Pressable recently launched an exclusive preview feature to test and explore a new API allowing you to offer your clients even more services than ever before, like the ability to interact with the Pressable platform and take care of day to day work anywhere you like. If you need to create a new site, there is an API endpoint that creates a site for you. If you want to add collaborators to the site you just created, there is an API endpoint for that, too. Need to add a domain to a site? You guessed it; there is an API endpoint for that.
What’s different about Pressable’s new API?
You may be saying to yourself that you already have the ability to do all of this within the Pressable admin panel, so why does it matter that it can be done with the API? Well, imagine you are sitting with a client and they are ready to sign up for your services. You could build an area of your own site where they can submit information, make a payment, create a site, add a user to that site, and attach a domain, all within the same page.
Thanks to the Pressable preview feature API access, you can customize the ability to do just that, empowering you to do more without ever touching the Pressable admin panel. This means you can come up with your own processes that work for you and your business. Stripe, for example, has an API you can integrate with. Imagine integrating your billing system with the overall process that sets up a managed WordPress hosting account on Pressable. What if you had a Raspberry Pi with a button that, when pressed, would create a new site on the Pressable platform and send you your new login information?
You could also recreate all the C.R.U.D. (create, read, update, delete) functionality available within the Pressable admin area. Using the Vuejs stand-alone application that uses Vuex to store data locally, you can quickly run through the process. (Here’s a great example of the source code.)
We let a partner of ours, Isaac Castillo, take a spin with the new API. This is what he did when he got behind the wheel.
I had the chance to interact with the Pressable API in a series of tests and, in a way, recreated all the administration functions that you can within the admin area. I was looking to recreate all the C.R.U.D (create, read, update, delete) functionality that we have via the admin area. My weapon of choice was a Vuejs stand alone application that uses Vuex to store data locally. It was a quick run proof of concept project that you can find the source code for here https://github.com/echods/Pressable-Api-Crud.
For this project, I started out by authenticating against the API in order to receive a token that the application uses to make each request. This is a standard way of authenticating with your application.
First, develop a listing of all the sites that are available within the account. You can accomplish this with a simple GIT request to the site’s API endpoint. Once the response comes back with the necessary return information, attach that data to the local Vuex store variable that lists on the page. A variable was created that stays false when requested and true after the data is returned. With this variable, you are able to create a loading screen until the page is ready to display the returned data.
Each site has a clickable link that will give you a page that provides more detailed information about a given site, and allows you access to other C.R.U.D. based operations on the site’s sub-resources. If you would like to attach a domain to a site, you can do so by submitting the domain under that section. This part of the application is facilitated by sending the domain via a POST request along with the name you filled in for the site. This gives the API sufficient information for attaching that domain to the site, and returning a success or failure response. Upon success, you will then also send a GET request to fetch all added domains, including the newly added domain, and list them on the page.
Use the same process for collaborators as domains. Send a POST request with the email of the collaborator you wish to add. Once the request is received, the Pressable platform then emails that user with the credentials that the system has created for them.
The site creation function is similar to this, and also has the same process of emailing the user their site username and password.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Think of Pressable’s exclusive preview API access as a blank canvas to build your entire process; an extension of your business that can house all the operations you are already using under one roof. This gives you more credibility, a better brand, and an all-around easier onboarding for your clients.
Not a Pressable subscriber but interested in trying out the new API for yourself? Sign up for a and take advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee. Moving your sites is simple with our automated plugin or White-Glove Support completing migrations in no time.
Isaac Castillo
Isaac is the founder of Echo Design Solutions, a San Antonio-based WordPress and WooCommerce development company. We asked Isaac to share his approach to picking plugins with our readers. Whether you’re a newcomer or you’ve been using WordPress for years, you may be able to improve your plugin choices.
