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Glossary for newcomers
MSISDN, OTP, SDK, callback, every bit of jargon on this site, decoded.
No coding required. Plain language, concepts only.
Technical writing hides a lot behind short words. This page explains every one of them without using another one, so you can read the rest of this site without stopping.
If you meet a word anywhere in these docs that isn't listed here, tell us and we'll add it. Contact us.
21 of 21 terms
- APIApplication Programming Interface
- A way for two pieces of software to talk to each other. When your app 'calls the Digimart API', it is sending Digimart a message and getting an answer back, the same idea as a phone call, but between programs.
- API Key
- A public name for your application, like a username. You send it with every request so Digimart knows which app is asking. It is not a secret.
- App Password
- A unique key sent to the service provider's email when the app is created, used strictly to authenticate REST API calls.
- API Secret
- The password half of the pair. It is never sent over the internet, you use it to build a signature that proves the request came from you. If it leaks, someone else can charge your customers, so treat it like a bank password.
- CaaSCharging as a Service
- Digimart's name for one-time charging, taking a single specific amount rather than a repeating subscription.
- CallbackNotification URL, webhook
- Instead of your app asking 'is it done yet?', Digimart's server calls your server when the charge finishes. You give Digimart a web address; it sends the result there. This is how you find out a payment truly succeeded.
- Endpoint
- A specific web address that accepts a specific kind of request, like a particular counter at an office, where each counter does one job.
- Header enrichment
- When someone browses on mobile data, the operator can quietly tell Digimart which number they are. If you enable it, your customer never has to type their phone number, one fewer step, and fewer people give up.
- MSISDN
- The technical word for a mobile phone number, written in full international form like 8801XXXXXXXXX. It is pronounced letter by letter, and it means nothing more exciting than 'phone number'.
- OTPOne-Time Password
- A short code sent by SMS that expires after a few minutes. Typing it proves the person holding the phone agreed to the charge, it is the customer's consent, in technical form.
- Provisioning
- Registering your app with Digimart and asking for permission to use charging. It ends with a human reviewing and approving your app.
- Redirect URL
- The page in your app that Digimart sends the customer back to when the payment is done, win or lose. Build a friendly page here; it is the last thing they see.
- Request ID
- A unique 15-digit number you invent for each charge, so that you and Digimart can both refer to the same transaction later. Never reuse one.
- Revenue share
- The arrangement where the money a customer pays is split between you and Grameenphone at an agreed ratio, instead of you paying a fixed fee.
- Sandbox
- A practice mode. You can run the whole flow without real money moving, so you can make mistakes safely before real customers see your app.
- SDKSoftware Development Kit
- A ready-made bundle of code and instructions so you do not have to build something from scratch. Digimart's 'SDK' is mostly a documented web flow you redirect people into.
- SHA-512
- A one-way scrambling function. Feed it text and it produces a long fixed-length code. You cannot unscramble it, but anyone with the same secret can reproduce it, which is exactly what makes it useful for proving identity.
- Signature
- The scrambled code you attach to each request. Digimart rebuilds it using its own copy of your secret; if the two match, the request really came from you and nobody tampered with it.
- Subscriber
- A Grameenphone customer, the person whose mobile balance is being charged. In your product they are just your user.
- Telco
- Short for telecommunications company, a mobile operator like Grameenphone.
- UTC
- A single world clock that does not change with time zones. Timestamps are sent in UTC so there is never any confusion about when something happened.