We’ve been asked numerous times about the ability to access an API for Sage 100. Until now the primary ways you would create an API-like experience with Sage 100 include:
- Visual Integrator ( data import )
- Scripting ( also known as Business Objects Interface or BOI )
- Custom/Third-party synchronization tools such as In synch from ROI Consulting ( https://roi-consulting.com/ )
- Custom programming
- Sage 100 Office 365 Connector
Most Common Sage 100 “API”: Visual Integrator ( Importing )
The most common and easiest to upgrade is the data import ( Visual Integrator ). Importing data can be somewhat automated through batch files and task schedule. Visual Integrator is an included component of most Sage 100 subscriptions.
Office 365: Still Early Days
The Office 365 is really cool but is limited. Sage continues to demo and develop for it so I would expect it to continue to expand as time goes on. It shows very well. It does require a dive into the Microsoft ecosystem of online apps and some technical skills to setup and configure. See Sage KB 92058 for details on the configuration of Microsoft.
eBusiness Web Services: Very Limited Support
Sage eBusiness Web Services is a module that can provide some limited access through an API. I do not believe they are doing any development work on it. No changes are expected. Here is a link to a website about Web Services, All for Sage e-Business Manager – e-Business Web Services (4ebm.com). This is part of Sages eBusiness Module which is a built in eCommerce Site. (Great, out of the box, module to get up and running with eCommerce) eBusiness hasn’t been changed in many years and the eCommerce has a late 1990’s look to it. It can be customized and developers do make changes to it.
Sage SDATA: Very Limited Support
Sage also has SDATA for Sage 100. It is not really being developed and is still in version 1 for Sage 100.
ODBC: Your Best Bet for Read-Only Access
ODBC can be used to query (read only) data from Sage 100. In most cases this is your easiest way to access Sage tables provided you only need read-only access. Traditional ( Providex-based ) ODBC does not offer write-back support. A full set of file layouts for Sage 100 is available online to get you started.
ROI Consulting: API Access to Sage 100
During a conference in May 2022 ROI Consulting demonstrated a new Sage 100 API access they had created. ROI has been heavily involved with integrations between Sage 100 and various third-party applications ( primarily websites ).
Now ROI Consulting have created a Sage 100 API to provide direct access to the Sage 100 data tables with less need to learn any of the above tools.
According to the ROI Consulting website:
With our new IN-SYNCH Connector API, we have created a series of endpoints that we establish ahead of time to allow companies to interact with our connector and the database, thus allowing the developer to now push and pull data via these endpoints. They can control the access without needing to host a database and they do not need to have extensive knowledge of the Sage 100 table structure.
The Connector API allows us to work with the end user and/or developer to choose the best option for architecture, requirements, etc. A hybrid may even be used as we have users with flat files that transfer along with an endpoint to connect with their solution. For example, suppose your online cart does not do customer-specific pricing. With the Connector API, your developer can ask for the price of 10 widgets for customer C100 and we can return the price that would appear in Sage.
For more information on the ROI Consulting API Access for Sage 100 please contact them directly at – kimz@roi-consulting.com or visit their website Sage 100 Integration Using Application PRogramming Interface ( API ).
