Quick Start

11/03/2020
12 minutes to read

11/03/2020
12 minutes to read

Ready to get started with SortedREACT? This guide explains how to set up real-time shipment tracking and configure shipment state monitoring via webhooks.

Setting up Tracking

To track a shipment in REACT, you'll need to do the following:

Register the shipment. Registering a shipment lets REACT monitor tracking events in real time and enables you to use APIs to get updates on the shipment's progress.
Set up a carrier connector for each of the carriers you work with. Carrier connectors enable REACT to obtain tracking events.
Get the shipment's details. You can track shipments using the Get Tracking Events by Shipment ID endpoint and the REACT UI.

Registering a Shipment

You can give REACT details of the shipments you want to register using the Register Shipments endpoint. Like all REACT APIs, you'll need to generate an API key before you can talk to it.

Getting an API Key

To generate a new API key:

Log into your REACT Dashboard and select Settings > API Keys > Create New.
Enter an identifying name for the key, then click Create.
Copy your API key and save it somewhere safe.

Note:

It's really important that you make a note of your API key, as you can't come back and view it later.

You can use your key by adding an x-api-key header to any requests you make. This lets REACT know who you are, and makes sure only authorised people and applications can get at your data. The next section gives an example of a request header with an API key in place.

Using the Register Shipments Endpoint

To register a shipment, send a POST request to the Register Shipments endpoint. As a minimum, you'll need to send the following information:

The shipment's tracking reference. REACT will only accept one tracking_reference per shipment.
JSON Content-Type and Accept headers. REACT works with JSON data.
An x-api-key header with the API key you generated earlier as its value.

The full HTTP request for your new shipment should look something like this:

Copy

POST /react/shipments HTTPS/1.1
Host: api.sorted.com
Accept: application/json
Content-Type: application/json
X-Api-Key: [your-api-key]
{
    "shipments": [{
        "tracking_references": ["TRACKING-DEMO-REFERENCE"]
    }]
}

Once you've sent the request, REACT will return a 201 code and a Shipment Created response, which contains some useful information about the Shipment resource produced.

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  {
    "id": "sp_TRACKING-DEMO-ID",
    "message": "Shipment record 'sp_TRACKING-DEMO-ID' with tracking reference ["TRACKING-DEMO-REFERENCE"] registered successfully.",
    "tracking_references": [
      "TRACKING-DEMO-REFERENCE"
    ],
    "_links": [
      {
        "href": "https://api.sorted.com/react/shipments/sp_TRACKING-DEMO-ID",
        "rel": "self"
      }
    ]
  }

The id is particularly important - this is a REACT-generated identifier for this shipment that can be used throughout REACT's APIs.

Tip:

This example shows the simplest possible Register Shipments request - just a carrier tracking reference. The more data you give REACT when registering shipments, the more the system can do for you. You'll get much better information from webhooks and more flexible retrieval options, including the ability to track shipments via your own company reference.

For a full list of the properties REACT accepts when creating a shipment, check the API Reference.

For more information on registering shipments, see the Registering Shipments page.

Setting up Carrier Connectors

When you set up a carrier connector, you'll need to give REACT your tracking credentials for that carrier.

To set up a carrier connector:

Log into your REACT Dashboard and select Settings > Carrier Connectors to display the Carrier Connectors page.
Select the carrier for which you want to set up a connector and follow the on-screen instructions to confirm your tracking details. The information required varies from carrier to carrier.
Select the check box to give REACT permission to retrieve tracking information and click Save to finish configuring the connector.

Once the connector is set up, REACT keeps you in the loop by automatically accessing tracking data for any registered shipments with that carrier. To enable and disable existing connectors, use the Active toggle on the connector's tile.

Getting Tracking Events

Once you've registered your shipments, your customers will probably want to see how they're getting on. One way to track a shipment in REACT is via the Get Tracking Events by Shipment ID endpoint. Send a GET request to https://api.sorted.com/react/tracking/search?shipment_id={id}, where {id} is the shipment id you obtained when registering the shipment. Don't forget to include your API key.

This endpoint returns a Shipment Tracking Events response, which includes an array of all the tracking events that have been logged for that shipment. You can embed this data into your website or app, enabling you to serve real-time tracking information to your customers without directing them away from your site.

More Information:

For more information on retrieving shipment and tracking data from REACT, see the Retrieving Shipment and Event Data page.

Setting Up Webhooks

You can use webhooks to build automated shipment state monitoring functions within REACT. For example, you might want to automatically email your customer if a shipment falls into a particular state.

There are four steps to setting up webhooks. We covered the first two in the previous section.

Register the shipments you want to monitor.
Set your carrier connectors up.
Use shipment filters to tell REACT which shipment states to trigger webhooks for.
Configure the webhook headers and target details.

In this example we'll use REACT to help build a service that sends an SMS to a customer when their shipment is delivered to a location other than their home address. We'll set REACT up so that every time a shipment falls into a state of Delivered to Neighbour, Delivered to Reception or Delivered to Safe Location, the system sends that shipment's event data to a URL you specified. You can then feed that data into your SMS gateway of choice.

Configuring Shipment Filters

A shipment filter is a list of shipment states, calculated states, and/or shipment tags that acts as a webhook trigger. When a shipment meets any of these criteria, any webhooks configured for that filter will deploy.

In our example, we need to set up a shipment filter that includes the Delivered To Neighbour, Delivered to Reception and Delivered to Safe Location shipment states. To do that, you'll need to:

Log into your REACT Dashboard, select Settings > Shipment Filters and click Create New.
Give your filter a name and click Next to display list of available shipment states.
Select the Delivered To Neighbour, Delivered to Reception and Delivered to Safe Location shipment states from the list and click Next. A list of the states you selected is displayed.
Click Next to display a list of shipment types.
Select Delivery (this example only really applies to shipments that are being sent to the customer directly) and click Next to select tags.
We don't need to select any tags in this example. Click Create filter to finish creating your shipment filter.

Whenever an outbound shipment assumes one of your selected states, it'll now fall into your new shipment filter.

Configuring Webhooks

Now we have a shipment filter set up, we just need a webhook for it to trigger.

To set one up:

Log into your REACT Dashboard, select Settings > Webhooks and click Create New.
Give your webhook a name and click Next to select shipment filters.
Select the shipment filter you created in the previous section and click Next to select shipping state label languages.
Select the language you want to receive shipping state labels in. The default is English (Great Britain). Click Next to set up authentication.
Select the authentication method for the service you want the webhook to talk to (REACT currently supports Basic Auth, API Keys and JWT), and enter the relevant authentication details. Click Next to set up header details.
Enter any headers you want to append to the webhook payload by entering their Key and Value and clicking Add. When you've added any required headers, click Next to set up your webhook URL.
Enter the URL you want the webhook to send its payload to and select whether you want it to use a POST or PUT HTTP method. If you need to, click Send Test Webhook to test your webhook configuration. The panel on the card shows what the payload will look like.

Note:

The body of the webhook payload is always the Shipment Events resource for the shipment that triggered the webhook.
When you're happy with your setup, click Create to create the webhook.

And we're done! Every time a shipment falls into a state of Delivered To Neighbour, Delivered to Reception or Delivered to Safe Location, REACT will send the Shipment Events resource for that shipment, along with any headers you configured, to the URL you specified.

The next steps are up to you. Following our example, you might integrate the webhook payload with your SMS gateway. However, you can use the data from REACT webhooks in any way you choose. The possibilities are limitless!

For more information on creating and maintaining shipment filters and webhooks, see the Managing Webhooks page.

Next Steps

We've barely scratched the surface of what you can do with REACT. Read on for more info: