Integrating the Prove Pre-Fill® Solution: A Step-by-Step Guide for Developers

Seamless and secure user experiences are key to success for any digital platform. To succeed, digital platforms need streamlined onboarding that's both secure and user-friendly. The Prove Pre-Fill® solution helps developers achieve this balance by simplifying identity verification, ensuring strong security without sacrificing user experience.

This tutorial is your guide to integrating the Prove Pre-Fill^® solution into your application. Whether you want to reduce form abandonment, improve user data entry accuracy, or just generally enhance the onboarding journey, this step-by-step guide will walk you through everything you need to know.

Who Is This Guide For?

This guide is tailored for developers who want to:

• Streamline onboarding workflows with automated data pre-filling.
• Reduce manual data entry errors and friction for users.
• Implement a secure and user-friendly solution backed by Prove’s trusted technology.

What to Expect

By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a clear understanding of how to perform all aspects of your integration. The information contained within this blog includes:

• Prerequisites: What you need to get started with the Prove Pre-Fill® solution.
• Integration Components: How to seamlessly embed the Prove Pre-Fill® solution into your application.
• Testing Tips: Best practices to ensure your integration works flawlessly.

Understanding the Prove Pre-Fill^® Solution Flow

To integrate the Prove Pre-Fill^® solution effectively, it’s essential to grasp the key steps in its flow:

1. Possession Check: The process begins with validating the user’s device possession. This step ensures that the user can access the phone number associated with their account. The possession check involves generating and verifying a secure, time-sensitive token.
2. Data Retrieval: Once possession is verified, Prove cross-references the user's phone number with trusted data sources to fetch accurate and up-to-date information securely. 
3. Autofill: The Prove Pre-Fill^® solution securely populates form fields with data, minimizing user effort and reducing input errors. The user then verifies this information is accurate. The autofill process integrates seamlessly with your application’s UI, ultimately enabling you to deliver a smooth user experience.

By understanding these components, you’ll be better equipped to implement the Prove Pre-Fill® solution. As a result your users will have access to  a fast, secure, and hassle-free onboarding process. In the next section, we’ll dive into the step-by-step integration process. 

Getting Started with the Prove Pre-Fill^® solution

Prerequisites

To begin, you’ll need a Prove developer account and access to the solution. If you haven’t registered yet, visit the Prove Developer Portal to sign up and retrieve your API credentials.

Next, configure Prove’s SDKs to streamline the integration process. Be sure to download the following SDKs from the Developer Portal and install them in your project: 

• Server-Side SDK: Handles backend processes like possession checks and secure communication with Prove APIs. For the purposes of this tutorial, we are using Go.
• Client-Side SDK: Manages front-end operations, including initiating requests and rendering autofill fields. For the purposes of this tutorial, we are using JavaScript.

We provide server SDKs in Java, TypeScript/JavaScript, and Go. If your backend language is not currently supported, you can easily interact with our REST APIs.

Required Tools and Environment

Ensure you have the following tools in place:

• A reliable Integrated Development Environment (IDE) (IntelliJ IDEA or VS Code).
• A supported programming language environment: (Java, TypeScript/JavaScript, or Go).
• Access necessary build tools and dependency managers (Maven, npm/yarn, or Go modules).

Step-by-Step Integration Guide

Prove APIs require a client ID and secret for authentication. To access your API credentials, create a project in the Prove Developer Portal. Under project settings, click “Access Credentials.” 

From there, you can access your credentials under the “Credentials” tab. Set these credentials as environment variables for local development or in your favorite secrets manager for higher environments.

Backend Integration 

Step 1: Check to ensure you have successfully downloaded the Prove server-side SDK:

Step 2: Set up your API client using the SDK:

‍

Step 3: Set up your API calls. API request and response models are accessible through the Prove SDK’s components package. See below for an example possession check:

Step 4: Set up API response handling. Prove’s SDK makes it easy for clients to facilitate API flows. There is no need to write code to parse raw responses to models manually! The SDK takes care of that for you! Simply access response parameters set on the model returned by the SDK in the previous call:

Frontend Integration

Step 1: Check to ensure you have successfully downloaded the Prove client-side SDK. 

Step 2: Integrate Prove UX Components: Embed UX components into your application to manage the verification flow. These UX screens provide an intuitive user interface for initiating and completing the possession check. Add these to your application’s UI, where verification will be triggered.

Step 3: Trigger the Autofill Process. Once verification is successful, trigger the autofill process to populate form fields automatically. This ensures a seamless transition from verification to autofill, enhancing the user experience. 

