For months we’ve been working on the underlying technology infrastructure required to enable any platform to easily fetch, display and promote workspaces’ up-to-date resources and pricing.
Today, after weeks of internal testing we’re excited to be announcing the private beta of our powerful new workspace-resource-syncing-almost-magic module (aka our Data Sync API).
Emails were sent to platforms already integrated (or busy integrating) with Syncaroo, containing information about the Data Sync API, docs and getting authentication keys set up.
Haven’t received them? Please contact your closest Syncaroo point-of-contact ASAP.
If you’re not integrated with Syncaroo just yet, we’d recommend reaching out now, and joining in as we all build the future of how workspaces are discovered through automatically-updated listings on platforms just like yours.
Below are some concepts and internal terminology primarily for platform developers to get accustomed to, but workspace operators and marketeers are invited to subscribe to our newsletter below or follow us @syncaroo_com on Twitter for all the details around Syncaroo, Data Sync and what it all means for your workspace(s).
Key concepts of receiving automatic updates via Syncaroo for platform developers.
Applications, platforms, aggregators and brokerages that can receive updates via Syncaroo are called Connections internally and in the users’ user interface.
Each Connection will need a two-tier authentication flow.
Platform-to-Syncaroo Authentication
The first authenticates your platform with the API, giving you trusted, secure and encrypted (via https) access to the API and Webhooks.
The Syncaroo API uses OAuth for platform authentication. Each platform will receive unique API keys and secrets. Once connected, short-lived tokens can be generated for direct API access.
Syncaroo-to-Platform-listings Authentication
The second allows your users (listing owners or managers) to prove that they have an account on your system and verify that they have adequate permissions to connect the listing to their Syncaroo account.
Per-client authorizations will need to be made for each workspace connected to your application.
These are triggered when a workspace operator adds your Connection to their account, and will provide you with a connectionId to uniquely identify each Syncaroo authorization.
Examples of the what the second Auth-flow looks like on existing Status Sync integrations:
What happens when changes are detected?
Whenever changes are detected, your platform will be sent a Webhook containing the connection identifier (connectionId), your workspace identifier (locationId) and an API url (apiUrl) from which you can securely fetch the latest updated data.
For additional security an encrypted signature is sent along with each Webhook to allow platforms to confirm that Webhook notifications were indeed sent from Syncaroo servers.
The apiUrl parameter will direct your platform to the exact data set that was updated, allowing for ultra-efficient data syncing.
Live Demos of Data Syncing implementations.
During the internal testing sprints we setup a live demo, and a live integration to help us rapidly test and demonstrate the reliable flow of live data through the Syncaroo API.
1. A standalone demo, hosted on WordPress.
This live demo site demonstrates a use-case where a workspace would like to display their most up-to-date pricing on their own website.
2. A live integration into an existing platform.
This implementation syncs a single workspace’s data to an unpublished testing profile a live multi-operator platform.
This integration allows for each individual profile or workspace to be connected (or mapped) to a specific location on a workspace management system via Syncaroo. These profiles can then handle updates securely without being able to make changes to any other profiles that may be managed by other teams, companies or workspace operators.
Both implementations are receiving updates from the same management platform account, with each platform receiving their own Webhook triggers from which they then verify, handle and process the updated data fetched their own secured apiUrl.
If you’d like to learn more about how it all works, or get your platform integrated, please do reach out, we’d love to hear from you.
