Ultimate Guide on How to Use WooCommerce REST APIs Simplified 101

WordPress is used by individuals and businesses as a Content Management System. It helps them create blogs and websites through which they can interact with their target audience. This is also good for the exchange of information between the website owner and the visitors. If you need to run an online business, you may need to develop an eCommerce store for your shop. Here, WooCommerce can help you get started with ease. WooCommerce makes this a reality for you by turning WordPress into an eCommerce store. 

Other than the basic functionality provided by WooCommerce, you can use a WooCommerce REST API to extend the functionality of your eCommerce store. It can help you to interact with data related to your eCommerce shop & perform operations such as reading, creating, updating, and deleting it. You can also use the API to make additional connections to your eCommerce store. Thus, the WooComerce REST API can help you to get more functionalities from your basic WooCommerce store.

In this article, we will be discussing how to use the WooCommerce REST API.

Prerequisites

This is what you need:

• A WordPress Website or Blog.

Understanding WooCommerce REST API

The WooCommerce REST API is an interface that you can use to access your WooCommerce store from outside WordPress. It was designed to make it easy for WooCommerce stores on WordPress to interact with other websites and applications over the Internet. 

The functionality is managed via HTTP requests, and all HTTP requests are universally available. The HTTP protocols help WooCommerce websites to read, send, create, update, and delete service requests via the endpoints. The WooCommerce REST API can also understand directory-like URL structures. 

Thus, the WooCommerce REST API helps you to do everything offered by your WooCommerce admin area, remotely, that is, without having to log into your website manually. 

Step-By-Step Guide to use WooCommerce Rest API

In this section, we will be discussing how to use the WooCommerce REST API:

• Enabling WooCommerce REST API Access
• Creating an API Key
• Downloading an API Client
• Connecting to the API Client
• Issuing a GET Request
• Issuing a PUT Request

Step 1) Enabling WooCommerce REST API Access

You should begin by enabling the WooCommerce API in WordPress admin. Follow the steps given below to do so:

Step 1. a: Log in to the backend of your WordPress website.

Step 1. b: Hover over “WooComerce”, select “Settings”, and then “Advanced”.

Step 1. c: Toggle the “Legacy API” tab and activate the “Enable the legacy REST API” button.

The WooCommerce API is now enabled. 

Step 2) Creating an API Key

Once the WooCommerce REST API has been enabled, you should create an API key. The generated key will then be used to authenticate your API requests. This will help the WooCommerce REST API to serve legitimate requests only. 

To generate an API key, follow the steps given below:

Step 2. a: Open the WordPress admin and click “REST API”. 

Step 2. b: Type the description and choose the user & permissions. 

Step 2. c: Click the “Generate API Key” button.

It’s recommended that you give the API, Read/Write access. This means that you will be able to read, create, update, and delete the WooCommerce data via the API. 

Upon clicking the “Generate API Key” button, two alphanumeric strings will be generated, which are the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret. 

Copy the two keys to a safe place. You will need them when connecting to the WooCommerce REST API. The keys are processed by the PHP backend once a request is made. 

Step 3) Downloading an API Client

Although the WooCommerce API has been enabled and the API key has been created, you need an API client to help you to make requests and view responses. The API keys will enable you to connect WooCommerce to your WordPress website via an API client. 

There are different API clients that you can choose, for example, Postman and Insomnia. These two will allow you to make API calls via browser extensions and desktop apps. In this article, we will be using Insomnia as the API client. 

Step 4) Connecting to the API Client

Now that you have the API client, it’s time to make your first API call. Follow the steps given below:

Step 4. a: Launch the Insomnia app and click “New Request”.

Step 4. b: Click “Basic Auth” under the “Basic” dropdown menu.

Step 4. c: You will be prompted to enter your username and password. The username is the Consumer Key while the password is the Secret Key.

Step 5) Issuing a GET Request

Now that you have configured the API client, you can start to issue API requests. You can issue a GET request to return all the orders to ensure that the API is working. Enter the following request in the GET Request field:

https://yourdomain.com/wp-json/wc/v3/orders

Make sure that you use the correct domain name according to your website. 

The API request will return a JSON String, then Insomnia will parse it. The output should show all the orders available in your store. 

Step 6) Issuing a PUT Request

You can now issue a PUT Request to send a single product to the catalogue. Other than knowing that the API keys are working correctly, the two requests will help you confirm that you have both read and write access to the API. Follow the steps given below:

Step 6. a: Click the GET dropdown menu and choose the “PUT” option so as to send a PUT request to the server.

Step 6. b: Open the dropdown menu and choose “JSON”. The write details will be sent in JSON format.

The request should be as follows:

{
  "name": "Product 20",
  "type": "simple",
  "regular_price": "8.99",
  "description": "product description.",
  "short_description": "short product description.",
  "categories": [
    {
      "id": 6
    },
    {
      "id": 8
    }
  ],
  "images": [
    {
      "src": "http://mywebsite.com/img1.jpg"
    },
    {
      "src": "http://mywebsite.com/img2.jpg"
    }
  ]
}

Step 6. c: Click the “Send” button. The product will be added to the list of items available in the catalogue.

That’s how you use the WooCommerce REST API and carry out few operations.

Conclusion

This blog discussed how to use WooCommerce REST API and provided a brief understanding of WooCommerce APIs.

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