Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows businesses to create online stores to sell their products. It provides a comprehensive set of features, including customizable storefronts, payment processing, inventory management, and shipping integration. One of the most powerful aspects of Shopify is its ability to be extended with third-party apps.
In this blog post, we will guide you through the process of creating a Shopify app using .NET and C#. We will cover everything from setting up a Shopify development environment to creating your first app.
Prerequisites
To follow this tutorial, you will need the following:
- A Shopify account
- A development machine with .NET and C# installed
- Visual Studio or another code editor
Step 1: Set up a Shopify development environment
The first step in creating a Shopify app is to set up a development environment. Shopify provides a development store that you can use to build and test your app. To set up a development store, follow these steps:
- Log in to your Shopify account and click on the “Apps” tab.
- Click on “Manage private apps” and create a new private app.
- Enter a name for your app and fill out the required information.
- In the “Admin API” section, enable the necessary permissions for your app.
- Save the changes and copy the “API Key” and “Password” values.
With your development store set up, you can now move on to creating your app.
Step 2: Create a new .NET project
The next step is to create a new .NET project in Visual Studio. Here’s how:
- Open Visual Studio and click on “File” > “New” > “Project”.
- Select “ASP.NET Web Application” and click “Next”.
- Choose a name and location for your project and click “Create”.
- In the “New ASP.NET Web Application” dialog, select “Web Application (Model-View-Controller)” and click “Create”.
Step 3: Install the Shopify API library
To communicate with the Shopify API, we’ll need to install the ShopifySharp library. You can do this by using the NuGet Package Manager in Visual Studio. Here’s how:
- Right-click on your project in the Solution Explorer and select “Manage NuGet Packages”.
- In the “Browse” tab, search for “ShopifySharp” and install the package.
- Repeat this process for the “Newtonsoft.Json” package, which we’ll use to serialize and deserialize JSON data.
Step 4: Set up authentication
To authenticate your app with Shopify, you’ll need to use your API key and password. Here’s how to do it:
- Create a new class in your project called “ShopifyAuthentication.cs”.
- Add the following code to the class:
using ShopifySharp;
namespace ShopifyApp
{
public static class ShopifyAuthentication
{
public static ShopifyAuthorizationState AuthorizeShopify(string myShopifyUrl, string apiKey, string apiPassword)
{
var service = new ShopifyAuthorizationService(myShopifyUrl, apiKey, apiPassword);
var authorizationState = service.AuthorizeClient().Result;
return authorizationState;
}
}
}This code sets up the authentication service and returns the authorization state. We’ll use this later to make authenticated API calls.
Step 5: Create your app’s home page
Now that you’ve set up authentication, you can create your app’s home page. This will be the first page that users see when they install your app. Here’s how:
- Create a new controller in your project called “HomeController.cs”.
- Add the following code to the controller:
using System.Web.Mvc;
using ShopifySharp;
namespace ShopifyApp.Controllers
{
public class HomeController : Controller
{
public ActionResult Index()
{
var myShopifyUrl = "your-store-name.myshopify.com";
var apiKey = "your-api-key";
var apiPassword = "your-api-password";
var authorizationState = ShopifyAuthentication.AuthorizeShopify(myShopifyUrl, apiKey, apiPassword);
if (authorizationState != null)
{
ViewBag.AuthorizationState = authorizationState;
}
return View();
}
}
}
This code sets up the home page controller and calls the authentication method that we defined earlier. It then passes the authorization state to the view, where we’ll use it to make authenticated API calls.
Step 6: Make authenticated API calls
With authentication set up and the home page created, we can now make authenticated API calls to Shopify. Here’s an example:
using System.Web.Mvc;
using ShopifySharp;
namespace ShopifyApp.Controllers
{
public class ProductController : Controller
{
public ActionResult List()
{
var myShopifyUrl = "your-store-name.myshopify.com";
var apiKey = "your-api-key";
var apiPassword = "your-api-password";
var authorizationState = ShopifyAuthentication.AuthorizeShopify(myShopifyUrl, apiKey, apiPassword);
if (authorizationState != null)
{
var service = new ProductService(myShopifyUrl, authorizationState.AccessToken);
var products = service.ListAsync().Result;
return View(products);
}
return RedirectToAction("Index", "Home");
}
}
}
This code creates a new product controller and calls the ListAsync() method to retrieve a list of products from Shopify. It then passes the products to a view that will display them to the user.
Step 7: Publish your app
Once you’ve built and tested your app, you can publish it to the Shopify App Store. To do this, you’ll need to create a partner account with Shopify and submit your app for review. Shopify provides detailed documentation on this process, which you can find on their website.
Conclusion
In this tutorial, we’ve covered the process of creating a Shopify app using .NET and C#. We’ve shown you how to set up a development environment, authenticate your app with Shopify, create a home page, make authenticated API calls, and publish your app to the Shopify App Store. With these steps, you should have a solid foundation for building powerful, scalable apps on the Shopify platform. Good luck!
