Common Operations Overview

This section provides step-by-step guides for the most frequent ECGrid integration tasks. Every guide shows both the REST API and the SOAP API side by side, so you can choose the approach that matches your stack.

What's Covered

Guide	What It Does	REST Endpoint	SOAP Method
Poll for Inbound Files	Check your mailbox for EDI files ready to download	POST /v2/parcels/inbox-list	ParcelInBox()
Download a File	Retrieve the raw bytes of an inbound parcel	POST /v2/parcels/download	ParcelDownload()
Confirm a Download	Mark a parcel as delivered to prevent re-delivery	POST /v2/parcels/confirm	ParcelDownloadConfirm()
Upload a File	Send an EDI file into ECGrid for routing and delivery	POST /v2/parcels/upload	ParcelUpload()
Send EDI to a Trading Partner	Look up a partner's ECGrid ID and deliver an EDI document	POST /v2/parcels/upload	TPSearch() + ParcelUpload()
Create a Mailbox	Provision a new mailbox under your network	POST /v2/mailboxes	MailboxAdd()
Onboard a Trading Partner	Register a new trading partner (ECGrid ID + interconnect)	POST /v2/ids	TPAdd() + InterconnectAdd()
Set Up an Interconnect	Establish a partner relationship between two ECGrid IDs	POST /v2/partners	InterconnectAdd()
Configure Callbacks	Register a webhook endpoint for real-time event notifications	POST /v2/callbacks	CallBackAdd()
Manage Users and Permissions	Create users and assign auth levels	POST /v2/users	UserAdd()
Work with Carbon Copies	Mirror inbound or outbound EDI traffic to a secondary mailbox	POST /v2/carbon-copies	CarbonCopyAdd()

Recommended Integration Pattern

For most integrations, the core loop is:

1. Poll — call the inbox list endpoint on a schedule (every 1–15 minutes is typical).
2. Download — fetch the bytes for each parcel that is InBoxReady.
3. Confirm — call the confirm endpoint for every parcel you successfully save. Without confirmation ECGrid will re-deliver the file.
4. Process — parse and route the EDI content in your application.
5. Upload — when your application has outbound EDI to send, upload it to ECGrid for delivery.

Poll inbox  →  Download parcel  →  Confirm download  →  Process EDI
                                                              ↓
                                                       Upload outbound

REST vs. SOAP — Quick Comparison

Concern	REST	SOAP
Auth	X-API-Key header or Bearer JWT	SessionID first parameter
Payload format	JSON (request/response)	XML envelope
File bytes	Base64-encoded JSON field	Base64-encoded XML element
Recommended for new work	Yes	No — maintenance mode only

See REST vs. SOAP Guide for a full comparison.

Prerequisites

• An active ECGrid API key (REST) or valid session obtained from Login() (SOAP).
• Your NetworkID and MailboxID — found in the ECGrid portal or returned by the GetMe / WhoAmI endpoints.
• For outbound sends: the trading partner's ECGridID or ISA qualifier/ID pair.

:::tip Getting Your IDs Call GET /v2/users/me (REST) or WhoAmI(sessionID) (SOAP) to retrieve your NetworkID, MailboxID, and ECGridID in one call. :::