How To Build an e-Invoicing API in Python
Has the thought of building an e-Invoicing API with Python been one that you’ve wanted to explore? It’s a great idea for those who want to streamline how their electronic invoices are handled.
Whether you’re wanting to implement this tool in your B2B or B2C operations, there are several upsides that make building it a worthwhile endeavor. This short guide will help you get started with the basics of constructing an e-invoicing API with Python, so read on for the detailed steps.
Understanding Your e-Invoicing API
An e-invoicing API can let you smooth out the data exchanges that take place between Generalized System Preferences (GSP) and Invoice Registration Portals (IRP). The purpose of an IRP is to carry out various functions related to the creation of an e-invoice, such as generating Invoice Reference Numbers (IRNs), validating the IRN, creating a digital signature, and sending the invoice via email.
With an API, you can essentially interact with the IRP via your own developed software and create and validate invoices one at a time or in mass numbers. Some people use web scraping for their data-related needs when it comes to e-invoices, and while that has pros of its own, you can run into difficulties in how it provides more raw information that takes additional time to sift through.
Become Competent With Python
Python is a great programming language to use for building your e-invoicing API because in comparison to other programming languages, it’s one of the easiest to pick up and learn. You’ll still have to commit a significant amount of time if you want a mastery of it, but that’s not needed for the purposes of building your e-Invoicing API.
Instead, you’ll want to stick to the basics and familiarize yourself with how Python 3 operates. You can make use of guides and online courses to give yourself a foundation, and after that, you should try completing some beginner-level coding projects to get a feel for how the coding process works. Of course, if you’re an experienced Python user, then you can jump right into building your e-invoicing API.
Incorporate Flask
To make your coding adventures with Python more manageable, incorporating a backend frame such as Flask is a step that you’ll want to take. This is an extra program that you’ll need to study as well, but the long term payoff will be well worth the time that you invest in it. In addition to Python, Flask can provide you with more tools and resources to manage various aspects of the program you code.
The flexibility of Flask is one of its greatest strengths, which is why It’s important to keep your particular coding project within a reasonable scope that matches your skill level. You can easily fall down the Flask rabbit hole without meaning to, and that can detract from the goal of building your e-invoicing API. This is where CRUD functionality will come into play as a means of keeping your work as streamlined as possible.
Understand CRUD Functionality
If you’ve ever seen the term CRUD used in a coding sense, then it’s referring to a specific formula that’s as follows:
Create
Read
Update
Delete
These are the cornerstones of crafting a persistent storage application. In this case, your API is going to be used in processing the data of your electronic invoices, so it’ll need to carry out each of those functions repeatedly. As a general example, your API will create new e-invoices, read the information for current ones, update any details that are no longer accurate, and delete e-invoices that are no longer needed.
By breaking down the application of the CRUD functionality into these individual steps, you’ll be able to effectively apply them to your API. To get a grasp of what you should be aiming for, it’s a smart idea to pull inspiration from other examples that exist within the public domain. Just don’t forget to double check to make sure that they’re built using Python, as you don’t want to structure your coding after a sample that’s using an entirely different programming language.
Test And Integrate Your e-Invoicing API
Once you’ve gone through the work of crafting your e-invoicing API, you need to see if it actually works. Coding at any level can have its complications, so don’t be discouraged if your program doesn’t function as intended right away. It only takes an error in one line of code to throw everything off, but luckily, you can always correct these mistakes.
First, test your e-invoicing API in a sandbox environment that’s hosted by an e-invoicing platform of your choice. You’ll then need to send test requests to the API via an API platform such as Postman. Essentially, this allows you to see how your program would work in a live scenario to determine if the data is flowing between points as intended.
After you’ve put your API through rigorous testing, the last step is integration. While it’s possible to do a custom integration, the amount of time and knowledge that’s required for such a feat might not be feasible for your skill level in API documentation. Instead, you should turn to integration platforms and connector applications that can streamline the process.
Much like the name implies, an integration platform can act as an integral point where several applications link together. Think of it as the glue that’ll connect your APIs to exchange data without you having to do all the extra legwork to link them yourself. Boomi, MuleSoft, and Workato are popular integration platforms that you’ll want to explore the various pros and cons of to determine which is right for your particular project.
Finally, connector applications will be the polishing that you do to provide your e-invoicing API with the final touch. These software packages can connect your API to an external application or service with the goal of allowing data to move between the applications while staying secure. Not only are connector applications relatively simple to use, but they also don’t require a ton of upkeep. So, once you’ve got yours set up, it can mostly maintain its function independently.
Next Steps
Hopefully, you’ve learned some of the basic steps that you’ll need to consider when looking to develop your own e-invoicing API with Python. While there are many factors to consider throughout this process, it’s important to remember that trial and error will be a large part of your success. You may already have a vision for how your API will work within your B2B or B2C interactions, but there’s always the chance that the need for a new approach could arise.
In that case, the provided steps will still be largely applicable, but you’ll have to fine tune aspects of your process to help ensure that you get the most out of your application. That said, you’ll certainly reap the rewards of your labor once you’ve coded, tested, and integrated your e-invoicing API!
