In This Section

Automation Templates

API Description and Functional Purpose:

An automationtemplate instance within the automationtemplates collection contains the essential information to define a communication template for an automated message. Templates include details for content, channel, classification of communication (transactional or promotional), subject line, from and reply address, and HTML. It is possible to use a template one or more times.

Additional information:

  • Template key values must be unique. Therefore, it is important to consider a naming convention that will accommodate creating multiple templates over time. For example. "sports_newsletter_Jan_2018_week1" is better than "jan_newsletter".
  • Cordial provides a default transport for sending communications; however it is possible to use an external provider if needed.
  • By default, results data is aggregated on a "daily" interval. This can be optionally set to "hourly" if further granularity is needed.

POST /automationtemplates

Method URI Path
POST /automationtemplates
Creates a new message template in the Cordial database using the appropriate JSON body.

Posting more than one time for the same template key value will generate an error. Use PUT to change or update template data once created.

Parameters

*Required

Parameter Type Description Example
Template
*key string Unique value assigned to the template. The key may only contain letters, numbers, and dashes. news-01-21-2018
*Name string A name given to the message. news-01-21-2018
*channel string Description of the channel for this template. email
*classification string Describes the class of communication. Options include transactional and promotional. transactional
*baseAggregation string Specific to API and triggered messages. Options include daily and hourly. daily
transportID string Defines the transported if overriding the default. trans_1134
draftContent string Defines if the message will be submitted as a draft or published version. Value is boolean: true or false. Default is false. true
trackLinks string Enables or disables storing link tracking data. Options include or enabled or disabled. The default is enabled. disabled
Message/Headers
*subject string The subject line for the communication. Welcome!
*fromEmail string The email address that the message is from. email@example.com
*fromDesc string Describes who is the sender. CS Dept
*replyEmail string The email address that the message's replies will go to. email@example.com
Message/Content
*text/html string HTML markup for the message. <div>content</div>

Example JSON Requests

The following will create a new automation template for a promotional email.

{
	"key": "promo_01_20_2018",
	"name": "promo_01_20_2018",
	"channel": "email",
	"classification": "promotional",
	"baseAggregation": "hourly",
	"message": {
		"headers": {
			"subject": "One Day Only Sale",
			"fromEmail": "info@example.com",
			"replyEmail": "info@example.com",
			"fromDesc": "Promotions Team"
		},
		"content": {
			"text/html": "<div>Hello World</div>"
		}
	}
}

Example Request URIs

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

http://<path>/automationtemplates

GET /automationtemplates

Method URI Path
GET /automationtemplates
Retrieves all automation templates from the Cordial database.

Query String Parameters

Parameter Type Description Example
fields string Limits the data returned to the fields specified. Multiple fields are comma separated.
Possible Values:
key, name, classification, channel, stats, baseAggregation, status, createdAt, lastUpdate, message, mdtID		 
?fields=key%2ClastUpdate
ct[gt] string Returns records where the  create date is greater than the specified date. 
?ct%5Bgt%5D=2018-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
ct[gte] string Returns records where the create date is greater than or equal to the specified date. 
?ct%5Bgte%5D=2018-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
ct[lt] string Returns records where the create date is less than the specified date. 
?ct%5Blt%5D=2018-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
ct[lte] string Returns records where the create date is less than or equal to the specified date. 
?ct%5Blte%5D=2018-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
lm[gt] string Returns records where the last modified time is greater than the specified date. 
?lm%5Bgt%5D=2018-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
lm[gte] string Returns records where the last modified time is greater than or equal to the specified date. 
?lm%5Bgte%5D=2018-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
lm[lt] string Returns records where the last modified time is less than the specified date. 
?lm%5Blt%5D=2018-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
lm[lte] string Returns records where the last modified time is less than or equal to the specified date. 
?lm%5Blte%5D=2018-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
tags string Returns results that contain the specified message tags. Multiple tags are comma separated. 
?tags=welcome%2C%20promo
page string Specifies the results page number. 
?page=3
per_page string Specifies the number of records returned per page. 
?per_page=100

Example Request URIs

The following URI will retrieve all automation templates and include all fields.

http://<path>/automationtemplates

The following URI will retrieve all automation templates, but will only include the field data for "name".

http://<path>/automationtemplates?fields=name

The following URI will retrieve all automation templates, and will only include the field data for "name" and "message".

http://<path>/automationtemplates?fields=name%2Cmessage

The following URI will retrieve all automation templates starting from the third page grouping contacts by 10. For example, page-1 would have included the first 10, page-2 the second group of 10 and so on.

http://<path>/automationtemplates?page=3&per_page=10

GET /automationtemplates/{key}

Method URI Path
GET /automationtemplates/{key}
Retrieves an automation template from the Cordial database.

The automation template record is defined by the template's unique key value.

