How do I know which NetSuite integration option to choose (suiteTalk, suitelet or restlet) for integrating NetSuite to our third party application?

Question

I am trying to integrate our third party application with NetSuite. I want to be able to import sales invoice details generated from our third party system (which uses REST API) into the NetSuite invoice form. The frequency of import is not too crucial- an immediate import will be ideal, but sending data once a day is fine as well.

I want to know what I have to use to do this API integration - SuiteTalk, RESTlet or Suitelet.

I am completely new to this topic and after a few days of research, I learned that there are 3 options for an API integration with netsuite (Suitelets, restlets and suitetalk which comprises REST and SOAP based web services). I also learned that there are scheduled scripts and user events, but I'm not too clear on the idea.

I need some help identifying which integration option I should choose. Any and all information about netsuite API integration is appreciated!

Answer 1

Who is making the changes? If it is your NetSuite developers, then your options are SUITELET or RESTLET.

If its your third-party application team, they own the code and the process and do all their work sitting outside of NetSuite - your option is SUITETALK/SOAP. Of course, they need to know something about NetSuite, but your business analyst would be sufficient to support them. As of 2020.1+, there is also support for native REST APIs in addition to SOAP in case you still want to use REST, but not write your own RESTLETS.

As the above comments mention, Suitetalk does perform a little slower than calling RESTLETS. So that maybe one of the deciding factors.

You may consider SUITELETs for integration only if you want to bypass all authentication schemes, by setting the suitelet as public. Highly inadvisable though.

If the third-party application supports REST APIs, you could call them directly from within NetSuite - either from user events or from scheduled scripts.

You can also consider iPAAS platforms like Dell Boomi, Celigo, Jitterbit, etc. These are general-purpose integration platforms, and make connecting one platform to another easy, with minimal coding. If your Company is already invested in these iPAAS platforms for other enterprise applications, then the choice is that much simpler.

Answer 2

this is a really subjective issue.

It used to be that SOAP/SuiteTalk was a little easier in terms of infrastructure and since Netsuite's offerings are ever changing the REST/SuiteTalk might fill this space in the future.

Since Netsuite deprecated the Full Access role setting up integrations almost always involves the integrator having to provide a permissions spec. The easiest way to do that is via a Bundle. For token based authentication (TBA) there also needs to be an integration record from which you need Consumer Id and Secret Tokens.

So as of this writing the set up for SOAP/SuiteTalk and RESTLets is roughly the same. The easiest way to communicate these is with a bundle so if you are a Netsuite dev with a dev account you can set these up in a bundle and have your customer import them.

So equal so far but differences: SOAP/Suitetalk is slow. IMO not suiteable for an interactive interface SOAP/Suitetalk the code is all in your external app so changes to the code don't require any changes in the target account.

RESTlets can be pretty speedy. I've used these for client interactions. Updates require re-loading your bundle or overwriting your bundle files in the target account (with the resulting havoc if an admin refreshes the bundle) RESTlets give you access to the features of the account on which you are running so that code can run appropriate chunks For instance features such as matrix items, multi-location inventory, one-world, pick/pack/ship, volume pricing, multi-currency will all change the data model of the account your code is running against. RESTlets can detect which features are enabled; SOAP/SuiteTalk cannot.

So really the only advantage at this point that I see for SOAP/Suitetalk is that code updates don't require access to the target account.

Answer 3

I would avoid REST/SOAP. SOAP is outdated, and REST is incomplete and difficult to use.

Suitelet's are for when you want to present your own custom UI to frontend users, like a special new kind of custom form not relevant to any particular record. Probably not what you want.

What you probably want is to design a restlet. A restlet is a way for you to setup your own custom url inside NetSuite that your program can talk to from outside NetSuite. Like a webpage. You can pass in data to the restlet either inside the URL, or inside the body of an HTTP request (e.g. like a JSON object), and you can get data back out from the body of the HTTP response.

A restlet is a part of SuiteTalk. The method of authenticating a restlet is the same for the method of authenticating a request to the REST API. So, learning about SuiteTalk is helpful. The code you use to write the restlet, SuiteScript, is the same kind of code used to write suitelets and other kinds of scripts.

So you will want to learn about SuiteTalk, and then, in particular, SuiteTalk restlets.