Understanding Webhooks and APIs

Management and Data Reporting for Electronic Temperature Sensors Developer Guide

Management and Data Reporting for Electronic Temperature Sensors Developer Guide
Overview
- Workflow
Getting Started
- API Authentication
  - Using a Simple Key
    - OAuth Client Credentials
    - OAuth Authorization Code
Enrolling Devices
- Enrolling a ZS300 Sensor
Listing the Sensors
- Listing the ZS300 Sensors
Creating a Task
Associating a Sensor with a Task
- Associating a Sensor with a Task
Performing a Simple Task
- Stopping a Task
Using Webhook Subscriptions
Displaying Full Event Record for Task ID
- Using the Developer Portal Interactive Documentation
  - Sorting, Filtering, and Pagination
- Using an API Test Tool
Downloading AIDL Files

APIs enable two-way communication between software applications. Requests, also called polling, drive communication between the two applications. On the other hand, webhook subscriptions allow for one-way data sharing triggered by events rather than requests.In the following two images, you can see how webhooks work and how they can provide more efficient, cost-effective, and timely data access than API polling.

Polling with APIs

For the most part, webhooks can be seen as a subset of the POST method, as illustrated in the image below. This is because webhooks perform a POST call to an API endpoint you set up in your environment. When setting up your webhook subscription, designate the endpoint you created as the place the data will be POSTed when sent.