Query String Parameters

Parameter Type Description Example
fields string Limits the data returned to the fields specified. Multiple fields are comma separated.
Possible Values:
key, name, classification, channel, stats, baseAggregation, status, createdAt, lastUpdate, message, mdtID		 
?fields=key%2ClastUpdate

Example Request URIs

The following URI will retrieve an automation template where the key value is "promo_01_20_2018" and include all fields.

http://<path>/automationtemplates/promo_01_20_2018

The following URI will retrieve an automation template where the key value is "promo_01_20_2018", but will only include the field data for name.

http://<path>/automationtemplates/promo_01_20_2018?fields=name

The following URI will retrieve an automation template where the key value is "promo_01_20_2018", and will only include the field data for name and message.

http://<path>/automationtemplates/promo_01_20_2018?fields=name%2Cmessage

PUT /automationtemplates/{key}

Method URI Path
PUT /automationtemplates/{key}
Updates fields for a automation template within the Cordial database.

The automation template record is defined by the template's unique key value.

For example, /automationtemplates/promo_01_20_2018 allows the template with the key value of "promo_01_20_2018" to be updated using the appropriate JSON body.

Parameters

*Required

Parameter Type Description Example
Template
transportID string Defines the transported if overriding the default. trans_1134
draftContent string Defines if the message will be submitted as a draft or published version. Value is boolean: true or false. Default is false. true
trackLinks string Enables or disables storing link tracking data. Options include or enabled or disabled. The default is enabled. disabled
Message/Headers
*subject string The subject line for the communication. Welcome!
*fromEmail string The email address that the message is from. email@example.com
*fromDesc string Describes who is the sender. CS Dept
*replyEmail string The email address that the message's replies will go to. email@example.com
Message/Content
text/html string HTML markup for the message. <div>content</div>

Example JSON Requests

The following will update the subject for an automation template.

{
	"message": {
		"headers": {
			"subject": "Big Sale This Weekend",
			"fromEmail": "info@example.com",
			"replyEmail": "info@example.com",
			"fromDesc": "Promo Team"
		}
	}
}

Example Request URIs

The following URI in conjunction with the JSON will perform the PUT to the automation template "promo_01_20_2018".

http://<path>/automationtemplates/promo_01_20_2018

POST /automationtemplates/{key}/publish

Method URI Path
POST /automationtemplates/{key}/publish
Publishes an automation template draft.

The automation template record is defined by the template's unique key value.

Example Request URI

The following URI will perform a POST to the automation template with a key of "promo_01_20_2018 ".

http://<path>/automationtemplates/promo_01_20_2018/publish

POST /automationtemplates/{key}/senddraft

Method URI Path
POST /automationtemplates/{key}/senddraft
Sends an automation template draft for testing purposes.

The automation template draft to be sent is defined by the template's unique key value.

For example, /automationtemplates/promo_01_20_2018/senddraft allows the template with the key value of "promo_01_20_2018" to be sent using the appropriate JSON body.

The template can be sent to one or more contacts, as defined within the JSON body.

Parameters

*Required

Parameter Type Description Example
To/Contact
*contact identifier string Specify the message recipient using a contact identifier value. email@example.com, ID1234, 16198880000

Using extVars, any number of additional external variables may be added. These values are then available in the template. For example, if "extVars": {"orderID": "o1234"} is included as an order ID value, then in the message it can be accessed as {$extVars.orderID}.

Note: Data passed within external variables is not stored in the Cordial platform.

Example JSON Requests

The following will send a message to a single contact. The three examples each use a different contact identifier key/value pair to identify the recipient.

{
    "to": {
        "contact": {
            "email": "msmith@example.com"
        },
        "extVars": {
            "orderID": "123",
            "orderItems": [
                {
                    "name": "Tour Tee",
                    "amount": "22.50"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Icon Tee",
                    "amount": "25.50"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Icon Hat",
                    "amount": "15.50"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

{
    "to": {
        "contact": {
            "cID": "58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3"
        },
        "extVars": {
            "orderID": "123",
            "orderItems": [
                {
                    "name": "Tour Tee",
                    "amount": "22.50"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Icon Tee",
                    "amount": "25.50"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Icon Hat",
                    "amount": "15.50"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

{
    "to": {
        "contact": {
            "customKey": "identifierValue"
        },
        "extVars": {
            "orderID": "123",
            "orderItems": [
                {
                    "name": "Tour Tee",
                    "amount": "22.50"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Icon Tee",
                    "amount": "25.50"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Icon Hat",
                    "amount": "15.50"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

POST /automationtemplates/{key}/send

Method URI Path
POST /automationtemplates/{key}/send
Sends an automation template.

The automation template to be sent is defined by the template's unique key value.

