Getting started with the SOAP API
The SOAP API supports all programming languages that can make XML compliant requests. As a SOAP based API, the easiest way to access the API is to use your preferred SOAP client for the language you will be using.
Information needed to make a request
To access the API, you will need the following information:
| Information | Description |
|---|---|
| URL endpoint | The customer specific URL endpoint to which you're going to be making the calls |
| Username | A username for the TimeEdit user you will be authenticating as |
| Password | The password for the user |
| Certificate | A certificate issued by TimeEdit that grants API access |
| Application Key | A key retrieved after authenticating with the certificate and that is then used for all subsequent calls to the API |
Authenticating with the API
Exactly how you authenticate with the API depends on your SOAP client of choice, but the process is generally as follows:
- Create a new SOAP client and provide it with the URL endpoint
- Call register with the certificate key
- The call will return an application key
- Use the application key together with the username and password for all subsequent calls
Note: The application key can be thought of as a regular session key, and it may expire at any point, depending on e.g., if your program calls another endpoint or if data in TimeEdit has been updated. As such, your application should have a fallback method that re-runs a call to register if a call returns an invalid credentials response. It is also not recommended to store the application key in a data store, but rather to every new session starts off with a call to register to renew the application key.
Note: Some application keys may require some characters to be XML encoded in order to work properly when used in other function calls.