🌟Best Practices Guide

💡 Standards, formats, and recommendations for optimal API usage

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🌐 Language Format Standards

Why Language Codes Matter

Using standardized language codes ensures your marketing campaigns reach customers in their preferred language, improving engagement and conversion rates. Proper language tagging also enables accurate analytics and segmentation across global markets.

IETF Language Tags (BCP 47)

We use the IETF BCP 47 international standard for language identification. This standard is used by HTML, HTTP, and most modern software systems, ensuring compatibility and consistency.

Format Pattern

language[-script][-region][-variant]

Common Examples

Language Tag	Description	Usage
en	English (generic)	Default English content
en-US	English (United States)	US-specific content
en-GB	English (United Kingdom)	UK-specific content
es	Spanish (generic)	Default Spanish content
es-ES	Spanish (Spain)	Spain-specific content
es-MX	Spanish (Mexico)	Mexico-specific content
fr	French (generic)	Default French content
fr-FR	French (France)	France-specific content
fr-CA	French (Canada)	Canadian French content
de	German (generic)	Default German content
de-DE	German (Germany)	Germany-specific content
de-AT	German (Austria)	Austria-specific content
pt	Portuguese (generic)	Default Portuguese content
pt-BR	Portuguese (Brazil)	Brazilian Portuguese
pt-PT	Portuguese (Portugal)	European Portuguese
it-IT	Italian (Italy)	Italian content
ja-JP	Japanese (Japan)	Japanese content
zh-CN	Chinese (Simplified, China)	Simplified Chinese
zh-TW	Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan)	Traditional Chinese

Best Practices for Language Tags

1. Be Consistent Use the same format throughout your system. If you use en-US in one place, don't use en or en-us elsewhere.

2. Start Simple Use basic language codes (en, de, fr) unless regional differences actually matter to your customers. For example:

• Use en if content is the same for all English speakers

• Use en-US vs en-GB only if spelling, dates, or terminology differ

3. Case Sensitivity Language codes are technically case-insensitive, but follow these conventions for clarity:

• Lowercase for language: en (not EN)

• Uppercase for region: US (not us)

• Title case for script: Hans (not HANS)

4. Validate Before Sending Validate language tags client-side before API calls to avoid validation errors and ensure data quality.

Example Implementation

// Valid language tags
const validLanguages = [
  'en',       // English
  'en-US',    // US English
  'en-GB',    // UK English
  'es-ES',    // Spanish (Spain)
  'fr-FR',    // French (France)
  'de-DE',    // German (Germany)
  'pt-BR'     // Portuguese (Brazil)
];

// Validate language tag
function isValidLanguageTag(tag) {
  // Basic pattern: language[-region]
  const pattern = /^[a-z]{2,3}(-[A-Z]{2})?$/;
  return pattern.test(tag);
}

// Example usage
const customer = {
  CustomerId: "C-123",
  Language: "en-US",  // IETF language tag
  GdprOptin: true
};

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💰 Currency Format Standards

Why Currency Codes Matter

Using standardized currency codes ensures accurate financial reporting, proper price display, and compliance with international commerce regulations. It also enables multi-currency analytics and prevents costly errors in pricing logic.

ISO 4217 Currency Codes

We require currency codes to follow the ISO 4217 international standard - the same standard used by banks, payment processors, and financial systems worldwide.

Format Requirements

Always use 3-letter alphabetic codes:

• ✅ Correct: USD, EUR, GBP

• ❌ Wrong: $, €, USD$, dollar

Uppercase letters only:

• ✅ Correct: USD

• ❌ Wrong: usd, Usd

No currency symbols:

