Digital Downloads App: Programmatic access (API calls)

Stefanos_Petrak
Visitor
1 0 2

I would need programmatic access (API calls) to the digital downloads in order to:

  • access the download URL for a digital download attached to a product variant

Any hint, much appreciated.

Replies 12 (12)

Kristina
Shopify Staff (Retired)
46 0 4

Hi Stefanos,

The Digital Downloads app doesn't give API access to the download URL at the moment. You may need to use another app (like https://apps.shopify.com/sendowl) which does have an API. 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Kristina

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

smozgur
Shopify Partner
18 0 9

Good work with the Digital Download app. Thanks.

I can understand why API is not provided. However, at minimum, the downloadable product URL should be listed in the customer's orders page. It is not a big deal to provide this much which is a "must have" feature.

Or is Shopify trying to make Digital Downloads App useless intentionally?

On the contrary, this module should have been merged into the base app already.

PaulNewton
Shopify Partner
6275 574 1324

@smozgur relevant? https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/apps/apps-by-shopify/digital-downloads#display-a-download-link-on...

You can also make manual download links, note: lets a customer freely download a file

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/apps/apps-by-shopify/digital-downloads#adjust-the-fulfillment-set...

You should also be able to just direct them to the order confirmation page using {{ order.order_status_url }}

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/apps/apps-by-shopify/digital-downloads#display-a-download-link-on...

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/orders/status-tracking

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/orders/status-tracking/customize-order-status

 

If none of those apply be sure to write up your use case and send a feature request to shopify support. 

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smozgur
Shopify Partner
18 0 9

Thanks Paul.

Checkout page is irrelevant unfortunately. I am trying to let customers to access the download links months later and without requiring any manual action.

On the other hand, the Order status page is kind of helpful to allow customers to access their links when they lost the initial download email and without asking us to resend the email.

So I just went to customers/order.liquid (Debut theme) and put the following code just below the header (line 21):

<p>Visit <a href="{{ order.order_status_url }}">Order Confirmation Page</a> if your order contains downloadable products.</p>

This is better than nothing!

However, I still wish we could access digital download entity to verify if any order product has a downloadable item to show the link accordingly instead saying "if your order contains downloadable products", or of course dream option is being able to put the download links directly in the list items which requires order/{order_id}/digital-downloads endpoint in the base application.

However, still, this is better than nothing until Shopify decides to merge this module to the base application.

Thanks again.

PaulNewton
Shopify Partner
6275 574 1324

However, I still wish we could access digital download entity to verify if any order product has a downloadable item to show the link accordingly instead saying "if your order contains downloadable products"

For now can't  you just check the line_item's product handles or tags or collections for that?

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smozgur
Shopify Partner
18 0 9

For now can't  you just check the line_item's product handles or tags or collections for that?

Right, I should admit that it is an option, but really not the real solution. Especially if the store has digital products more than physical versions (book store in my case) and also have an existing database to be transferred including existing sales to provide auto-conversion without manual interaction. Shopify app's design is looks to be storing a mirror copy of each order to associate the downloadable items. I'd rather keep it as relational design to provide solution for the orders transferred via API. Of course if there was an API, then this wouldn't be a problem.

I started to plan developing our own private App for this purpose. It is too bad because I actually liked Shopify's app but really not answering vital needs.

Thanks again for your help.

Note: I posted another thread for further inquiry about the App but I don't think that any of the desired features will be included or the App is merged to the core.
https://community.shopify.com/c/Shopify-APIs-SDKs/Digital-Downloads-App-amp-Creating-Order-by-using-...

Marc33
Tourist
11 0 3

Still no API available?

Tht is the first time Shopify has really given me the shaft.

We use SendOwl and the service is not really what we want (3+ years later).

LMK, pretty dissappointed...

***Programming Awesome***. An API specialist with experience leading start-up teams, working for large international agencies, and writing sustainable code mindful of SDLC and shelf-life. Those who know prefer Python, it is lovely.
RogerC
Shopify Partner
4 0 6

Still no API available?  - I'm pretty happy with the platform overall, but this seems a huge miss for anyone trying to manage their content outside Shopify and push data via the API's!!!

LitExtension1
Visitor
1 0 0

Agree

williamng
Visitor
3 0 0

I managed to automatically upload digital content to the store.

It's a script that uses puppeteer lib to manipulate the browser.

to open the product page, upload the file, click the fulfillment setting, change the download limit, and publish the content. all automation.

If you need that, reply here.

 

kevinlobo91
Shopify Partner
1 0 0

@williamngWell then please could you share it then?

HenryQuillin
Tourist
3 0 1

@williamng Could you share the script with me? Lmk and I'll drop my email.