Dupcheck for more than email with Rest

API Q&A
#1

I’m using the Rest PHP SDK, and have been successful in adding Contacts and updating Contacts when their email matches. I’m using this call…

$result = $infusionsoft->contacts()->create($contact, true);

But I also need to be able to update the account if the email address has been entered incorrectly. I have been able to update contacts with the XML portion by first searching for a Contact’s id and then updating like this…

$returnResult = $infusionsoft->data->query(‘Contact’, 10, 0, [’_MemberNumber’ => $memberNumber], [ ‘ID’], ‘Email’, true);

$id = $returnResult[0][‘ID’];

$result = $infusionsoft->contacts()->create([ ‘id’ => $id, ‘custom_fields’ => $newCustom, ‘email_addresses’ => [$email1], “opt_in_reason” => “Paid Member”]);

Is there not a simple way to use the Rest Create option and look for more than a duplicate email address?
Thanks!

#2

Hey @Chris_Rosenberry, based on what I see here, you are querying to get a contact id based on a response from a query where you supply the MemberNumber? I’m afraid I can’t think of a good/quick way to query for this using REST without handling some of the processing in your code. What I mean by this is, we have a method to return contacts with custom fields. From the result of this method you would then need to search the data for your matching MemberNumber. I know this is not glamorous but it is the only solution that comes to mind using what we currently have available in REST.

Best,
Carlos

#3

Thanks Carlos! So really, I just need to use my second block of code to do this…

Check for a matching Member Number (custom field) and if it exists run an update matching the returned ID.

Yes?

#4

That is correct, the only problem with doing it this way is the time it takes to check against a large amount of contacts (if you have a large contact database) every time a new contact is added.

If you just need a retro-active solution and not a realtime solution, I would recommend looking into REST hooks, this will allow you to “subscribe” to, lets say a “contact added” event. Once you are subscribed to an event, you will receive a POST at your listening server that contains the newly created contact id. From there, you can update the info accordingly.