Overview
The Manitou REST API is used with BoldNet NEO and ManitouNEO. This provides a modern interface that is used by our web based Client UI but can also be used by third party integrations. Because it uses HTML calls to an IIS server, it allows very quick testing through several tools.
Setup Environment
Once you have downloaded and installed POSTMAN, the first thing that is needed is to set up an Environment and a variable to store the OAUTH token. This is found in the top right corner of the POSTMAN IDE.
Add a new Environment and call it BoldNetNEO.
Click on the new environment and Add a variable called "token". Don't worry about populating the values right now.
You can now use the X at the top right to return.
Importing Demo Collection
Click on the Import button on the top left part of the POSTMAN interface. Drag and drop the attached .JSON file for the demo collection.
Once this collection is imported, right click on the collection and select Edit.
Update the Variables settings for url, username, and password with your correct values for BoldNet NEO and click the update button at the bottom of the form. You may need to hit the Reset All button if there are current values already in place.
NOTE: The password cannot contain an ampersand '&' sign.
You are now set up and ready to begin working with API calls. You can rename the collection to better describe the Manitou system you are hitting.
Getting Authorized with OAUTH
The first thing that must happen before any API calls can be made is to get an OAUTH token for your user. There is a pre-built script to do this under the collection. Expand the collection and click on the OAUTH Request POST link. Under the Body section, you can see that we pass in the username and password.
The Tests section has a script that will store the returned OAUTH token in the environment variable so that it can be easily used in subsequent calls.
Making API Calls
Now that you have a valid OAUTH token, we can hit the various API endpoints and make requests. An easy one to start with is requesting a blank Customer Activity Filter. This returns an object that you can use when making calls to get customer Activity. But I use it just to make sure the basic connection is working.
Open the Blank Customer Activity Filter script. This already has the OAUTH token setup to be used under the Authorization tab.
This request does not require a body message so you can just hit send. It should return a JSON array object showing that the connection is working to the API including sending in the OAUTH token.
You can now work through the other API calls.
Many of the API calls have variables in the URL Path as well as data that must be sent in the Body of the message. These vary by the endpoint so you must refer to the documentation on the structure. The demo collection has some of my values and must be updated accordingly. For example, the Get Customer by ID is calling my customer.
