Integration Options
Adaptive Catalog provides three methods for integrating your product or systems with our cataloging software. The two recommended methods of integration are through extensions or a PunchOut integration.
Extensions
Extensions provide a simple way of communicating with specific Adaptive Catalog functionality. This is the most common method for users to integrate with Adaptive Catalog. There are four primary extension types, and more may be added in the future. When the extension is triggered by the user (either manually or automatically) Adaptive Catalog will call your API with a set JSON object and will expect a JSON response type. Most of the Adaptive Catalog integrations are currently written with our extension system (such as ConnectWise Manage Product Export, Tech Data Real Time Lookup, etc.)
Export Extensions are triggered by the user from the workspace, and will send your API an entire Bill of Materials, as well as any additional options that you request the users specify.
Real Time Extensions look up product pricing and availability in real time. This data is then cached on the products allowing users to search on this data.
Recommendation Extensions display product recommendations to the user based on items that have been added to the workspace, as well as any additional options or files that the user might specify.
Webhook Extensions are called whenever a product is updated (either from a user interaction or automated process). These are used to keep product details in sync between systems.
We may add additional extensions or functionality in the future, but the core functionality of these APIs will likely not change.
PunchOut Integration
The Adaptive Catalog PunchOut Integration allows users to seamlessly go from your application to Adaptive Catalog, generate a bill of materials, and then return the entire list of products back to your application. Adaptive Catalog supports both the cXML PunchOut standard and a more modern JSON based PunchOut.
While we may add additional fields to these APIs that you can choose to read in the future, the core APIs will likely not change.
Due to limitations of the cXML standard, the JSON PunchOut will provide more product information, but both methods will generally provide most of the data you need.
REST APIs
Our REST APIs provide direct access to your catalogs, allowing you to pull products, search across the catalogs, or even provide your own completely different user interface embedded in your application.
These APIs are updated with almost every release and while we strive for complete backwards compatibility, there will sometimes be breaking changes. You can call a specific version of the API and we will support deprecated versions for at least 6 months.
Our API specifications are included in this documentation in the command bar above. Once an API has been published, the only changes that will be made are to add new API calls or add new fields to existing models. Any changes to existing fields, API calls, or formats will be moved to a new major version. Preview APIs are still subject to breaking changes, but can be used to see what new API calls will be coming out soon.