• ✅ Correct: USD, JPY

• ❌ Wrong: $, ¥

Common Currency Codes

Code	Currency	Country/Region
USD	US Dollar	United States
EUR	Euro	European Union
GBP	British Pound	United Kingdom
JPY	Japanese Yen	Japan
CHF	Swiss Franc	Switzerland
CAD	Canadian Dollar	Canada
AUD	Australian Dollar	Australia
NZD	New Zealand Dollar	New Zealand
CNY	Chinese Yuan	China
INR	Indian Rupee	India
KRW	South Korean Won	South Korea
SGD	Singapore Dollar	Singapore
HKD	Hong Kong Dollar	Hong Kong
MXN	Mexican Peso	Mexico
BRL	Brazilian Real	Brazil
SEK	Swedish Krona	Sweden
NOK	Norwegian Krone	Norway
DKK	Danish Krone	Denmark
PLN	Polish Złoty	Poland
CZK	Czech Koruna	Czech Republic
HUF	Hungarian Forint	Hungary
RUB	Russian Ruble	Russia
ZAR	South African Rand	South Africa
TRY	Turkish Lira	Turkey
AED	UAE Dirham	United Arab Emirates

Best Practices for Currency Codes

1. Consistency: Always use the same currency code format

2. No Symbols: Never use currency symbols instead of codes

3. Validation: Validate currency codes before submission

4. Price Handling: Store prices as decimals with appropriate precision

Example Implementation

// Valid currency codes
const validCurrencies = [
  'USD', 'EUR', 'GBP', 'JPY', 'AUD', 
  'CAD', 'CHF', 'CNY', 'SEK', 'NOK'
];

// Validate currency code
function isValidCurrencyCode(code) {
  // Must be 3 uppercase letters
  return /^[A-Z]{3}$/.test(code);
}

// Price formatting example
const order = {
  OrderId: "O-789",
  Currency: "USD",    // ISO 4217 code
  TotalRevenue: 99.99,
  OrderItems: [{
    ProductId: "P-42",
    Price: 49.99,     // Decimal, not string
    Currency: "USD"   // Consistent currency
  }]
};

// Multi-currency example
const productVariants = [
  {
    VariantId: "V-100",
    Currency: "USD",
    OriginalPrice: 29.99,
    SalePrice: 24.99
  },
  {
    VariantId: "V-101", 
    Currency: "EUR",
    OriginalPrice: 27.99,
    SalePrice: 22.99
  }
];

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📊 Data Quality Best Practices

1. Batch Processing

Recommended Batch Sizes

Entity Type	Recommended Size	Maximum Size
Customers	100-500	1000
Orders	50-200	500
Products	50-100	200

Why Batch Sizes Matter

• Performance: Larger batches reduce API calls but increase processing time

• Error Handling: Smaller batches make error isolation easier

• Memory Usage: Large batches consume more memory on both client and server

2. Data Validation

Pre-submission Validation Checklist

✅ Required Fields

• Ensure all required fields are present

• Check for null vs empty string distinctions

✅ String Lengths

• Validate against maximum length constraints

• Truncate if necessary (with warnings)

✅ Data Types

• Verify correct data types (numbers, booleans, dates)

• Ensure proper date formatting (ISO 8601)

✅ Business Rules

• Validate email formats

• Check phone number patterns

• Ensure price consistency

3. Error Handling Strategy

// Comprehensive error handling example
async function submitDataWithRetry(endpoint, data, maxRetries = 3) {
  const errors = [];
  const successful = [];
  
  for (let batch of chunks(data, BATCH_SIZE)) {
    let retries = 0;
    
    while (retries < maxRetries) {
      try {
        const response = await submitBatch(endpoint, batch);
        
        if (response.success) {
          successful.push(...batch);
          break;
        } else {
          // Handle specific error types
          if (response.status === 400) {
            // Validation error - don't retry
            errors.push({batch, error: response.errors});
            break;
          }
        }
      } catch (error) {
        retries++;
        if (retries === maxRetries) {
          errors.push({batch, error: error.message});
        } else {
          // Exponential backoff
          await sleep(Math.pow(2, retries) * 1000);
        }
      }
    }
  }
  
  return {successful, errors};
}

4. Identifier Management

Customer Identifiers

// Best practice: Consistent identifier usage
const customerConfig = {
  identifierPriority: 'customerid', // or 'email'
  
