Connect New Accounts

Now that you have Flinks Connect configured and installed, we can start talking about connecting to bank accounts. Just below, we have broken down the flow of the authorization process to show you how it works.

You will make your first connection using a dummy institution called Flinks Capital. Feel free to experiment! It will give you a feel for how this will perform with real banks when you are ready to go to production.

Flow Overview

But first, a quick recap: the end-to-end integration requires client-side and server-side configurations. Okay, we are all caught up. 👌

Here is a high-level flow of how the process works on both sides:

1. User successfully connects an account using Flinks Connect

2. Flinks issues a loginId to your client-side and user is redirected to the landing page
3. The loginId is sent to the server app
4. App server exchanges loginId for requestId to receive the data

Successful Connections

During the connection flow, once the account is successfully authenticated with the financial institution, Flinks Connect will redirect the end user to the configured landing page. You will be able to choose what that page is to ensure a seamless experience for your users.

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Testing with Flinks Capital

Try connecting an account using our dummy institution, Flinks Capital to get a feel for what this process looks like.

Below is a GIF showing the process.

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Hint: Every Day is a Great Day

The Username, Password, and answers to authentication questions used to connect to the dummy institution are shown underneath the submit button when you select Flinks Capital in Flinks Connect.

Once the authentication is completed, two things happen:

• On the client side, your end user is redirected to the landing page of your choice
• On the server side, Flinks collects all required data from that connected account

About loginId

After an account connection has successfully been authorized, Flinks Connect will issue an loginId. It allows you to access the data collected for that particular account via the Flinks API. Once you have retrieved the loginId, you should store it securely on your app's server side and never share it publicly. We explain how to do that just below.

By default, an loginId does not expire. If your use case requires it, we provide an endpoint that will allow you to completely delete it and all associated data. Details on the /DeleteCard endpoint can be found in the Flinks API Reference.

The loginId will always be the same for the same bank account, as long as it's not deleted.

Handling the loginId

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It's important you make sure you retrieve and handle the loginId. You will need this information to access data from the Flinks API.

There are two ways for you to retrieve and handle your loginId.

Landing Page URL

When your user is redirected to the landing page, Flinks Connect adds the loginId along with the institution into the url.

Example:

https://flinks.com/contact/thank-you?loginId=8b35f6c8-e7b6-41d3-98f8-08d68b7f8d31&institution=FlinksCapital

JavaScript Event Listener

If you implement the Event Listener, you can retrieve the loginId from an event that contains step:REDIRECT.

Example:

{step: "REDIRECT", institution: "FlinksCapital", url: "https://flinks.com/contact/thank-you?loginId=8b35f6c8-e7b6-41d3-98f8-08d68b7f8d31&institution=FlinksCapital"}

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Recommended Option

We always recommend using the event listener rather than retrieving the loginId through the URL. This will provide you with a higher degree of visibility and control.

Sending loginId to Your Server App

Now that you have set up your app's client side to retrieve all incoming loginId, you need to send it over to your server app.

Checklist

Before moving on, let's review what we just did:

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Mastering the Account Connection Flow

• Test out a connection through Flinks Connect, using our dummy institution Flinks Capital
• Retrieve the loginId after each successful connection via Events or URL
• Send the loginId you have retrieved to your server app to be stored