BigCommerce Authenticate an Element

You can authenticate with BigCommerce to create your own instance of the BigCommerce element through the UI or through APIs. Once authenticated, you can use the element instance to access the different functionality offered by the BigCommerce platform.

Authenticate Through the UI

Use the UI to authenticate with BigCommerce and create an element instance as described in Authenticate an Element Instance (UI). In addition to the base authentication parameters, you will need the credentials that you identified in API Provider Setup.

After successfully authenticating, we give you several options for next steps. Make requests using the API docs associated with the instance, map the instance to a virtual data resource, or use it in a formula template.

Authenticate Through API

Authenticating through API is similar to authenticating via the UI. Instead of clicking and typing through a series of buttons, text boxes, and menus, you will instead send a request to our /instances endpoint. The end result is the same, though: an authenticated element instance with a token and id.

To authenticate an element instance:

1. Construct a JSON body as shown below (see Parameters):

   {
     "element": {
       "key": "bigcommerce"
     },
     "configuration": {
       "username": "<Legacy API Account Username>",
       "password": "<Legacy API Account API Token>",
       "store.url": "<Legacy API Account API Path>"
     },
     "tags": [
       "<Add_Your_Tag>"
     ],
     "name": "<INSTANCE_NAME>"
   }
   

2. Call the following, including the JSON body you constructed in the previous step:

   POST /instances
   

   Note: Make sure that you include the User and Organization keys in the header. For more information, see Authorization Headers, Organization Secret, and User Secret.

3. Locate the token and id in the response and save them for all future requests using the element instance.

Example cURL

curl -X POST \
  https://api.cloud-elements.com/elements/api-v2/instances \
  -H 'authorization: User <USER_SECRET>, Organization <ORGANIZATION_SECRET>' \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "element": {
    "key": "bigcommerce"
  },
  "configuration": {
    "username": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "password": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "store.url": "https://store-wuxeae6.mybigcommerce.com/api/v2"
  },
  "tags": [
    "Docs"
  ],
  "name": "API Instance"
}'

Parameters

API parameters not shown in Cloud Elements are in code formatting.

Example Response for an Authenticated Element Instance

In this example, the instance ID is 12345 and the instance token starts with "ABC/D...". The actual values returned to you will be unique: make sure you save them for future requests to this new instance.

{
  "id": 12345,
  "name": "API Instance",
  "createdDate": "2017-08-07T18:46:38Z",
  "token": "ABC/Dxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
  "element": {
    "id": 274,
    "name": "BigCommerce",
    "hookName": "BigCommerce",
    "key": "bigcommerce",
    "description": "Add a Big Commerce Instance to connect your existing Big Commerce account to the eCommerce Hub, allowing you to manage orders and products across multiple eCommerce Elements. You will need your Big Commerce account information to add an instance.",
    "image": "elements/provider_bigcommerce.png",
    "active": true,
    "deleted": false,
    "typeOauth": false,
    "trialAccount": false,
    "resources": [ ],
    "transformationsEnabled": true,
    "bulkDownloadEnabled": true,
    "bulkUploadEnabled": true,
    "cloneable": true,
    "extendable": true,
    "beta": false,
    "authentication": {
        "type": "basic"
    },
    "extended": false,
    "hub": "ecommerce",
    "protocolType": "http",
    "parameters": [  ]
    },
    "elementId": 274,
    "tags": [
        "Docs"
    ],
  "provisionInteractions": [],
  "valid": true,
  "disabled": false,
  "maxCacheSize": 0,
  "cacheTimeToLive": 0,
  "configuration": {    },
  "eventsEnabled": false,
  "traceLoggingEnabled": false,
  "cachingEnabled": false,
  "externalAuthentication": "none",
  "user": {
      "id": 12345
    }
}