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This document contains conceptual and procedural information specific to the code conventions in this documentation and instructions for obtaining system identifiers and referencing profile and preference attributes.
What Are Conventions and Other Information
Conventions and other information represent standards used to accurately convey information about connecting to and using the XML API.
Why Use Conventions and Other Information
These conventions allow you to properly connect to and use the XML API.
How to Use Conventions and Other Information
Use the information below when creating and formatting your XML API calls.
Code Sample Format
For each API command, this documentation provides sample code showing how the API command is used. The samples follow these conventions:
- Bold red text indicates values that are to be entered exactly as shown.
- Bold italic red text indicates value examples that are to be replaced with your input values.
- Lines highlighted in yellow are intended for certain clients only. See the explanation following the code sample.
- Following the code sample, a table explains the expected input values.
- Each sample shows only the code for the action to be performed by that API call, not the entire XML code required. (See Formatting Your Calling Application.)
Identifiers (ID Codes)
Your API calls will need to use one or more of the following system identifiers:
Channel Member ID
- (Enterprise clients only) Member ID of your On Your Behalf (Dynamic One-to-One) channel account.
- To find the member ID of your channel account, follow the instructions below:
- Go to your organizational chart in the administrative area of the ExactTarget application.
- Double-click the node containing the channel member to bring up the Account List workspace, which shows the member ID for each channel member in that node.
email ID
- System-generated unique ID of an email (the email itself, not any sends associated with the email).
- When you create an email using the API, the email ID (EID) is returned to you.
- To find the ID for an email through the ExactTarget application interface, follow these steps:
- Expand the email folder that contains the email so that the email name is displayed in the workspace on the right.
- Hover over the hyperlinked email name and look at your browser status bar (you may need to turn on the status bar in your browser View menu).
- The email ID is the sequence of numbers following eid= in the URL that you see in the status bar.
event ID
- ID associated with the Additional Info value that users can input into the application if you have this optional feature enabled in your account.
- Contact your ExactTarget representative for assistance if needed.
group ID
- System-generated unique ID of a group.
- This ID is available through the API only, and it is not displayed in the ExactTarget application interface.
- You obtain a group ID by using the List Retrieve Groups (All Groups) command.
job ID
- System-generated unique ID of an email send (a job).
- When you initiate an email send using the API, the job ID (JID) is returned to you. You can retrieve all job IDs by using the Tracking Retrieve Job IDs command.
- To find the ID for an email send through the ExactTarget application interface, follow these steps:
- Expand the Tracking section so that the email send is displayed in the workspace on the right.
- Hover over the hyperlinked release date/time and look at your browser status bar (you may need to turn on the status bar in your browser View menu).
- The job ID is the sequence of numbers following jid= in the URL that you see in the status bar.
list ID
- System-generated unique ID of a subscriber list.
- When you create a list using the API, the list ID (LID) is returned to you. You can retrieve all list IDs by using the List Retrieve command.
- To find the list ID through the ExactTarget application interface, follow the steps below:
- Open your list folder in the list workspace.
- Choose the View Properties option for the list. The LID is shown in the ID field of the Properties dialog box.
subscriber ID
- System-generated unique ID of a subscriber, based on the subscriber's email address (a unique ID is generated for each email address in your subscriber lists).
- This ID is available through the API only; it is not displayed in the ExactTarget application interface.
- You obtain a subscriber ID by using the Subscriber Retrieve command.
Profile and Preference Attributes
When passing profile or preference attributes, note the following:
- Any spaces in your attribute field name are represented as two underscores. For example, the attribute Full Name is passed as Full__Name.
- Attribute field names specified in your calls are not case-sensitive. For example, ADDRESS1 and Address1 are considered equivalent.
- Attribute field names specified in your calls must already exist in your account, and the field name in your call must exactly match the field name defined in your account (with the case-sensitivity and space exceptions noted above).
- If an attribute has been marked in the application as required, any subscriber that you add must contain a value for that attribute.
- Profile attributes with restricted values (drop-down lists of values) are treated like required attributes: any subscriber that you add must contain a value for that attribute, and the value must exactly match one of the restricted values defined for the attribute.
- Preference attributes are also treated like required attributes. Only one of two values is accepted: true or false. These values are not case-sensitive.
- The first character of an attribute value must be alphabetic (A to Z). Do not begin an attribute with a number or any other kind of nonalphabetic character.
This page was last updated by Ryan Williams on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:25:51 GMT.
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