Overview

The contact imports resource creates an import job to batch load a file of contacts into the Cordial database from an external location.

API set name: contactimports

Additional information

• This resource uses the JSON request information to define the host location of the data file, the transport protocol, and the host login authentication information.
• It is important to note that this resource is not a collection of imports, but it is a resource that initiates import processing by creating an import job.
• Import status information is available through the jobs resource using the returned jobID.

Data file information

• Permissible import file types include CSV, TSV, TXT.
• Column headers need to be the key value for contact attributes, and the name or ID value for account lists.
• Import files will be stored for 30 days from the date of the import. This does not impact the data that was uploaded.
• The file is broken up into several files and imported simultaneously to lessen the total import time. File order is not preserved in this case.

First row column headers must describe the data for that column.

Parameters

* Required

Example CSV

channels.email.address,channels.email.subscribeStatus,ex_stng,ex_num,ex_date,fr_name,Ex-List
test1@cordial.io,subscribed,test1,1,2/1/1970,Chris,1
test2@cordial.io,subscribed,test2,1,2015-04-21,Ted,1
test3@cordial.io,subscribed,test3,2,2/2/2015,Frank,1
test4@cordial.io,subscribed,test4,2,2015-01-19,Tom,1
test5@cordial.io,subscribed,test5,3,1997-02-17T05:21:41+00:00,Tony,1
test6@cordial.io,subscribed,test6,3,2015-02-05T02:05:17+00:00,Mike,0

Resource associations

The following resource collections are associated to this collection.

POST/contactimports

• * Required

  Parameter	Type	Description	Example
  job
  importName	string	Import job name that will be displayed alongside the job ID in the Jobs Widget. May only contain letters, numbers, and dashes. Does not accept whitespaces.	ContactImport-7-31
  importDescription	string	Briefly describe the import job. The description will appear on the jobs page in Cordial.	July summer sale participants.
  confirmEmail	email	Email address to send an administrative alert that the import job has been completed.	msmith@example.com
  hasHeader (required if columns is not included)	boolean	Determines if the first row column headers will be present. Default is "false". If import file type is "JSONL", will be ignored.	true
  columns (required if hasHeader is not explicitly set to true)	array	Array of column headers, arranged by column positionally left to right. Using "" will ignore the entire column. If import file type is "JSONL", will be ignored.	["channels.email.address", " channels.email. subscribeStatus", "first"]
  delimiter	string	Character used to break up columns in file. The default is "," if not specified.	|
  strategy	updateOnly or insertOnly	Insert only - only adds new records. updateOnly will only update existing records. If "undefined", the import will upsert (update and insert). The default is "undefined".	insertOnly
  suppressTriggers	boolean	If "true", will suppress any triggered messages set to fire based on updates to values in the import. Default is "true".	false
  forceSubscribe	boolean	If set to "true", will allow previously unsubscribed contacts to be updated as subscribed. Default is "false".	false
  subscribe	boolean	If set to "false", will not change current contact subscribeStatus. Default is "true" and will subscribe new contacts and contacts with subscribeStatus of none.	true
  nullMarker	string	Defines the value to use for ignoring or skipping attribute updates. Upon import, if an attribute contains the nullMarker value, then the attribute will be skipped or ignored. See example below.	ignore
  *source	object	See parameters for source below.	"source":{}
  lists	object	See parameters for lists below.	"lists":{}
  source
  *transport	string	Defines the transport method Possible Values: HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SFTP, S3, GCS (Google Cloud Storage)	https
  url (required if transport = HTTP or HTTPS)	url	URL or location of the import file.	http://files.example.com/file.csv
  port (required if transport = FTP or SFTP, and not using default)	string	The port number for the server.	44
  server (required if if transport = FTP or SFTP)	string	Domain	example.com
  username (required if if transport = FTP or SFTP)	string	An account username for gaining access to the file location.	myusername
  password (required if if transport = FTP or SFTP)	string	The account password for the above user name.	Msm1th$99!
  savedKey (if using SFTP public key authentication instead of password)	string	SFTP public key authentication key name.	myKeyName
  path (if transport = FTP, SFTP or S3, or GCS)	string	Optional directory path to the file.	/folder/file.csv
  aws_access_key_id (required if transport = S3)	string	Defines the public AWS id.	erg45g45hsdh
  aws_secret_access_key (required if transport = S3)	string	Defines the secret AWS key.	dudhKDDHE476383kdsdhdk
  aws_bucket (required if transport = S3)	string	Defines the AWS bucket name.	bucket-name
  aws_region (required if transport = S3)	string	Defines the AWS region.	us-west-2
  bucket (required if transport = GCS)	string	Defines the bucket name if transport is Google Cloud Storage. Be sure to use the same name from the setup process in Cordial marketplace.	name_used_in_marketplace_setup
  lists
  addTo (required if list parameter  passed)	array	All Contacts will be added to each list in the array. If you pass this parameter, you should not pass a column in the file with the same key. This field will always win.	["foo","bar"]
  removeFrom (required if list parameter passed)	array	All Contacts will be removed from each list in the array. If you pass this parameter, you should not pass a column in the file with the same key. This field will always win.	["biz","baz"]

  If the CSV file has both "1" (true) and "0" (false) values for each contact for list "foo", and the request contains a lists object with instructions to add all contacts to "foo", then ALL contacts will be added to "foo" irrespective of the boolean values in the files column.  In other words, the lists object in the request will overrule the values set in the file itself.

