API update - status code change

Hello developers!

We are changing the status code returned when an API client has hit its call limit. Presently, we use 503 Service Unavailable to indicate that a client has reached the call limit. 

As of November 30th, we will begin using status code 429 Too Many Requests (RFC 6585). 

Please ensure that your app can handle this change to guarantee expected functionality.

If you encounter any API issues or have any questions, you can visit the tech forums. Additionally, please be sure to monitor your email inboxes for further communications regarding this issue. You can also watch the Technology blog and @shopifyapi for updates.

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Meetups and Hackathons - come see us in real life!

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Shopify meetups (Ottawa) - November 20, 2012

Come to Shopify on November 20th to meet with Shopify merchants, partners, and our own developers, designers, and gurus. This will be a great chance for developers to network with merchants for app ideation synergy, and designers for great app branding justice. Be sure to register soon, spaces are filling up fast!

Windows 8: Pure Imagination (Toronto) - November 24, 2012

We're hitting the road! Come join the Shopify Developer Advocates as we adventure to Toronto to hack on Windows 8 apps. Windows 8: Pure Imagination is an all-night hackathon being held at Ryerson by our friends at Microsoft, and promises to be lots of fun. Again, spots are filling up fast, so register now to ensure your spot!

Hope to see you all this month!

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API updates

Hello developers! We have a number of API changes happening this month. Please take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the updates to ensure that you know whether you're affected.

The updates

Customer API updates - http://api.shopify.com/customer.html
We've made some exciting additions to the Customer API - you can now create customer user accounts for a shop via the API! Check out the API docs for details.

Cart API bulk endpoint removal
We have removed the endpoint for bulk cart retrieval, and are moving towards complete removal of the Cart API in the near future. Please ensure that you are using webhooks over these endpoints. 

Checkout API - http://api.shopify.com/checkout.html
We are moving closer to the permanent implementation date of the Checkout API, happening November 20th. This impacts apps using the Cart or Order APIs, such as abandoned order apps. Get the details on this update here

Need help?

If you encounter any issues or have any questions, you can visit the tech forums or post to Stack Overflow using the 'shopify' tag. Also be sure to continue watching this space, as well as @shopifyapi on Twitter for updates.

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Shopify Desktop Theme Editor 1.0 Release


The new Shopify Desktop Theme Editor allows any Mac user, regardless of choice in text editor, to easily keep a local copy of all of their theme files in sync with their shop. These files can then be edited natively using any text editor, and those changes automatically and seamlessly sent back to your store. The app is a super simple install; just grab the download [here] and drag it to your Applications folder. You're then ready to open up the app, add and authenticate your shop, and get started editting your theme files locally!

One of the main benefits of the new Desktop Theme Editor is the ability to use any editor to make changes to local, synchronized copies of theme files. Whether you use Textmate, Sublime Text, vim, or even emacs, you'll be right at home. Your changes will be automatically and magically synced to your store. You can even use a service like Dropbox to make your theme files available on any computer connected to your Dropbox account.

The Desktop Theme Editor lets you know when your theme files have been synced so you know everything's working right. Never worry again about changes not being synced or your connection failing. If you're working offline, you can manually sync the files when you come back online and get a notification when that's done.

If you're a developer or a merchant working on multiple stores, The Desktop Theme Editor can handle that too. There's no limit to how many shop's you can connect. It's great for contract work as a Shopify Partner or Expert, as well as developers in the App Store and Theme Store to see their changes across multiple test shops with different themes. If you only run an individual shop but use multiple themes (desktop and mobile, for example), you can edit multiple themes per shop too.

A massive thank you to Mitch Amihod who did the development of this app – he's done an amazing job.

You can download The Desktop Theme Editor from the Shopify App Store here.

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Friday Roundup - October 26, 2012

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Happy Friday, developers! It's time for our second edition of the Friday Roundup.

Upcoming API changes - The date has been set! - http://www.shopify.com/technology/6735056-upcoming-api-changes
You may have noticed that we've been not-so-quietly rolling out a new Checkout API. This API and subsequent reordering of some Webhooks will allow for better management of certain activities such as managing abandoned orders. We have set a deprecation date of November 21st for the status quo - after that, these changes will be permanently in place. If you're an app developer making use of the affected webhooks, you should have received an email notifying you of this date. If your app uses the 'orders/updated' Webhook and you did not receive an email, please review your contact information for your partner account.

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Upcoming API Changes

Hello developers! We have some very important news for you. There are changes to the API coming very soon that you should know about! The API team is excited to announce the addition of the Checkout API

Impact

Before reading any further, please be aware that while these changes are not yet mandatory, they will be in the near future. Further details about the exact date will be to come, but expect it to be in the next month. 

Am I affected?

If you are using the Cart or Order APIs, these changes will affect you. In particular, if your app manages abandoned orders, you should take a look at the new API as soon as possible.

What is being changed?

Presently, orders are created after the customer has entered their address during checkout. Initially, all orders are considered 'abandoned' until a financial status like 'paid' is set.

This is being changed. With the Checkout API, there will be a new state between collection of the shipping address (i.e. the first screen in checkout) and order completion. When a payment attempt is made on a checkout (the checkout is either paid, authorized or pending), the order is created. This means that there will no longer be abandoned orders; only abandoned checkouts.

Relevant webhooks (checkouts/create, checkouts/update, and checkouts/delete) have been added to the API and can be viewed here. Once the customer makes a payment attempt, the Checkout object is deleted, and an Order object is created.

How to get help

If you have any questions or encounter any issues, please visit the tech forums, or contact apps@shopify.com

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Friday Roundup - October 12, 2012

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Happy Friday, developers! This is the first of a new weekly series of blog posts where we share our favourite links from the past seven days to exciting new tutorials, features, and other Shopify tech talk. We hope you enjoy these posts!

E-Book : A Developer’s View of the Shopify Platform - http://wiki.shopify.com/Developer_Handbook
Ever wanted a seriously thorough explanation of the Shopify platform that goes above and beyond the API docs and tutorials? It’s your lucky day because you can download A Developer’s View of the Shopify Platformby Dave Lazar, right now in time for some weekend reading! And if you're busy this weekend, every day is your lucky day because his book is licensed under Creative Commons. That means you can download it for free any time you like.

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Introduction: Lydia Krupp-Hunter, Developer Advocate

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Hello everyone, I would like to introduce myself! My name is Lydia Krupp-Hunter, and over the next few months, I’ll be interning at Shopify as a developer advocate to reach out to the community and help you guys do cool things. 

A big part of what I’ll be doing here will be to put together tutorials and sample code in languages that haven’t been used yet to build Shopify apps. So, if you’ve been dying to see a Shopify app built in Lisp, or Haskell, or something else, you should get in touch with me, and we can start blazing trails. I have a background in .NET and am an unashamed Microsoft fan, and it just so happens that there is an amazing new Shopify .NET API adapter out there (with huge thanks to Colin McDonald for opening the door for the Windows kids!). One of my first orders of business will be to get necessary information into the hands of developers to start building cool new Shopify apps with .NET, and I really look forward to seeing what you guys make with it.

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Shopify for Designers Workshops - NYC & Belfast

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Earlier this year I hosted three "Shopify for Designers" workshops in the UK. They were a great opportunity to introduce web designers to Shopify and show them how easy it is to get started building themes. 

My next two workshops will take place on the day preceding two fantastic upcoming conferences - Brooklyn Beta and Build. If you are in either New York or Belfast a day early, or you happen to live and work there (i.e. it’s open to everyone – not just conference attendees) and fancy joining me for a FREE afternoon of Shopify theme building then here’s all you need to know.

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