From the minute we were given approval to build our application for the eBay SM Apps Programme, we turned to our good friends and Ruby specialists [Applicake](http://applicake.com) to help us turn our idea into something real. As a result its been a collaborative effort from day one and so we asked Lead Developer Matt from Applicake to pen us his thoughts on the build. Here is his take.
**What are SM Apps?**
My colleague Ela from Applicake has already [written a few words about the launch](http://applicake.com/blog/index.php/2009/08/18/vzaar-ebay-app-went-live-were-one-of-the-first-ebay-developers/) of the vzaar Selling Manager App from a company perspective so I won’t spend too much time going into details. You can also read vzaar’s news of the release [here](http://vzaar.com/blog/2009/08/were-live-vzaar-enters-the-ebay-applications-programme).
In fact for me this project has always been known by its code name, **Project Echo** and I have to say it felt great to be involved with a super secret development in conjunction with a giant of the Internet like eBay!
**What Have We Done & Why Are We So Proud?**
In a nutshell my task was to integrate the vzaar application with the eBay API directly into the eBay Selling Manager platform. The end goal was to ensure that eBay sellers could then add video to their eBay listings, by using vzaar, directly at an eBay level. A Selling Manager user simply subscribes to the vzaar application and it will show up in their Applications tab in My eBay.

It’s a real distinction for us. Only a few applications have taken part in the initial launch so very few people have actually dealt with the eBay SM Apps API so far. eBay only launched the test API around six months ago and the test environment was only available something like two months ago. As you might imagine, the process was a bit of a challenge (almost no tutorials etc.) and the API itself was not perfect. Throughout the process we had to work closely with eBay technical support team to improve it and I have to say they were really supportive. The end result that we built the app on time and at Applicake we certainly take pride in being one of the first companies to work on the API.
**eBay Development for Dummies**
The great thing about eBay SM Apps API is that to integrate your application with eBay you can use your favorite programming language. I am a Ruby on Rails developer at Applicake which made the decision an easy one to make! To get stuff connected you only need to develop an interface that will allow eBay to subscribe and authenticate users to your app. eBay calls that Open eBay Participant Interface.

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