For example, /automationtemplates/promo_01_20_2018 week1/send allows the template with the key value of "promo_01_20_2018" to be sent using the appropriate JSON body.

The template can be sent to one or more contacts, as defined within the JSON body.

Note: This endpoint will successfully create a new contact record if the contact identifier value in the request does not already exist. The newly added contact will have a subscribe status of none and will not receive promotional messages until subscribed to the appropriate channel.
Note: There is a 1 request per second default limit on API send calls. Additional capacity can be requested by contacting your Client Success Manager.

Parameters

*Required

Parameter Type Description Example
To/Contact
*contact identifier string Specify the message recipient using a contact identifier value. email@example.com, ID1234, 16198880000
identifyBy string Denotes the identifier key to be used to look up the contact. email, cID, customKey

The identifyBy parameter is used to specify which identifier key in the request body should be used to look up the contact. Because contact attribute data sent in the "contact" object of the call will upsert corresponding contact attributes in the Cordial platform, identifyBy should be used to specify which key is the identifier. The use of this parameter becomes especially relevant for Cordial accounts where a contact can be uniquely identified using more than one identifier key.

Note: For calls where identifyBy is not included, the request body will be searched for the key that serves as the primary contact identifier in your Cordial account, and if not found, the call will return the pk-not-preset-inpayload response.

Using extVars, any number of additional external variables may be added. These values are then available in the template. For example, if "extVars": {"orderID": "o1234"} is included as an order ID value, then in the message it can be accessed as {$extVars.orderID}.

Note: Data passed within external variables is not stored in the Cordial platform.

Example JSON Requests

The following will send to a single contact.

{
    "identifyBy": "email",
    "to": {
        "contact": {
            "email": "msmith@example.com"
        },
        "extVars": {
            "orderID": "123",
            "orderItems": [
                {
                    "name": "Tour Tee",
                    "amount": "22.50"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Icon Tee",
                    "amount": "25.50"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Icon Hat",
                    "amount": "15.50"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

{
    "identifyBy": "cID",
    "to": {
        "contact": {
            "cID": "58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3"
        },
        "extVars": {
            "orderID": "123",
            "orderItems": [
                {
                    "name": "Tour Tee",
                    "amount": "22.50"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Icon Tee",
                    "amount": "25.50"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Icon Hat",
                    "amount": "15.50"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

{
    "identifyBy": "customKey",
    "to": {
        "contact": {
            "customKey": "identifierValue"
        },
        "extVars": {
            "orderID": "123",
            "orderItems": [
                {
                    "name": "Tour Tee",
                    "amount": "22.50"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Icon Tee",
                    "amount": "25.50"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Icon Hat",
                    "amount": "15.50"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

The following will send to multiple email addresses.

{
    "identifyBy":"email",
    "to": 
    [
        {
            "contact": {
                "email": "msmith@example.com"
            },
            "extVars": {
                "orderID": "123",
                "orderItems": [
                    {
                        "name": "Tour Tee",
                        "amount": "22.50"
                    },
                    {
                        "name": "Icon Tee",
                        "amount": "25.50"
                    },
                    {
                        "name": "Icon Hat",
                        "amount": "15.50"
                    }
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "contact": {
                "email": "jsmith@example.com"
            },
            "extVars": {
                "orderID": "456",
                "orderItems": [
                    {
                        "name": "San Diego Tee",
                        "amount": "22.75"
                    },
                    {
                        "name": "Icon Tee",
                        "amount": "25.50"
                    },
                    {
                        "name": "Winter Hat",
                        "amount": "13.40"
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
}

The following will send to a single email address AND will set the contact subscribe status to subscribed. Note the channels addition to the JSON.

{
    "identifyBy":"email",
    "to": {
        "contact": {
            "channels": {
                "email": {
                    "address": "msmith@example.com",
                    "subscribeStatus": "subscribed"
                }
            },
            "fname": "mark"
        },
        "extVars": {
            "orderID": "123",
            "orderItems": [{
                "name": "Tour Tee",
                "amount": "22.50"
            }, {
                "name": "Icon Tee",
                "amount": "25.50"
            }, {
                "name": "Icon Hat",
                "amount": "15.50"
            }]
        }
    }
}

Error Response Messages

Action Error Message Response Code
Attempt to send an automated template to a malformed email address or the contact identifier key is uniquely constrained to an existing contact record. validation 201
Attempt to send a promotional message to a contact who is not subscribed or attempt to send to a contact that does not have an email address in the system. Contact not subscribed 201
Pass in a parameter in the api call that is not part of the payload schema. Key (key name provided) is not part of the schema for this resource. 422
Both templateID and key are part of the payload. Specify only one of "key" or "templateID. 422
Attempt to send to an automated template that is not published.  There is no published version for this template. 422
"To" parameter is not part of payload. "to" must be specified 422
Attempt to send automated template that does not have API sending enabled. Trigger API is disabled 422
Attempt to send an automated template where the "to" parameter does not contain a single contact or an array of contacts. "to" parameter must contain a single contact or an array of contacts to send to 422
Attempt to send an automated template to an array of contacts and one of the entries does not contain a value. contact-data-not-found 422
Attempt to send to same contact more than once per millisecond. exceeded-rate-limit 422
Cordial is unable to create message contact record. internal-error 422
Attempt to send an automated template that does not exist.  an error has occurred 500

DELETE /automationtemplates/{key}

Method URI Path
DELETE /automationtemplates/{key}
Deletes an automation template within the Cordial database.

