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Chapter 6
4. Next, we will be asked for the user information as shown in the
following screenshot:
5. In the API Key and API Key Confirmation fields enter your desired password.
6. Click on the User Role tab.
7. Select the user role that we just created.
8. Click on the Save User button.
The reason that we need to create a username and role for accessing the API is that
every single API function requires a session token to be passed as a parameter.
For that reason, every time we need to use the API, the first call that we have to make
is to the login function, which will return a valid session token ID.
Setting up the REST API credentials
The new RESTful API is slightly different in terms of authentication; instead of using
the traditional Magento web service users, it uses a three-legged OAuth 1.0 protocol
to provide authentication.
OAuth works by asking the user to authorize its application. When the user registers
an application, he/she needs to fill in the following fields:
• User: This is a customer, who has an account with Magento and can use the
services with the API.
• Consumer: This is a third-party application that uses OAuth to access the
Magento API.
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