  Regardless of strategy, if a contact in the database has a subscribe status of "none" and no value is passed for channels.email.subscribeStatus in the import file, then the subscribe status will be updated to "subscribed". To prevent a contact's subscribe status from being automatically updated, set the subscribe parameter in the JSON body to "false".

  It is necessary to pass the forceSubscribe parameter with a value of "true" in order to resubscribe contacts who have previously unsubscribed. If this parameter is missing a previously unsubscribed contact will not be subscribed even if the import file contains a column for channels.email.subscribeStatus.

• Example JSON request for HTTP or HTTPS

  The following will initiate an import job to load a CSV file from a secure HTTP location. A confirmation email will be sent to the email address provided once the job is complete. The JSON response will provide a job ID for checking job status if needed.

  {  
     "source":{  
        "transport":"https",
        "url":"https://files.example.com/new_data.csv"
     },
     "columns":[  
        "channels.email.address",
        "channels.email.subscribeStatus",
        "first"
     ],
     "confirmEmail":"msmith@example.com"
  }
  

  Example JSON request for FTP or SFTP

  The following will initiate an import job to load a CSV file via a secure FTP connection on port 44 (not the default). A confirmation email will be sent to the provided email address once the job is complete. The JSON response will return a job ID for checking job status if needed.

  {  
     "source":{  
        "transport":"sftp",
        "port":"44",
        "server":"example.com",
        "username":"myusername",
        "password":"Msm1th$99!",
        "path":"/files/file.csv"
     },
     "hasHeader":true,
     "confirmEmail":"msmith@example.com"
  }
  

  Example JSON request for S3

  The following will initiate an import job to load a CSV file via a secure S3 connection. A confirmation email will be sent to the provided email address once the job is complete. The JSON response will return a job ID for checking job status if needed.

  {
     "source":{
        "transport":"s3",
        "aws_access_key_id":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA",
        "aws_secret_access_key":"dudhKDDHE476383kdsdhdkasKDHDKDeiuealskjD",
        "aws_bucket":"a-bucket",
        "aws_region":"us-west-2",
        "path":"folder/contacts.csv"
     },
     "hasHeader":true,
     "confirmEmail":"msmith@example.com"
  }
  

  Example JSON Request for Google Cloud Storage

  The following will initiate an import job to load a CSV file via a secure GCS connection. A confirmation email will be sent to the provided email address once the job is complete. The JSON response will return a job ID for checking job status if needed.

  {
     "source":{
        "transport":"gcs",
        "bucket":"same_name_used_in_marketplace_setup",
        "path":"/folder/file.csv"
     },
     "hasHeader":true,
     "confirmEmail":"msmith@example.com"
  }
  

• The following URI in conjunction with the JSON will perform the POST.

  http://<path>/contactimports

Lists

• Lists: add or remove all contacts from a list or lists.
• See the example below. The "lists" object will add all contacts in the imported file to lists "foo" and "bar". It will also remove all contacts in the imported file from the list "biz".

{
   "source":{
      "transport":"https",
      "url":"https://files.example.com/new_data.csv"
   },
   "columns":[
      "channels.email.address",
      "channels.email.subscribeStatus",
      "first"
   ],
   "confirmEmail":"msmith@example.com",
   "delimiter":"|",
   "lists":{
      "addTo":[
         "foo",
         "bar"
      ],
      "removeFrom":[
         "biz"
      ]
   }
}

If the CVS file has both "1" (true) and "0" (false) values for each contact for list "foo", and the request contains a "lists" object with instructions to add all contacts to "foo", then ALL contacts will be added to "foo" irrespective of the boolean values in the files column.  In other words, the "lists" object in the request will overrule the values set in the file itself.

Examples of how updates are handled

When updating a contact record:

• If providing an attribute key with a value, the attribute will be updated with the new value in the database.
• If providing an attribute key with an empty string, the attribute will be updated with the empty string in the database.
• If providing an attribute key with a nullMarker value, the attribute will be skipped and not updated in the database.
• If an attribute key is not provided, the attribute will be skipped and not updated in the database.

Note in the CSV example below:

• The first_name attribute with the value "Bill" will update the attribute in the database to "Bill".
• The pet_name attribute with the defined nullMarker value "ignore" will ignore updating the attribute and leave it as "Sparky" in the database.
• The pet_breed attribute with an empty string value will update the attribute in the database to an empty string.

• {
     "channels":{
        "email":{
           "address":"email@example.com"
        }
     },
     "first_name":"Fred",
     "pet_name":"Sparky",
     "pet_breed":"Poodle"
  }
  

• In this example, the nullMarker parameter value was defined as "ignore".

  "channels.email.address","first_name","pet_name","pet_breed"
  "email@example.com","Bill","ignore",""

• {
     "channels":{
        "email":{
           "address":"email@example.com"
        }
     },
     "first_name":"Bill",
     "pet_name":"Sparky",
     "pet_breed":""
  }
  

Error responses

The Cordial API will return an error object with an errorKey and message if there is a problem with an API call. Below is a list of errors specific to the Contact Imports API endpoint, along with suggested modifications to resolve each error. If you receive an error from this API endpoint that is not listed in this table, it is likely recorded within the Global API Error Responses page.