The purpose is similar, and if you already have a subscription ID, you can continue using
it. For any new applications, Amazon.com encourages you to use the access key ID.
CHAPTER 22 ?– USING AMAZON.COM WEB SERVICES 667
The access key ID gives you access to more Amazon web services and Alexa web services
(Alexa is a service owned by Amazon.com), as you can see in Figure 22-2. The access key isn??™t
public information (you??™re not supposed to share it with anyone), but it isn??™t very secret information
either, because it??™s free for anyone to get one.
For the paid web services, or for the services that need to be accessed in a secure way,
Amazon.com uses another key that is called a secret access key, which you also get upon registration.
We will not be using the secret access key in this chapter, however. To access A2S, you
need only the access key.
Figure 22-2. Amazon.com web services
Obtaining an Amazon.com Associate ID
The access key ID you created earlier is your key to retrieving data through the Amazon AWS.
This data allows you to compose the Amazon T-Shirts department you saw in Figure 22-1.
If you want to earn commissions for Amazon.com products you sell via your site, you will
also need an associate ID. The associate ID is used in the Buy From Amazon links you??™ll display
in your special Amazon.com department, and it??™s the key that Amazon.
Pages:
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782