Test the Integration

Testing is a critical step in ensuring your Prove Pre-Fill^® solution integration works seamlessly. This section covers how to simulate workflows, troubleshoot common issues, and verify that your server and client components are interacting correctly.

Prove provides test phone numbers and scenarios that mimic real-world user interactions to test the possession check workflow. These allow you to verify the integration without involving actual users.

Accessing Test Numbers: Use the Prove Developer Docs to retrieve a list of test phone numbers and their associated scenarios (successful verification, failed verification).

Example Test Request: Here’s an example of how to simulate a possession check using a test phone number:

For valid test numbers, you should receive a successful response with a verification token. For invalid test numbers, you should receive an error message indicating the failure reason.

Debugging Common Issues 

Integration issues can occur during development. Below are some common problems and tips to resolve them:

How to Verify Data Flow

Once possession checks pass, verify the interaction between the server and client components to ensure data flows correctly.

End-to-End Testing

Trigger a possession check from the client-side SDK. Confirm that the server receives the request and processes it correctly.

Validating Autofill

Verify that verified data from the server is being passed back to the client for autofill.

Edge Case Testing

Test scenarios where data is incomplete, or verification fails. Ensure your UI displays appropriate error messages and guides the user to retry.

By thoroughly testing possession checks, debugging issues, and verifying data flow, you can ensure the Prove Pre-Fill^® solution integration is robust and user-ready. In the final section, we’ll share best practices for optimizing performance and maintaining a secure integration. 

Enhance the Integration

Once the Prove Pre-Fill^® solution integration is functional, it’s time to refine it for an optimal user experience and performance. This section focuses on customizing the user journey and optimizing the technical aspects of your integration.

Customizing the User Experience

A well-designed user experience can significantly enhance the effectiveness of the Prove Pre-Fill^® solution integration. Here are tips to make the interaction seamless and intuitive:

Designing Around Prove Pre-Fill

• Placement and Visibility: Position UX components prominently on your form or onboarding page to ensure users can easily access the functionality. To build user trust, consider adding a brief explanation or tooltip that describes how the Prove Pre-Fill® solution works.
• Guided Workflow: Use clear labels and instructions to guide users through the possession check and autofill process. For instance:some text
  • “Enter your phone number to pre-fill your details securely.”
  • Show progress indicators to keep users informed about the verification process.

Responsive Design and Accessibility

• Mobile-Friendly Layouts: Many users will interact with the Prove Pre-Fill® solution on mobile devices. Ensure your design is responsive and adapts gracefully to smaller screens.
• Accessibility Best Practices:some text
  • Include alt text for images and labels for form fields.
  • Ensure components can be navigated via keyboard and are compatible with screen readers.
  • Use high-contrast colors and large, readable fonts for a more inclusive experience.

Optimize Performance 

• Leverage Caching: Store possession check tokens temporarily for valid sessions to reduce redundant API calls. Ensure tokens are securely cached to prevent misuse.

• Optimize Network Configurations: Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for static assets related to the Prove SDK. Enable HTTP/2 or gRPC for faster communication between your server and Prove’s API endpoints.
• Efficient Data Handling: Parse and handle server responses as soon as they are received to reduce processing delays. Use lightweight libraries and frameworks like Preact, Svelte, or Alpine.js for the front end to minimize computational overhead.
• Monitor Performance Metrics: Use performance monitoring tools to measure API response times, UI rendering speeds, and overall user satisfaction. Based on these insights, adjust configurations.

Integration Complete

Congratulations on completing the Prove Pre-Fill® solution integration guide! You’re now equipped to deliver a seamless and secure onboarding experience that saves users time while maintaining the highest data integrity standards. Before you wrap up, here’s how you can get further support and recap what makes the Prove Pre-Fill® solution a game-changer.

Getting Support

Prove Documentation

For more detailed information and resources, check out the Prove Developer Documentation, where you’ll find:

• API References: Comprehensive details on endpoints, parameters, and responses.
• SDK Guides: Step-by-step instructions for setting up server-side and client-side SDKs.
• Sample Code: Ready-to-use snippets to accelerate your integration.

Prove Developer Portal

• Explore Prove’s offerings and see for yourself the impact we can have on your applications.

Ready to take your application to the next level? Integrate the Prove Pre-Fill^® solution today and experience how it can revolutionize user onboarding. 

‍

Photo by Alev Takil on Unsplash