Integrate Vtiger with Shipwire

Vtiger is a great open source CRM software that can easily be integrated with Shipwire, an online shipping service. The integration of the two softwares makes it possible for the user to easily process his orders and also help in automating the whpe process.

In this section, I will outline how Vtiger and Shipwire can be integrated and what are the benefits of doing so.

Integration of Vtiger and Shipwire

To integrate Vtiger and Shipwire, a user has to go to API setup page on Vtiger and click the button ‘Make API Call’. On opening the setup page, you will be able to see various fields that allow you to configure your API request. Simply put, each field is meant to fill in the appropriate values from different parts of the integration workflow steps. Once you have filled in all the fields, ‘Save Changes’ button will appear and you can click it to complete the process (figure 1. After clicking the button, you will be redirected to the API Call Results page which will display a form with data fields. The user can simply copy the code from this page and paste it into a file named ‘shipping_api_request.php’ in the directory where your Vtiger installation is located (figure 2. Now that you have configured your API request, it’s time to configure your script to send the request to Shipwire through your web server. To do this, you need to add certain lines of codes to convert JSON data into an array. You can configure these lines of codes at any place in your existing script provided you do it before calling any other function or sending any database queries. Begin by creating a file named ‘functions.php’ in the directory where your script is located. Then, create a function called ‘shipwire_callback’ and add a line that reads. json_decode(gzuncompress(file_get_contents('shipping_api_request.php'))); (figure 3. This line of code takes the data that is passed from the form and passes it on to Shipwire’s API. The script will now be ready to send your order information to Shipwire through your server. However, at this point, you won’t actually be calling Shipwire’s API yet as you haven’t specified any Shipwire parameters in your API request. So, you have to update your shipping_api_request.php file with values specific to your store such as your API Key and secret key that were sent to you by Shipwire upon activation of your account. For example. $app_name = 'Your Company Name'; $app_key = 'Your Api Key'; $app_secret = 'Your Secret Key'; $return_url = 'https://www.mysite.com/checkout'; $order_id = 'Order ID'; $cart_id = 'Cart ID'; $billing_address = "Billing Address"; $shipping_address = "Shipping Address"; $payment_method = 'Payment Method'; $product_id = 'Product ID'; $total = $price * $quantity; //Price is the price per unit and quantity is the number of units being bought $items['name'] = $product[0]['name']; $products[$product_id]['quantity'] = 1; The above code snippet shows the way users can configure their API requests on Shipwire’s website. They simply enter all their relevant details into text fields on their website and click an ‘Activate API Key’ button located at the bottom right corner of their screen. Now that users have activated their API keys, they can enter their details into their own shipping_api_request.php file and save it to their system. Then they can call this file through their web servers using PHP scripts such as cURL or FILE with a ‘-X POST’ option (figure 4. Once users have correctly configured this file and are able to send their shipping requests via their web servers, they can easily integrate Vtiger with Shipwire by simply adding ‘shipping_api_request.php’ before calling any database query or any other function within their PHP code.

Benefits of Integration of Vtiger and Shipwire

The process to integrate Vtiger and Shipwire may seem complicated and intimidating. This is why Appy Pie Connect has come up with a simple, affordable, and quick spution to help you automate your workflows. Click on the button below to begin.