eCommerce API (B2B / XBG)¶

The eCommerce API — internally referred to as XBG (the schema files reference C:\XBG\Schemas\...) or B2BSeller — is Prophet 21's original XML message-based integration layer for B2B commerce websites. It predates and is architecturally unrelated to the modern OData, Transaction, Interactive, and Entity APIs documented elsewhere on this site. If you're integrating a storefront, customer portal, or punchout catalog with P21 — rather than building an internal tool or business rule — this is very likely the API your integration already uses or should use.

How the API Works¶

Unlike the REST/UI-server APIs, there is no fixed URL-per-resource pattern here. Each operation is a single XML message type — a root element (e.g. GetItemPrice) containing a <Request>, a <Reply>, and a <ReplyStatus> block:

<GetItemPrice xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
              xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="C:\XBG\Schemas\XBGGetItemPrice.xsd">
  <Request>
    <!-- fields you populate -->
  </Request>
  <Reply>
    <!-- P21 populates this on response; leave empty in the request -->
  </Reply>
  <ReplyStatus>
    <Result>0</Result>
    <Message />
  </ReplyStatus>
</GetItemPrice>

Your storefront builds the XML string, posts it to Epicor's B2B middleware, and gets the same document back with <Reply> and <ReplyStatus> populated. The transport endpoint/URL and whether it's exposed as SOAP or a raw HTTP POST is not present in the source files we have — that's environment-specific configuration on the middleware side. If you're standing up a new integration, get that from whoever manages the B2BSeller/middleware install (see Internal once we have it documented).

Web Service Groupings¶

The manual groups the messages into five logical services. The service names below don't always match the XML root element names 1:1 — the mapping is included because it trips people up when cross-referencing the manual against the schema files:

Also present but not grouped in the manual's service list: ShipToImport (create a ship-to independent of an order), GetPriceBreaks, GetRelatedItems, and the four My Account contract messages (GetMyAccountContracts, GetMyAccountContractDetails).

Common Envelope Fields¶

Every request carries a version block and a few identity fields. These are consistent across all 21 message types:

Pagination Pattern (all "search" and My Account calls)¶

GetCustomerShipTo, GetItemLocations, and every GetMyAccount* list operation share one pagination scheme:

Result Codes¶

ReplyStatus/Result is 0 on success. Non-zero codes fall into ranges by functional area:

ReplyStatus/Message contains the human-readable detail — it interpolates the actual values from your request (e.g. "Could not find ItemID 1000049 for LocationID 1006840"), so log it in full rather than just the Result code.

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