DCL Logistics offers the possibility to let other applications connect to it through Remote APIs. These simple, powerful, and secure application programming interfaces—based upon REST and SOAP—allows DCL to be integrated with other third applications.
Please note: Both SOAP and REST can be used to implement similar functionality, but in general SOAP should be used when a particular feature of SOAP is needed, and the advantages of REST make it generally the best option otherwise.
In this article:
For a list of ecommerce integrations that DCL supports, please reference our Integrations list here.
REST API
Connectivity with DCL Logistics can be accomplished using a REST API, which is DCL’s preferred method of our customers connecting with to us.
What is REST API?
To make it simple, REST API defines a set of functions to which the developers can perform requests and receive responses. The interaction is performed via the HTTP protocol. An advantage of such an approach is the wide usage of HTTP. That is why REST API can be used practically for any programming language.
Consuming a RESTful Web Service is relatively easy and it should be considered your first choice for implementing the client side.
DCL provides complete documentation for its API, which can be found at the following URL:
The site offers a functional simple interface to test any API so no coding is needed to see any API response data.
Getting Started with REST API
The following areas will give you an introduction to help you get started with connecting with DCL Logistics using the DCL API. Please refer to the DCL API for additional details and the full API list of endpoints.
Output Formats The REST API supports the response in JSON format.
Authentication Basic authentication, as defined in RFC 2617, HTTP Authentication: Basic and Digest Access Authentication. It has the advantage that it is an Internet standard, is supported by all major browsers and is a relatively simple protocol.
HTTP Verbs HTTP verbs are used to manage the state of resources. In DCL REST API, there are three verbs used to manage resources: GET, POST and PUT. You can get the contents of the data using HTTP GET, create the data using POST and update the data using PUT.
HTTP Status Codes Upon success, we return '200/OK' status code for GET verbs and '201/Created' status code for POST verbs. Upon error, we return '4xx Client Error' status code with additional details returned in the response body.
Pagination We provide pagination for resources that typically will have a lot of records. The pagination is applied to the four APIs.
REST API List
The following API list of endpoints will give you an understanding of the endpoints defined by DCL.
Batches Endpoint to submit order batches
Batches support testing and a live environment, or a sandbox environment.
RMAs Endpoint to submit ReturnTrak type RMA or to retrieve RMA(s) status
Orders Endpoint to retrieve order status
Items Endpoint to retrieve item status
Documents Endpoint to get documents (Proofs Of Delivery, Commercial Invoices, Packing Lists).
PO Receipts Endpoint to retrieve PO receipts
PO Notifications Endpoint to submit a PO submission, and/or update a expected delivery of goods not yet received.
The DCL API list includes the URL and HTTP verbs for each endpoint listed here. DCL provides sandbox and production environments to facilitate development and testing.
To connect to DCL’s servers, you will need to use the appropriate URL for the endpoints as specified, according to the sandbox or production environment that you would like to use.
Please refer to the complete documentation for DCL’s API found at the following URL:
SOAP API
Connectivity with DCL Logistics can also be accomplished using a SOAP API, which is DCL recommends only in certain circumstances. Please discuss with DCL your reasoning with needing to use a SOAP API.
What is SOAP API?
The Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is a protocol for exchanging information between systems using XML files.
The DCL SOAP API is based on open standards known collectively as web services, using Web Services Definition Language (WSDL).
You can access the SOAP API WSDL at the link:
Sample Code for C#, PHP, Python and Ruby can be found here.
API URLs
URLs for the Sandbox and Production environments:
Production https://api.dclcorp.com/api/v1/