Rails 4 & Balanced Payments API: Not permitted to perform index on merchants

Question

I am trying to get the Balanced API Rent My Bikes Rails app up and running (https://github.com/balanced/rentmybikes-rails). In following the configuration tutorial on the site, I've been able to do everything (I think). However, when I try to rent a bike, or create a new listing, I receive the following error:

Balanced::Unauthorized(401)::Unauthorized:: GET https://api.balancedpayments.com/v1/merchants: authentication-required: Not permitted to perform index on merchants. Your request id is OHMa6172a32b14a11e395f3026ba7c1aba6. 

.env file, filled with test key and test market URI from the balancedpayments.com:

BALANCED_SECRET='ak-test-1dRppft8xoOg2GZ7FT2yFjWWMCUNFCXYI'
BALANCED_MARKETPLACE_URI='/v1/marketplaces/TEST-MP1vtjZnkpRR6DmfeAvyRwm3' 
BALANCED_CSRF='54cb4ff6c29811e2b033026ba7cd33d0'

I've also tried the full URI for the test marketplace, restarting the webBrick server afterward:

BALANCED_MARKETPLACE_URI='https://dashboard.balancedpayments.com/#/marketplaces/TEST-MP1Bb6nnn1xWxAYk05VwDzia/activity/transactions'

As well as test marketplaces that seem to work in the BalancedPayment documentation, including:

BALANCED_MARKETPLACE_URI='https://api.balancedpayments.com/marketplaces/TEST-MP1U7M592WT19sxxYwz98hLW'

Console shows:

16:35:49.796 POST http://localhost:3000/listings [HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error 819ms]

Feeling a bit over my head, and Balanced's documentation isn't spelled out for Rails. Any ideas?

Answer 1

The 401 unauthorized leads me to believe that your .env file is not being loaded. If you want to use a .env file, you need to use the dotenv gem or run the application with Foreman.

/v1/marketplaces/TEST-MP1vtjZnkpRR6DmfeAvyRwm3 is your marketplace URI. https://dashboard.balancedpayments.com/#/marketplaces/TEST-MP1Bb6nnn1xWxAYk05VwDzia is for viewing your marketplace Dashboard, which is not the same thing.

In case the values you mentioned for BALANCED_SECRET and BALANCED_CSRF are real, even though they are for a test environment, I recommend you change them immediately.

If you need any additional help, feel free to drop by #balanced on Freenode IRC for direct assistance from Balanced developers.