Tag: REST API

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.