About p21-api-documentation

Unofficial community documentation for Prophet 21 (P21) APIs with Python examples. Covers OData, Transaction, Interactive, and Entity APIs. Not affiliated with Epicor.

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P21 API Documentation

Disclaimer: This is unofficial, community-created documentation for Epicor Prophet 21 APIs. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by Epicor Software Corporation. All product names, trademarks, and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners. Use at your own risk.

Comprehensive documentation and working examples (Python and C#) for all Prophet 21 integration APIs.

Overview

This repository provides developer-focused documentation for P21's integration APIs. All content is based on official Epicor SDK documentation and verified working implementations.

View Online Documentation

APIs Covered

API	Purpose	Best For
OData	Read-only data access via standard OData protocol	Reporting, lookups, data exports
Transaction API	Stateless bulk data manipulation	Bulk creates, external integrations
Interactive API	Stateful window interactions with business logic	Complex workflows, validation
Entity API	Simple CRUD on business objects	Basic record operations
Inventory REST API	Inventory item CRUD, multi-company workflows	Item reads, appending locations/suppliers
Production & Labor	Production orders, labor hours, time entry	Manufacturing workflows, labor tracking

Quick Start

# Clone and setup
git clone https://github.com/mrwuss/p21-api-documentation.git
cd p21-api-documentation

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your P21 credentials

# Run an example
python scripts/odata/01_basic_query.py

Documentation

Getting Started

Authentication - Token generation, credentials vs consumer key, Interactive API auth
API Selection Guide - Which API to use when

API Reference

OData API - Query syntax, filtering, pagination
Transaction API - Service discovery, bulk operations
Interactive API - Sessions, windows, workflows
Entity API - Entity CRUD operations
Inventory REST API - Inventory CRUD, multi-company workflows
Production & Labor API - Production orders, labor tracking

Troubleshooting

Error Handling - HTTP codes, error responses
Session Pool Issues - Intermittent failures

Reference

SalesPricePage Dropdown Codes - Valid values for price page fields
Batch Processing Patterns - Production batch operation patterns
Changelog - All changes and contributors

Example Scripts

OData

scripts/odata/01_basic_query.py - Simple table query
scripts/odata/02_filtering.py - Filter expressions
scripts/odata/03_pagination.py - Skip, top, count
scripts/odata/04_complex_queries.py - Advanced queries

Transaction API

scripts/transaction/01_list_services.py - Discover services
scripts/transaction/02_get_definition.py - Get service schema
scripts/transaction/03_create_single.py - Create one record
scripts/transaction/04_create_bulk.py - Batch operations
scripts/transaction/test_session_pool.py - Diagnose pool issues

Interactive API

scripts/interactive/01_open_session.py - Session lifecycle
scripts/interactive/02_open_window.py - Window operations
scripts/interactive/03_change_data.py - Field manipulation
scripts/interactive/04_save_and_close.py - Save workflow
scripts/interactive/05_response_windows.py - Dialog handling and response windows
scripts/interactive/06_complex_workflow.py - Multi-step workflows

Entity API

scripts/entity/01_list_entities.py - Discover entities
scripts/entity/02_query_entity.py - Query records
scripts/entity/03_create_entity.py - Create record

C# Examples

The examples/csharp/ directory contains equivalent C# console applications for every Python script, plus a shared client library.

# Build all C# examples
cd examples/csharp
dotnet build

# Run a specific example
dotnet run --project OData
dotnet run --project Transaction
dotnet run --project Interactive
dotnet run --project Entity

See examples/csharp/README.md for setup details.

All documentation pages include tabbed code blocks showing both Python and C# side-by-side. The online HTML docs support language switching with global sync across all code blocks on a page.

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
`P21_BASE_URL`	Yes	P21 server URL (e.g., `https://play.p21server.com`)
`P21_USERNAME`	Yes*	P21 API username
`P21_PASSWORD`	Yes*	P21 API password
`P21_CONSUMER_KEY`	No	Consumer key GUID (alternative to username/password)
`P21_CONSUMER_USERNAME`	No	P21 username for consumer key auth (required for Interactive API)

*Not required when using consumer key authentication. See Authentication docs.

Content Sources

All documentation is derived from:

Official SDK: Epicor P21 SDK documentation
Working Code: Verified implementations from production projects
Actual Testing: Tested against P21 test environments

Contributing

This documentation is a community effort! We welcome contributions:

Found an error? Open an issue
Need something documented? Request it
Have P21 knowledge to share? Contribute
Questions? Start a discussion

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file

p21-api-documentation