TSG), a recognized leader in payments analytics and consulting, released their API Integration Review. The firm’s Gateway Enterprise Metrics (GEM) platform reviewed four areas of API offerings: documentation, developer tools, implementation and certification process. GEM subscribers account for approximately two-thirds of all payment gateway volume in the United States.
Out of 21 reviewed gateways, Forte placed second, with a strong showing in each category. Let’s take a look at some of the key insights and feedback found in the TSG report.

 

THE RATING PROCESS

Each segment is rated on a 1-4 point scale, with 1 being the best. Forte’s overall average was an impressive 1.5 out of 4.

DOCUMENTATION
Score: 1
TSG believes Forte’s documentation distribution is well-designed, easy to use and presented clearly and logically. Additionally, Forte provides multiple documentation formats, detailed information, programming examples, clear instructions and helpful descriptions. According to the report, “Forte’s documentation appears to be structured with developers in mind and designed to make the integration process simple and painless.”

DEVELOPER TOOLS
Score: 1
TSG found that Forte provides a fully functioning test environment for testing and development. The report gave Forte high marks for offering a full test suite for formatting within the developer tool. In Postman, a popular API client, developers can insert credentials, run test transactions and receive instant feedback.

IMPLEMENTATION
Score: 3
Overall, the TSG test implementation with Forte went smoothly. The complete score was impacted by an issue with duplicate transactions, which the system attempted to reverse too quickly after authorization. However, Forte’s responsive staff was able to quickly work through the issue. TSG found Forte payment experts to be “helpful and friendly.”

CERTIFICATION PROCESS
Score: 1
As Forte does not require a certification process to move to production (Forte already has certifications with several test gateways), TSG awarded the highest possible score. Having the gateway certified saves both time and resources. Nearly half of the other gateways scored a 2 or lower in this category.

GEM is in the business of evaluating the best gateways in the industry. Forte offers intuitive documentation, advanced developer tools, smooth implementation and seamless certification. Forte is proud to receive this recognition and will continue to innovate and improve our payments gateway.

CSG Forte and Chargify: A New Partnership in Payments

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CSG Forte Payment Systems and Chargify recently announced a strategic partnership that will give their customers access to both CSG Forte’s payment processing solutions and Chargify’s recurring billing and subscription management system. By joining forces, both companies offer an all-in-one payment and billing solution available for approximately 31 million small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) in the United States.

 

CSG Forte

CSG Forte is an industry leader in offering innovative payment solutions that help more than 500 organizations of all sizes create, manage and perfect the process of accepting and processing payments. From integrating payments into large, complex revenue management implementations suited for Ascendon, CSG’s cloud-based SaaS platform, or smaller, less complex integrations for SMBs, CSG Forte has the expertise and solutions to deliver results, regardless of size and complexity.

 

Chargify

Chargify is a well-known provider of subscription-based revenue management for SMBs across the country. Chargify’s key capabilities include offer and subscription management, recurring billing, payment integrations, revenue retention, analytics, insights and more. The company has helped more than 1,200 customers grow their recurring revenue through elastic and events-based billing.

 

How This Partnership Will Help Your Business

As a result of the partnership, SMBs will have access to CSG Forte’s integrated product suite, which offers full stack APIs and dynamic payment processing services, including ACH, credit card, tokenization, payment gateway and more. Customers will also be able to administer their revenue management and recurring billing needs through Chargify while managing their payments operations with CSG Forte Dex, an innovative transaction management and reporting solution.

Together, CSG Forte and Chargify will enable a seamless experience for payment processing and a transaction solution that reduces stress and maximizes efficiencies for their customers. SMBs now have the ability to seamlessly onboard and create an ecosystem that simplifies automation, enhances data synchronization and maximizes operational efficiencies. The result of this preferred partnership is an increased emphasis on customer experience. Companies now have a payment management system that provides everything they need to process payments across any channel, while streamlining operations and growing recurring revenue.

When two industry leaders come together, good things happen. Through their respective expertise and cutting-edge solutions, CSG Forte and Chargify can help businesses of every size maximize cash flow, reduce business costs and enhance efficiency.

To learn more about how CSG Forte’s innovative payment solutions can help your business, click here.