In a previous post, I showed you how to Eloqua API How To: Query a Contact by Email Address. In that example, we assumed that a contact already existed in Eloqua, but what if we want to create a new contact?
In this example, I will show you how to create a new contact, then retrieve that contact to confirm that it was in fact saved in Eloqua.
Once again, I will be assuming that the code found Connecting to the Eloqua API - Generic Setupis being used to establish a connection to the Eloqua API.
As before, we will be using the EloquaService API. For more information on which API to use for specific functions, see Eloqua API - Which one do I use?.
Now, the code...
class CreateRetrieveContact
{
static void Main()
{
bool success = false;
int contactId = 0;
var contactIDs = new int[1];
try
{
#region Setup the Eloqua service
var service = new EloquaInstance("instance", "userid", "password");
#endregion
#region Create a contact using a Dynamic Entity
// Build a Contact Entity Type object
EntityType entityType = new EntityType {ID = 0, Name = "Contact", Type = "Base"};
// Create an Array of Dynamic Entities
DynamicEntity[] dynamicEntities = new DynamicEntity[1];
// Create a new Dynamic Entity and add it to the Array of Entities
dynamicEntities[0] = new DynamicEntity();
dynamicEntities[0].EntityType = entityType;
// Create a Dynamic Entity's Field Value Collection
dynamicEntities[0].FieldValueCollection = new DynamicEntityFields();
// Add the Contact's Email Address field to the Dynamic Entity’s field collection
dynamicEntities[0].FieldValueCollection.Add("C_EmailAddress", "cloud_support@eloqua.com");
// Add the Contact's First Name field to the Dynamic Entity’s field collection
dynamicEntities[0].FieldValueCollection.Add("C_FirstName", "Cloud");
// Execute the request
var result = service.ServiceProxy.Create(dynamicEntities);
// Verify the status of each Contact Create request in the results
foreach (CreateResult t in result)
{
// Successfull requests return a positive integer value for ID
if (t.ID != -1)
{
contactId = t.ID;
success = true;
}
// Failed requests return a -1 integer value for ID
else
{
// Extract the Error Message and Error Code for each failed Create request
foreach (Error createError in t.Errors)
{
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Code: {0}", createError.ErrorCode));
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Message: {0}", createError.Message));
}
}
}
#endregion
#region Retrieve the contact dynamically
if (success)
{
// Set the ID of the Contact Entity
contactIDs[0] = contactId;
// Create a new list containing the fields you want populated
List<string> fieldList = new List<string>();
// Add the Contact’s Email Address to the field list
fieldList.Add("C_EmailAddress");
// Add the Contact’s First Name to the field list
fieldList.Add("C_FirstName");
// Build a Dynamic Entity array to store the results
DynamicEntity[] retrievedEntities;
// If the field list is empty - the request will return all Entity Fields
// Otherwise, only fields defined in the field list are returned
if (fieldList.Count == 0)
{
// Execute the request and return all of the Entity's fields
retrievedEntities = service.ServiceProxy.Retrieve(entityType, contactIDs, null);
}
else
{
// Execute the request and return only the selected Entity fields
retrievedEntities = service.ServiceProxy.Retrieve(entityType, contactIDs, fieldList.ToArray());
}
// If a result was found, extract the field values for each Dynamic Entity
if (retrievedEntities.Length > 0)
{
foreach (DynamicEntity dynamicEntity in retrievedEntities)
{
// Extract the Field Name and Value for each element in the collection
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> keyValPair in dynamicEntity.FieldValueCollection)
{
Console.WriteLine("New Contact Created Successfully!");
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Field Name: {0}", keyValPair.Key));
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Field Value: {0}", keyValPair.Value));
}
}
}
}
#endregion
// Customize your own error handling
}
catch (System.ServiceModel.FaultException ex)
{
// Catch Service Model Fault Exceptions
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Reson: {0}", ex.Reason.ToString()));
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Fault Type: {0}", ex.GetType().ToString()));
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Fault Code: {0}", ex.Code.Name.ToString()));
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// Catch System Exceptions
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Exception Message: {0}", ex.Message.ToString()));
}
// Wait for user input before stepping out.
Console.WriteLine("Press any key to continue.");
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
When the program is run, a console window will pop up showing the results as seen below.
