CoursesB2B CoreModule 2: REST Management API

Lab - API Account and Postman Setup

Plan: B2B Developer

 Lesson 7 of 19 · 30 min

Introduction

To facilitate the API workflows, you will need to create a B2B Edition API account and do initial setup in the REST client.

Prerequisites

In this lab, you will:

  • Generate a store-level API account token
  • Create a Postman environment, collection, and headers preset
  • Run a test API request

Step 1: Create an API Account

  1. Log in to your BigCommerce control panel and navigateto Settings > API > Store-level API accounts.

  2. Create an API account.

  3. Select “V2/V3 API token” as the token type and enter a name.

  4. Under “OAuth scopes,” select “modify” for “B2B Edition”.

  5. Save the API account.

    After saving your API account, you will be presented with a dialog containing info including an access token. Be sure to copy this value before closing the modal, as it will not be retrievable afterward.

  6. Copy the access token and store it securely where you will be able to access it in the next step.

  7. Copy your store’s unique store hash, which can be found in your control panel URL. For example, in the control panel URL https://store-abcd1234.mybigcommerce.com, the store hash is abcd1234.

Step 2: Configure a Postman Environment and Collection

All subsequent steps will take place in the Postman API client.

  1. Create a new Postman environment with the following variables.

    Variable NameValue
    v3_tokenThe access token of your API account
    store_hashYour store hash
    storefront_channel_id1

Note that the value set for storefront_ channel_id is 1, which assumes the default channel for a given store. If your store has multiple storefront channels and you intend to utilize a different channel, use the appropriate channel ID. A channel’s ID can be obtained by inspecting channel information via the REST Management API, or from the control panel URL when viewing the channel’s settings in Channels.

  1. Create a new collection and give it an appropriate name, such as “B2B Core REST.”
  2. Select your new environment from the environment drop-down at the top of the Postman interface.

The correct value must be selected from the environment drop-down whenever you send a request, in order to ensure the appropriate token is used.

Step 3: Create Your First Request

  1. Create a new HTTP request and save it to your collection with the name “Get Company Roles.”

  2. In the Headers tab, use the Presets drop-down to Manage Presets, then add a header preset with the following values, saving it with a name like “B2B REST.”

    FieldValue
    Acceptapplication/json
    Content-Typeapplication/json
    X-Auth-Token{{v3_token}}
    X-Store-Hash{{store_hash}}

Make sure to enter e.g., {{v3_token}} exactly as it appears. This is a reference to the environment variable you created and will inject its value.

This headers Preset will allow you to apply the same headers to all subsequent requests without needing to re-enter them individually.

  1. Select your newly created header preset to populate headers.

  2. Configure the remaining details of your request as follows.

    FieldValue
    MethodGET
    URLhttps://api-b2b.bigcommerce.com/api/v3/io/companies/roles

  3. Send the request.

If your configuration is correct, you should see a list of your store’s company roles in the response. At minimum, this should include the built-in Admin, Senior Buyer, and Junior Buyer roles.

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