AESWebLink Inquiry Transaction Submission

This transaction can be used in an interactive mode - in which case the user would be prompted for the username and password by their web browser.

If used in a batch or background mode, a login transaction must be sent prior to the submission of any inquiry transactions. This transaction should be made to https://www.aesdirect.gov/LOGIN [^] as a GET or POST (POST is recommended) and should pass 3 parameters.

"credential_0" should contain the username, "credential_1" should contain the user's password, and "destination" should contain the string "/l/login/login.asp?URL=/aesweblink/weblink_status.cgi".

This transaction will generate an authentication token (a session cookie) that will need to be returned on subsequent transactions.

Storage of AESDirect usernames and passwords in 3rd party applications is strictly prohibited, therefore you must prompt a user for a password at the initiation of a session.

AESWebLink Inquiry Transaction Output

Automated Redirect

If the AESWebLink provider wishes to have the ITN (returned from AESDirect) be provided directly to their application, they will need to specify a return URL for the transaction. When the Inquiry Transaction is complete, AESDirect will issue a redirect to the return URL with the 4 fields appended in the standard http GET ?FID=value&SRN=value&STA=value&ITN=value format

FID=USPPI (Exporter) ID
SRN=Shipment Reference Number
STA=AES Status (AES Status Description, See AES for full list)
ITN=ITN from AES if available

Standard Delivery

If the transaction does not include a return URL, the response will be presented in a format that is both human readable and also easy to parse (by the provider's client-side application). The parseable data will be contained in HTML comments in the response as follows.

<!-- FID="USPPI (Exporter) ID" -->
<!-- SRN="Shipment Reference Number" -->
<!-- STA="status (see above for values)" -->
<!-- ITN="ITN from AES if available" -->

This transaction is designed so that a PC Desktop based application can initiate the transaction from an embedded http component and parse the results. The Quotes (") are included in the response.

Note - If the provider AESWebLink application (Web or PC based) cannot use the automated ITN redirect, or parse the standard delivery output, the standard output should be used and the response displayed to the user. The ITN will be displayed for the User in this format and they will be able to key the ITN into the application.