Getting Started
General information
Different to the NOTARZR Application, which is built, too, on the Notardec API, there is no off-chain data repository for attachments. If you plan to include attachments in your project, then they must either be stored on the device or your own servers.
Keep in mind, that Notardec entries are going to blockchain (Notardec uses SparkNet) and the total throughput of write operations is limited by the blockgas-limit, which is currently 8 Mio. For apparent reasons, entries to the productive environment have a price-tag per record.
The Notardec API is a custom layer on top of the general purpose CoreLedger TEOS API. This has the added benefit of being able to build interactive and interconnected use-cases, where Notarization can be used in combination with Tokenization.
Authentication and Authorization
For Authorization to access the API you will always need to have a valid Notardec API key.
If the solution your intend to build with the Notardec API is meant for end users, then you have two options for user authentication. If you make use of CoreLedger Authentication Services, then your users might already have a TEOS account. For more information, please check the documentation provided by CoreLedger. The authentication token applies some additional users-specific filters, that can help in your use case. For example the list of assets (records) would only show the user’s owned/issued assets (records) instead of all assets created on the Blockchain. If you choose the option with CoreLedger Authentication Services, then the user authentication token (optional parameter) has to be sent along with the corresponding Notardec API functions that you call.
The second option is to have your own user authentication mechanism and user administration. Then the Notardec API key is all you need in order to invoke read and write operations. Take into account that you will have to deal with private keys in order to sign transactions. Proper care and security is advisable.
Terminology
Because the Notardec API is based on the CoreLedger TEOS Platform, we adopted many of the specific technical terms used within TEOS.
- Digital Asset refers to an artifact on blockchain. TEOS allows users to create artifacts with and without quantity. With the Notardec API you always create artifacts without quantity. It’s simply a document.
- Asset ID is the unique Identifier of a digital asset. Sometimes referred to as DocumentID
- Gas cost means the transaction fee on the blockchain network
Transaction Cost
Each transaction incurs a “fee” to be paid in SparkNet Ether. The good thing about SparkNet Ether is, that it can be obtained for free. There is a fair-use policy on SparkNet for gas distribution so that individual projects don’t overuse and congest the system. However you will have to distribute the gas to your users’s addresses manually.