email address as username or username with @ symbol in it

[cbaugh]

Greetings, I'm trying to pull down the custom fields. This post works.

activityType=EXPORT_CONTACTS&fileType=CSV&sortBy=DATE_DESC&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+1&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+2&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+3&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+4&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+5&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+6&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+7&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+8&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+9&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+10&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+11&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+12&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+13&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+14&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+15&listId=http%3a%2f%2fapi.constantcontact.com%2fws%2fcustomers%2facsdevtestaccount%2Flists%2F1  

posted to

https://api.constantcontact.com/ws/customers/acsdevtestaccount/activities

These next two posts fail when posted to

https://api.constantcontact.com/ws/customers/development@acstechnologies.com/activities

activityType=EXPORT_CONTACTS&fileType=CSV&sortBy=DATE_DESC&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+1&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+2&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+3&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+4&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+5&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+6&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+7&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+8&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+9&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+10&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+11&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+12&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+13&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+14&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+15&listId=http%3a%2f%2fapi.constantcontact.com%2fws%2fcustomers%2fdevelopment@acstechnologies.com%2Flists%2F1

or if I use

activityType=EXPORT_CONTACTS&fileType=CSV&sortBy=DATE_DESC&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+1&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+2&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+3&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+4&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+5&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+6&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+7&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+8&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+9&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+10&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+11&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+12&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+13&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+14&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+15&listId=http%3a%2f%2fapi.constantcontact.com%2fws%2fcustomers%2fdevelopment%40acstechnologies.com%2Flists%2F1

However if I do a get with the url of https://api.constantcontact.com/ws/customers/development@acstechnologies.com/activities it works fine. So I'm not sure if the problem is with the post string or the url. I'm guessing the post string but I'm not sure what's wrong with it or how to fix it. Any help ?

- Thanks, Craig Baugh

[DaveBerard Moderator]

Hi Craig,

I ran your requests through my account and all 3 worked without problem.  Here is the username I used:

dberard@constantcontact.com

Requests I tried (all 3 successfully created an activity):

activityType=EXPORT_CONTACTS&fileType=CSV&sortBy=DATE_DESC&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+1&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+2&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+3&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+4&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+5&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+6&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+7&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+8&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+9&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+10&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+11&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+12&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+13&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+14&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+15&listId=http%3a%2f%2fapi.constantcontact.com%2fws%2fcustomers%2facsdevtestaccount%2Flists%2F1 

activityType=EXPORT_CONTACTS&fileType=CSV&sortBy=DATE_DESC&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+1&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+2&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+3&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+4&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+5&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+6&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+7&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+8&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+9&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+10&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+11&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+12&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+13&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+14&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+15&listId=http%3a%2f%2fapi.constantcontact.com%2fws%2fcustomers%2fdevelopment@acstechnologies.com%2Flists%2F1

activityType=EXPORT_CONTACTS&fileType=CSV&sortBy=DATE_DESC&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+1&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+2&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+3&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+4&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+5&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+6&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+7&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+8&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+9&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+10&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+11&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+12&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+13&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+14&columns=CUSTOM+FIELD+15&listId=http%3a%2f%2fapi.constantcontact.com%2fws%2fcustomers%2fdevelopment%40acstechnologies.com%2Flists%2F1

Please note, these will fail if you do not have a list 1 on your account.  Usernames are not validated in the list URIs so I was able to use your exact requests without problem.  I would check to make sure you actually do have a list 1 on your second account.

[cbaugh]

Dave, Thanks for the reply. I switched to a different list and it immediately started working - so thanks. It does however bring up a different point about list numbers. I thought list 1 was expected to always be there. Obviously it's not. Is there a list number that is always there? If I use the list of "active" is that guaranteed to always be there? Along that same line, if list 1 is deleted is there any way to get it back?

Thanks, Craig

[DaveBerard Moderator]

Hi Craig,

Really good questions there.  Active is guaranteed to always be there, however it is not available to add contacts to.  This list is available for exporting though and you can use active, do not mail or removed as options.  List 1 is the "General Interest" list that is in every account by default, however that can be deleted.  We incrementally add 1 to the last used list ID number when customers add lists (this is done automatically by the SQL code) and thus there can never be another list 1 for any account.  You can only add contacts to an actual selectable list in the account since all contacts must be in at least one list to be considered Active. 

The best option for importing contacts is to run a GET on the lists collection and use one of the lists there (or provide a prompt to the user to select one or more of the available lists?) so that you are always assured you are exporting a valid list.