Shopify API calls from a java external application

Question

My clients have decided to open a store on Shopify, and they want a list of the items for sale there to be displayed in our website; which is built in jsp (liferay). I'm completely new to Shopify, so I've been checking around, but I'm getting confused.

There appears to be a "Shopify4J" library which should make calls to the API real simple, which is basically what I need (retrieve a list of all items from the store). However, I see all these examples with urls, and I've read that Shopify API can only be used from Shopify apps.

My question is, can I actually call the API from my website to retrieve the item list? Or do I have to create a Shopify app that would connect to my site via something like webservice?

Answer 1

You could use the api and pull in the products, but I think a better solution would be to install the widget app and just embed the widget into your site. Much simple and does exactly what you want as far as I can tell.

Shopify Widget App: http://apps.shopify.com/shopify-widgets

Answer 2

In order to make an Shopify API call, You'll have to first create a token. This can be done by going to Apps > Manage private apps and then click Generate API Credentials. You'll be provided with API Key and password to use in your call.

Here is the documentation of private apps.

And here is Shopify's api documentation.