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Eloqua API for Ruby

Currently supports the majority of the ServiceAPI for Eloqua.

The Service API supports the CURD of Entities (Contacts, etc..) and Assets (ContactGroups)

Through {Eloqua::Query} supports advanced queries spanning multiple requests.

At a low level

For low level requests we offer the {Eloqua::Api::Service} (other Api's soon) with the "api" you can make calls like this:

	Eloqua::Api::Service.describe_type(:asset, 'ContactGroup')

The majority of the functions in the api require a "group" which is either :entity or :asset.

The other common object you will need to have on hand is the "type" both entities and assets in Eloqua have types. Types look like this:

	{
		:id => 1,
		:type => 'Base',
		:name => 'Contact'
	}

The most important thing is the :type. See {Eloqua::Api::Service.describe} and {Eloqua::Api::Service.describe_type} eloqua provides describe and describe_type for gathering information of types the what fields those types provide. Types are similar to SQL tables.

Also see {Eloqua::Api.remote_type} a helper method for generating the hash above.

Here is an example of a find request (which requires a group and type)

	group = :entity
	type = Eloqua::Api.remote_type('Contact') 
	# => {:id => 1, :type => 'Base', :name => 'Contact'}

	# Executes a Retreive SOAP call
	record = Eloqua::Api::Service.find_object(
		group,
		type,
		1 # object id
	)
	
	record
	# Keys are internal_name of fields
	# => {:id => 1, :C_EmailAddress => '[email protected]', ...}

Through the low level api we offer the following Eloqua SOAP methods

Supported low level requests

  • CURD (+ Find)

    • Retrieve[Asset] => {Eloqua::Api::Service.find_object}
    • Update[Asset] => {Eloqua::Api::Service.update_object}
    • Create[Asset] => {Eloqua::Api::Service.create_object}
    • Delete[Asset] => {Eloqua::Api::Service.delete_object}

  • Describing Fields and Types

    • Describe[Asset|Entity]Type => {Eloqua::Api::Service.describe_type}
    • Describe[Asset|Entity] => {Eloqua::Api::Service.describe}
    • List[Asset|Entity]Types => {Eloqua::Api::Service.list_types}

  • Memberships (Contact Groups)

    • AddGroupMember => {Eloqua::Api::Service.add_group_member}
    • RemoveGroupMember => {Eloqua::Api::Service.remove_group_member}
    • ListGroupMembership => {Eloqua::Api::Service.list_memberships}

At a high level (Models)

Through {Eloqua::Entity} and {Eloqua::Asset} we offer base classes for modeling both entities and assets.

Both inherit from {Eloqua::RemoteObject} which implements a number of ActiveModel features (persistance, dirty attributes, validations mass assignment security)

To create a model (Sorry, no generator yet!) its as simple as inheriting from entity or asset and then specifying a type.

	class Contact < Eloqua::Entity
		self.remote_type = api.remote_type('Contact')
	end

With just this you have instant access to the data with familiar {Eloqua::RemoteObject#save save}, {Eloqua::RemoteObject#update_attributes update attributes}, {Eloqua::RemoteObject#persisted? persisted?}, {Eloqua::RemoteObject etc}

Magic accessor are also created for "map(ped)" attributes or objects that where retreived remotely. See below

Attribute Mapping

First you should note that C_ (thats /^C\_/) is replaced from all attribute names and they are underscored (.underscore) for instance:

	eloqua_does_this = 'C_EmailAddress'
	you_do_this = your_model.email_addres

Because of the naming schema for Eloqua "internal_name" there where many times where I felt I would rather use a different name that was easier to type and remember. With this in mind I created attribute mapping.

Here we map C_EmailAddress to email

	class Contact < Eloqua::Entity
		self.remote_type = api.remote_type('Contact')
		# use the FULL original name including C_ and CamelCase
		map :C_EmailAddress => :email
	end

Now we can reference our contacts email with .email

Saving your data

When you retrieve object from Eloqua through {Eloqua::RemoteObject#find find} or through {Eloqua::Query} that object will be aware of all of its attributes (or the ones selected in the query) and will map them back to Eloqua's original internal_name scheme during the save.

When you create a new object however you need define those fields through map.

	class Contact < Eloqua::Entity
		self.remote_type = api.remote_type('Contact')
	end

	record = Contact.new
	record.email_address = '[email protected]' # ERROR

	class Contact < Eloqua::Entity
		self.remote_type = api.remote_type('Contact')
		map :C_EmailAddress => :email_address
	end

	record = Contact.new
	record.email= '[email protected]'
	record.save # SUCCESS
	
	# This will successfuly map .email => C_EmailAddress

What about class methods?

Models support all functionality provided in {Eloqua::Api::Service} through {Eloqua.delegate_with_args}.

Where a group is argument is needed by the low level api the model will provide it with its group (entity or asset). Where a type is needed the model will provide the models {Eloqua::RemoteObject.remote_type remote_type}

	# delegates to Eloqua::Api::Service.describe(:entity, Contact.remote_type)
	Contact.describe 

	# delegates to Eloqua::Api::Service.describe_type(:entity, 'Contact')
	# Notice that the second argument is now the first and is required
	Contact.describe_type('Contact')

Queries

Eloqua provides a method for accessing your data.

There are a few important things you need to know about this first.

  1. You may only query 200 records at once. You may pull in more via pages in a seperate request (pagination)

  2. You may only make a Query request once per second. (Concurency is a no-go in some situations)

  3. I would highly recommend limiting the returned rows. The limit on other requests is very high so you can make many more find/update/create/delete, etc.. requests then you can queries.

    I would reccomend gathering EloquaIDs through query and then manipulating data through those EloquaIDs in other operations

Through {Eloqua::Query} you can search through your Eloqua database.

Given we have this Contact class:

	class Contact < Eloqua::Contact
		self.remote_type = api.remote_type('Contact')
		
		map :C_EmailAddress => :email
		map :C_DateCreated => :created_at
		map :C_DateModified => :updated_at

	end

We can then search for all email addresses in the lightsofapollo.com domain.

	# Entity.where is an alias for Eloqua::Query.new(Contact)
	query = Contact.where
	query.on(:email, '=', '*@lightsofapollo.com') # * is a wildcard
	query.all # makes request returns Array

Or all contacts created today

	query.clear_conditions! # resets request
	query.on(:created_at, '>', Time.now.strftime('%Y-%m-%d'))
	query.each do |record| # this will also make request and iterator through results
		...
	end

Or something more complex

	query.clear_conditions!
	query.on(:email, '=', '*@lightsofapollo.com').\ # email search
			  on(:updated_at, '>', '2011-01-01').\ # updated at >
				limit(1).\ # we only want one record
				fields([:email, 'ContactID']) # only return a record with the email and id fields populated

	query.all

As you might have guessed query will return an Array of Objects of the type given.

	# Will return ContactGroup.new(s)
	Eloqua::Query.new(ContactGroup)

For queries that match over 200 records

For queries that span multiple requests (and you want all records at once) use {Eloqua::Query#each_page} each page functions just like each but will make consecutive requests to fetch all pages. It also takes an optional max pages parameter which allows you to limit the number of pages to fetch and/or pause and resume requests.

TODO

  • (inline) Docs [DONE FOR QUERY]
  • Guide
  • Email API (ongoing)