  // Always provide both when possible
  formatCustomer: (customer) => ({
    CustomerId: customer.id,
    Email: customer.email,
    // ... other fields
  })
};

Product Identifiers

// Best practice: Maintain SKU consistency
const productConfig = {
  identifierPriority: 'productid', // or 'sku'
  
  // Ensure variant SKUs are unique
  validateSKUs: (products) => {
    const skus = new Set();
    for (const product of products) {
      for (const variant of product.ProductVariants) {
        if (skus.has(variant.Sku)) {
          throw new Error(`Duplicate SKU: ${variant.Sku}`);
        }
        skus.add(variant.Sku);
      }
    }
  }
};

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🔒 Security Best Practices

1. API Key Management

• Store Securely: Never commit API keys to version control

• Rotate Regularly: Change API keys periodically

• Limit Scope: Use different keys for different environments

• Monitor Usage: Track API key usage for anomalies

2. Data Privacy

• GDPR Compliance: Always obtain proper consent

• Data Minimization: Only send necessary data

• Anonymization: Remove PII when not needed

• Audit Trail: Log data access and modifications

3. Rate Limiting

// Implement rate limiting
class RateLimiter {
  constructor(maxRequests, timeWindow) {
    this.maxRequests = maxRequests;
    this.timeWindow = timeWindow;
    this.requests = [];
  }
  
  async executeWithLimit(fn) {
    const now = Date.now();
    this.requests = this.requests.filter(
      time => now - time < this.timeWindow
    );
    
    if (this.requests.length >= this.maxRequests) {
      const oldestRequest = this.requests[0];
      const waitTime = this.timeWindow - (now - oldestRequest);
      await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, waitTime));
    }
    
    this.requests.push(now);
    return fn();
  }
}

// Usage
const limiter = new RateLimiter(100, 60000); // 100 requests per minute
await limiter.executeWithLimit(() => api.submitCustomers(data));

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🚀 Performance Optimization

1. Compression

• Enable gzip compression for requests and responses

• Expect 60-80% size reduction for JSON payloads

2. Connection Pooling

• Reuse HTTP connections

• Configure appropriate timeout values

• Monitor connection pool health

3. Async Processing

// Process multiple entity types in parallel
async function syncAllData(tenantId) {
  const [customers, products, orders] = await Promise.all([
    fetchCustomers(),
    fetchProducts(),
    fetchOrders()
  ]);
  
  // Submit in parallel with error isolation
  const results = await Promise.allSettled([
    api.submitCustomers(tenantId, customers),
    api.submitProducts(tenantId, products),
    api.submitOrders(tenantId, orders)
  ]);
  
  return results.map((result, index) => ({
    type: ['customers', 'products', 'orders'][index],
    status: result.status,
    value: result.value || result.reason
  }));
}

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📋 Checklist for Implementation

Initial Setup

• Obtain API credentials

• Configure authentication headers

• Set up error logging

• Implement retry logic

• Configure rate limiting

Data Preparation

• Validate all required fields

• Format dates as ISO 8601

• Use IETF language tags

• Use ISO 4217 currency codes

• Implement batch processing

Testing

• Test with minimal data

• Validate error handling

• Test rate limit behavior

• Verify data consistency

• Monitor performance metrics

Production

• Enable monitoring/alerting

• Set up automated retries

• Configure backup strategies

• Document error resolution

• Plan for scale

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🔗 References

Standards Documentation

• IETF BCP 47 - Language Tags

• ISO 4217 - Currency Codes

• ISO 8601 - Date/Time Format

Related Documentation

• Error Responses Guide

• Customers API

• Orders API

• Products API

External Resources

• RFC 7231 - HTTP/1.1 Status Codes

• JSON API Specification

• REST API Best Practices