How to effectively use the Interswitch API documentation.
Tochukwu Achebe | Products & Developer relations.
Interswitch started with the goal of solving the main payment problems, primarily to resolve long queues at banking halls and give the common man access to cash anywhere, anytime with the introduction of ATMs in Nigeria. Shortly after building an infrastructure for electronic payments, we soon realised that partnerships with other African entities is key to creating a prosperous Africa. In order to achieve the goal of a prosperous Africa, we have opened up our technologies in the forms of APIs, SDKs, Plug-ins, and more to the ecosystem.
We have previously spoken about APIs and how they enable businesses 10x their revenue. Essentially, APIs (Application programmable interfaces) are used to share information or for data retrieval. At Interswitch, we have built an API Marketplace which comprises our Internal APIs, Partner APIs, and Infrastructure APIs. We believe this would increase access to various markets that empower the digital ecosystem as a one stop shop for all ecosystem players.
The API marketplace introduces you to all types of APIs and we have carefully curated documentation that enables new and existing users to navigate, understand, test, and use the APIs in order to create new experiences for their users. This article will break down how to use the Interswitch APIs through their documentation effectively.
Introducing the new Interswitch API documentation
Over the years, we have iterated over our documentation to reach the goal of usability by any type of user, essentially making it easy to understand and integrate our APIs.
We have carefully broken our new documentation into three sections to help our users understand our APIs and their functionalities better.
1 . Getting started — To get started, click here .
In this section of the documentation, we outline the basics of using an Interswitch API from the type of API specification to its authentication method and its KYC requirements. We also describe how to go live using your selected API as a business or as a developer.
2. User Guides — this feature includes categories; each category delivers a specific value which is described in its overview,
each subcategory delivers this value in various formats as the market requires.
Below is a simple example of how to use the user guide :
In this user guide, you will find a clear part to understanding each API. We have defined each API with a process flow to integrating them and created a typical API request and response for a successful call.
3. API references — this is a distinct feature where by users have the ability to test each endpoint.
Here’s a quick guide on how to use the API references
Generate access token to use the APIs that leverage Oauth
How to test endpoints on the Interswitch API reference
In the body parameters, depicted as body params you will be able to input any parameter that is required but not pre-inputted. For example, card payment API, transaction reference isn’t pre-inputted, so we can easily copy from the request message on the right and input in the body params and then click the try it button.
Request Language Specification
Primarily, we use curl to display a request message, however, you can switch between the language options to show a sample request message in your preferred language.
In the image below, we selected PHP
Sample Response message
After clicking the Try it button, you should get a response code and message. In the response below we have a 202 response which is successful and a response in Json format.
For more response codes and their definitions, use the HTTP status codes and description feature on the side bar under API references.
KYC Requirements
For every integration to be completed or go-live, a KYC procedure must be completed. Since we wanted to keep our users pre-informed about this, we curated a KYC requirement category in the “getting started” section of the documentation. Click here to access this,
The Community
We have developed a community to enhance innovation, collaboration, and engagement and we will be hosting hackathons for all ecosystem players and, not just developers, this we hope will foster growth in the tech community. Also through this community, we help developers access all the tools they need, including how to use the APIs. Here, they report problems they might encounter and we resolve it with them.
You can always ask questions in our discussion channel , and get swift responses as well as from our developer community 24/7. We are here to build Africa’s digital ecosystem and for us its Day one.
Conclusion
Interswitch APIs have been published for innovators, developers, and ecosystem players to develop solutions that improve our way of life as a people, one thing we are confident in, is that our continent is full of bright talents and rich resources to grow this great African savannah into a hub of Unicorns. We cannot wait to see the types of software applications that you will build using these tools.
