You can write Bill & Pay integration without having a Bill & Pay Developer account. However, a developer account allows you to use a single set of authentication credentials in all of your API calls to all of the biller accounts you have access to. Logging in with your developer account credentials at https://www.billandpay.com/login/ will give you access to the Developer Control Panel.
The menu options within the Developer Control Panel are:
Developer Control Panel - Apps
The Apps section lets you create one or more app profiles. Each app has an AppID and an AppKey. The AppID is a publicly visible unique identifier for your app. The AppKey is the private password for your app that should not be exposed except during secure calls to the API. Combined the AppID and AppKey form your app's authentication credentials. See the "Authentication" article for information on using App Authentication in your API calls.
To add an App click the "Add New App" button. You will be asked to enter a name for the app. This name will be visible to the billers that authorize your app to have access to their account so make it descriptive so they understand what is accessing their account. Once you have added your app click on it in your app list to view it. You will see four things:
| Your app's unique identifier | |
| Your app's unique access key. | |
| The URL to send a biller to so they can authorize your app to access their account. | |
| The display name of your app. |
If for some reason your AppKey has been compromised you can click the "New AppKey" button to have a new AppKey assigned to your app. You will need to modify all of your calls to the API to pass the new AppKey for authentication.
The "Biller Authorization URL" is the URL you will send a biller to when they want to grant your app access to their account. This URL will display your app name and business name and explain that they are granting your app access to their Bill & Pay account. The biller will have to enter their Bill & Pay user name and password to authenticate themselves. Once authenticated, your app will immediately have access to their account through the API. You can get a list of all the biller accounts that your app has authorization to access by calling the developer.billerinfo method.
Developer Control Panel - Options
The options page allow to set the following option:
| The URL you want to receive callback notifications posted to. Currently, this URL will receive notifications of when a biller has authorized their app to access the biller's account. |