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      Does seventhings provide an API?

      What exactly is an API and does seventhings offer it? In the following article we give you all the details you need to know.

       

      1 - What is an API ?

       

      💡 The term API

       

      API stands for application programming interface.

      • It is a set of commands, functions, protocols, and objects that programmers can use to create software or interact with an external system.
      • Accordingly, the API allows applications to communicate with each other.
      • The API is not the database or even the server, but the code that regulates the access points for the server and enables communication.
      • As a result, the exchange of data between different systems is accelerated and simplified significantly.

       

      2 - Which API levels are in use at seventhings?

       

      Internal API

       

      • Like most other software systems, seventhings is also based on an Internal API.
      • This is used, for example, between the backend and the frontend, as well as between the backend and the mobile apps.

      Closed or Private API

       

      • The use case of our customers often has the need to enable a connection of our software to third party systems.
      • As our customers or partners have specific needs and an individual system is in use, they can work with a Closed API.
      • The provision of a Private API (Closed (REST-) API) for our customers and partners is planned for the future. These are also referred to as OPEN-To-Customer API and OPEN-To-Partner API. 

      3 - Which other API levels are there?

       

      Open or Public API

       

      • Open APIs are usually only used if the software is for B2C (Business to Customer). In our case, it is a B2B (Business to Business) software, so an Open API (Open-To-All-API) would not reach the right target group (any developer and end user).
      • ℹ️As described above, the term Open API is often equated with Open-to-Customer or Open-to-Partner API, which conceptually belong to the group of Closed API though, the latter of which seventhings will provide in the future.