Summary

The article provides a step-by-step guide on how to quickly start using the FedEx API for shipment integrations, including registration, obtaining test credentials, and making a SOAP request to retrieve rates.

Abstract

The guide begins by acknowledging the prevalence of APIs in software development and the tools available to facilitate API integrations. It then focuses on the specific challenge of working with older APIs from established companies like FedEx, which may not have the most user-friendly documentation. The article breaks down the process into three main steps: signing up and downloading FedEx's documentation, obtaining test credentials, and performing the first test request using Postman or similar tools. It emphasizes the importance of using the correct test credentials provided via email, as using the account password may result in authentication errors. The author provides practical advice, such as where to find examples for API calls and how to interpret the response codes, noting that a 200 OK response does not necessarily indicate a valid result, which is actually contained within the response body. Despite the complexity of FedEx's API documentation, the guide aims to help developers achieve successful API calls efficiently.

Opinions

The author expresses a positive view on the trend of APIs and the tools available for working with them, such as Postman and Insomnia.
There is a critique of older APIs, like those from FedEx and UPS, for not being as user-friendly or well-documented as newer APIs.
The author finds FedEx's API documentation to be somewhat intimidating but ultimately manageable with the right guidance.
The author appreciates the ability to test API calls in real-time and views interactive consoles and colorful documentation as improvements that make integrations easier.
There is a hint of frustration regarding the separate email for the test password, indicating that this could be a source of confusion for developers.
The author suggests that despite the challenges,

How to Start Using FedEx API Quickly

There is a lot of talking about APIs and how they are the future of software. You might agree with it (or you might not) but in any case, APIs are taking the world by storm and it’s pretty hard to ignore them.

Personally, I love this trend. We got nice applications to work with APIs like Postman and Insomnia, we got colorful documentation, interactive consoles, and the ability to test the calls in real-time. All of it makes integrations (and our lives) easier so what’s not to love? However, not all companies follow this trend and if that API has been around for a while, chances are you’ll have to spend quite some time to figure out what’s going on.

How to get started with FedEx

Recently, I did a bunch of shipment integrations and had a rough time figuring out both UPS and FedEx APIs. Both companies are doing their best and even provide long, boring PDFs with examples but it’s hard to figure out the exact steps you need to take in order to get at least one successful call. The UPS integration article is coming soon and today, I’ll show how to:

Register on the FedEx website
Get your testing credentials
Make a SOAP request to FedEx API to get available rates for a particular shipment (the example is taken from their Developer Documentation) using Postman or a similar application.

By following this guide step by step, you’ll get your “200 OK” response in no time.

Step 1: Sign up and Download their Documentation

First of all, you need to sign up on their website. After you log in to your account on the FedEx site, navigate to the web services development page. Step 1 will have the documentation and downloads you can use. These PDFs look a bit scary but don’t worry, you will mostly use them to find and copy their examples or read more about a particular field. Alternatively, you can spend a few hours reading them and then come back to this guide.

Step 2: Sign Up for Test Credentials

Now, let’s sign up for test credentials. On the same page mentioned above, you will see an option for “Get Your Test Key”. Follow their instructions and make sure you enter a valid email (you’ll get some important information after!). After completing the steps, you will receive a developer test key, password, test account number, and test meter number. The test password was provided via email. For some reason, they send the password separately and don’t show it anywhere on the success/confirmation page with the rest of the information. Save all your information and wait for their email. Once you receive it, you are ready to perform your first test request.

Step 3: Perform your First Request

Now, you are ready to submit your first test request. The test URL endpoint for all requests will be provided in the confirmation email:

https://wsbeta.fedex.com:443/web-services

The body of the request will change (and you can copy any example from the PDF you got in the first step) but the URL will stay the same. I will use the get rates example to test my first call.

Open Postman (or a similar application if you prefer to use something else) and start a new request. If you’ve never worked with SOAP requests before, Postman has a great guide to get you started.

Here is how your first request will look like:

I used Example 49 Rate Request and plugged in my credentials along with valid addresses but you can use any other request from the book. If you’re looking to test the tracking, some numbers that worked for me are:

797843158299

123456789012

111111111111

Every carrier usually has a lot of tracking numbers for different use cases, but not FedEx… they used to have a list of test tracking numbers before but those stopped working in older versions of the API.

Let's go back to our request from Example 49. At first, I was getting an Authentication error but this was happening because I was trying to use my account password instead of a testing one that they sent in the email. So before you send the request, make sure you changed the values in all of these fields:

<Key>INPUT YOUR INFORMATION</Key>
<Password>INPUT YOUR INFORMATION</Password>
<AccountNumber>INPUT YOUR INFORMATION</AccountNumber>
<MeterNumber>INPUT YOUR INFORMATION</MeterNumber>

Now, hit Send and look at the result. Above, I mentioned the 200 OK response code but in fact, it doesn’t really indicate that you got a valid response with this API. It’s always going to be 200 OK but the real result will be stored (and can be parsed) from the body of the response:

<Notifications><Severity>SUCCESS</Severity>

<Source>crs</Source>

<Code>0</Code>

<Message>Request was successfully processed. </Message>

<LocalizedMessage>Request was successfully processed. </LocalizedMessage>

</Notifications>

Read the errors carefully — if you forgot to change a value, the response will tell you so. Even though FedEx API is quite messy and doesn’t offer great documentation, it’s still possible to start using it quickly. Good luck!

For an UPS integration, check out this article.