[FR] Supplier integration

[matmair]

Problem
There are a bunch of integrations for different vendors. Most implement the same logic.

Suggested solution
Create models and APIs to make integration easy. Create them in a way that TOSs are not borken.

• Model + API for API keys and connections settings
• Model + API for requests + answers (+ cleanup)
• Plugin mixin to enable easy search integration
• API + python integration to enable third parties proxied calls without keys on the system (or knowledge of them at all).

Describe alternatives you've considered
A lot of small implementations work right now.

Do you want to develop this?
Yes - I have some code that will be seriously reduced by that.

I really would like to get some feedback on this and maybe make a list of all vendors that should be considered:

• DigiKey
• Mouser
• SnapEDA Feature request: SnapEDA api #566
• OcotPartAPI Feature request: find/add parts using the octopart api #541
• LSCS [Discussion] Adding parts and manipulating stock w/ API #677 (comment)

[matmair]

Ping for feedback core team: @SchrodingersGat @eeintech
Previous involved in discussions around this: @rcludwick @awulf @rco3 @maholli @Snevzor @Decee1

This is long-term - I would like to have a picture of the effort before tackling it. Unnecessary to cerate APIs nobody uses.

[eeintech]

Thanks @matmair for taking a stab at this 👍

Here are my thoughts (all of those points are subjective and based on my own experience/workflow):

• Linking orders and part pricing should be must-have:
  • Orders auto-sync would be huge to keep an inventory up-to-date while lowering the number of manual steps for order management, I would put this as the highest priority
  • Part pricing auto-sync for BOMs would be incredible, no more having to upload BOM into supplier websites, InvenTree will have it always updated, I would put this as the second highest priority
• Part number lookup using supplier to create a part straight in InvenTree would be nice-to-have, unless there is a way to easily sync to CAD tools, then it could become must-have. I think it would be easier to have InvenTree plugins made for CAD tools instead, the existing Python API delivers all the hooks needed for that. I would definitely put the focus on the previous items at first.
• Full-fledged part search feature should be skipped, it's huge amount of work and it doesn't add any value trying to recreate the search pages of Digi-Key, Mouser, Octopart... Leave user browse to supplier websites which are perfectly made for this purpose.

[Stefanhg]

I've been working on my own project as i felt like the way the getparts library was made was a bit messy.
https://github.com/Decee1/SupplierBarcodeAnalyzer
It is using the library for Mouser and Digikey. Or at least that is the goal.

I am trying to stay away from the barcodes as i concluded they are messy to work with so i am mostly using the QR codes on the parts. LCSC, Mouser and Digikey all use QR codes.

I might use barcodes when i get my new Logitech C922 which should be much better quality than my current webcam

It is still in alpha, some functions still not working and i still need to analyze a lot more data to figure out the difference between each part. That's why i got different files for collecting and testing barcodes. I got a test function so you can compare the results of each barcode and check if they are correct.

[matmair]

Thank you for your comments.
@eeintech those a some interesting high level concepts. Not sure if that won't be left to the individual integrations.
@Decee1 interesting project. Some ppl. in this repo already figured out the used standard for the barcodes / QR codes. They follow some standardized format. Maybe look if you can find them - might safe some time.

[SchrodingersGat]

I think the key here would be to add some basic "stubs" to the plugin architecture which take care of the required back-end functionality, and then expose functions which plugins have to provide, e.g. API calls, authentication, etc.

In addition to which suppliers we want to support, we should also determine a set of core functionalities

[rcludwick]

I am trying to stay away from the barcodes as i concluded they are messy to work with so i am mostly using the QR codes on the parts. LCSC, Mouser and Digikey all use QR codes.

2D barcode scanners are reasonably cheap.

https://www.amazon.com/wireless-2d-barcode-scanner/s?k=wireless+2d+barcode+scanner

[spectre-ns]

McMaster-Carr would be an absolute game changer on the mechanical side.