A sandbox test environment can be provided when building a custom integration with Pio. It is highly recommended that you request a sandbox to test all the required features before going live.
Sandbox environment for manual testing
The sandbox environment is a valuable tool for testing and experimenting with the Pio system before moving into full production.
Create a new sandbox account
Submit a ticket to Pio Support to request a new sandbox account. Once the request is approved, a test instance of the Pio app will be created, and an admin account will be registered with the email address that requested the account.
Here are some key points to keep in mind when using the sandbox environment:
Similar to production
The sandbox environment is mostly identical to the production environment. This means you can use it for extensive testing to ensure everything works as expected before going live.
API documentation
The API documentation for the sandbox environment can be found at https://docs.test.pio.com/ .
All domains/URLs include .test for sandbox and without it for production. So, the base URL is https://api.pio.com for production and https://api.test.pio.com for sandbox.
Setup and Authorization
To get started using the APIs, follow the initial setup steps provided in the API documentation
The Authorization section in the API documentation explains how to authorize the usage of your integration with the account created for you in the Pio app. This step requires the user of that account to authorize the integration.
When this is done, you will be able to fetch an access token to use for all remaining API calls.
Testing and downtime
Since the sandbox is also used for internal testing, there is a slightly higher risk of downtime when new code is deployed and tested. However, efforts are made to keep it running at all times.
Upcoming features
Occasionally, new features may be tested in the sandbox environment. These features are unlikely to have a major impact on your operations.
Sandbox vs. production
You can run the sandbox against your production data. However, there is no infrastructure to transfer this data to the production environment once you decide to move into full production. This means you may need to leave your testing data behind.
If leaving your testing data behind is an issue, consider transitioning to the production environment as early as possible after initial testing.