The automation template is defined by the template's unique key value.

For example, /automationtemplate/sports_newsletter_Jan_2018_week1 would delete the template with the key value of "sports_newsletter_Jan_2018_week1".

Example Request URIs

The following URI will delete an automation template where the key value is "promo_01_20_2018".

http://<path>/automationtemplates/promo_01_20_2018

GET /automationtemplates/{key}/renderdraft/{contactID}

Method URI Path
GET /automationtemplates/{key}/renderdraft/{contactID}

Retrieves the message headers, the rendered HTML and experiment name and variants of an automated template draft for a specified contact.
The automation template is defined by the template's unique key value.
The contact record is defined by the contact's unique "cID" value.

For example, /automationtemplates/order_confirm/renderdraft/58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3" will return the response data of the draft template with the key value of "order_confirm" and the contactID of "58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3".

Additionally, you can pass experiment names and variants using a query string.

Query String Parameters

Parameter Type Description Example
experiment string Returns the automation template populated with the specified experiment. Variant is required if experiment is specified. 
?experiment=SubjectTest&variant=Left_Cart_Items
variant string Returns the automation template populated with the specified experiement variant. Experiement is required if variant is specified. 
?experiment=SubjectTest&variant=Left_Cart_Items

Example Request URIs

The following URI will perform the GET to the automation template draft where:

  • Key = order_confirm
  • Contact ID = 58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3
http://<path>/automationtemplates/order_confirm/renderdraft/58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3

The following URI will perform the GET to the automation template draft where:

  • Key = order_confirm
  • Contact ID = 58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3
  • Subject experiment = SubjectTest
  • Subject experiment Variant = TestSubjectA
http://<path>/automationtemplates/order_confirm/renderdraft/58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3?experiment=SubjectTest&variant=TestSubjectA

The following URI will perform the GET to the automation template draft where:

  • Key = order_confirm
  • Contact ID = 58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3
  • Subject experiment = SubjectTest
  • Subject experiment Variant = TestSubjectA
  • Body experiment = BodyExperiment
  • Body experiment variant = BodyA
http://<path>/automationtemplates/order_confirm/renderdraft/58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3?experiment=SubjectTest&variant=TestSubjectA&experiment=BodyExperiment&variant=BodyA

GET /automationtemplates/{key}/renderpublished/{contactID}

Method URI Path
GET /automationtemplates/{key}/renderpublished/{contactID}

Retrieves the message headers, the rendered HTML and experiment name and variants of a published automated template for a specified contact.
The automation template is defined by the template's unique key value.
The contact record is defined by the contact's unique "cID" value.

For example, /automationtemplates/order_confirm/renderpublished/58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3" will return the response data of the published template with the key value of "order_confirm" and the contactID of "58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3".

Additionally, you can pass experiment names and variants using a query string.

Query String Parameters

Parameter Type Description Example
experiment string Returns the automation template populated with the specified experiment. Variant is required if experiment is specified. 
?experiment=SubjectTest&variant=Left_Cart_Items
variant string Returns the automation template populated with the specified experiement variant. Experiement is required if variant is specified. 
?experiment=SubjectTest&variant=Left_Cart_Items

Example Request URIs

The following URI will perform the GET to the published automation template where:

  • Key = order_confirm
  • Contact ID = 58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3
http://<path>/automationtemplates/order_confirm/renderpublished/58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3

The following URI will perform the GET to the published automation template where:

  • Key = order_confirm
  • Contact ID = 58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3
  • Subject experiment = SubjectTest
  • Subject experiment Variant = TestSubjectA
http://<path>/automationtemplates/order_confirm/renderpublished/58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3?experiment=SubjectTest&variant=TestSubjectA

The following URI will perform the GET to the published automation template where:

  • Key = order_confirm
  • Contact ID = 58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3
  • Subject experiment = SubjectTest
  • Subject experiment Variant = TestSubjectA
  • Body experiment = BodyExperiment
  • Body experiment variant = BodyA
http://<path>/automationtemplates/order_confirm/renderpublished/58d30719ac0c8117814da1f3?experiment=SubjectTest&variant=TestSubjectA&experiment=BodyExperiment&variant=BodyA

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