Customer Testing. An identifier selects a resource only after the request is authenticated and authorized. Possessing an item identifier, operation reference, action handle, candidate token, or cursor never grants access.

Developer guide

Item identifiers

Choose the identifier that matches the catalog and purpose of your request.

Company catalog identifiers

An item_skey is HPH's stable identifier for an item in the represented Company's catalog. It remains stable when that Company changes its own item identifier. A company_item_id and company_item_alt_id are Company-managed business identifiers and can change.

Use company_item_id when your application already knows the Company's primary identifier.
Use an alternate company identifier only where an operation explicitly accepts it, for example alternate_company_item_id or the company_item_identifier selector.
Use item_skey when a prior HPH response supplied it and the operation accepts it.
A Company does not need to retain item_skey to use the API; company_item_id is the normal customer-supplied selector.
Do not assume that an identifier is globally unique unless its contract says so. Company identifiers are always resolved inside the represented Company.

Choose one explicit selector

Operations document the selector forms they accept. When a request entry supports several forms, name exactly one selector rather than asking HPH to infer the identifier type from its characters.

Company primary or alternate ID example: use company_item_identifier with SYNTHETIC-ITEM-1001. The service checks the represented Company's approved identifier fields.
Stable Company catalog reference example: use item_skey with 11111111-1111-4111-8111-111111111111 only when an earlier HPH response supplied it.
HPH Catalog example: use hph_item_code with 012NI0018 only when the operation explicitly accepts HPH Item Code selection.
Manufacturer identifier example: submit a Manufacturer part, order, UPC, or GTIN only in a field that explicitly names that identifier family, such as the search identifier_type and identifier_value pair. It is never reinterpreted as a company identifier or HPH Item Code.
Supplying two selector forms for one entry is invalid unless an operation explicitly documents conjunctive matching.

HPH and Manufacturer identifiers

An hph_item_code identifies an HPH catalog item for code-capable Enterprise consumers. It is protected and can be omitted by the represented Company's current data restrictions without denying the rest of an otherwise authorized response.

The internal identity of an HPH catalog record is never part of the public API.
Manufacturer part number, Manufacturer order number, and UPC or GTIN are distinct identifiers and may each be restricted independently.
Do not treat a Manufacturer identifier, company identifier, or item_skey as an HPH Item Code.
When a protected identifier is withheld, its property is omitted rather than returned as null, masked text, an empty string, or a placeholder.

Keep workflow references separate

Operation references, action handles, candidate tokens, request keys, and continuation cursors are bounded protocol values. They help continue one workflow or page traversal, but they are not durable item identities and must not be used as item selectors.

Send a returned continuation value back only to the operation and parameter that issued it.
Use candidate and action handles only for the advertised follow-up and current revision.
Retain correlation_id for support, not as an item identifier.
Do not parse meaning from opaque references or place them in logs, analytics labels, or permanent item records.