CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

I have been tasked with using pulling data out of one database and placing it into CiviCRM using the API.

First of all, I just was given this task on Friday and second of all, I have never used CiviCRM.

I have already read the page located at the flossmanuals api chapter. Unfortunately, the PHP example appears to be showing v2 of the API and not v3.

So after a bunch of trial and error, I was able to finally get what I think is a working example, but I still don't feel like I'm doing this right.

Here are some of my questions which I hope you all can help me figure out...

I wrote a simple PHP get contacts request and the code looks like this:

Apparently, I'm not allowed to put my code in code tags, so you'll have to forgive me.

<?php

$civicrm_root = '../sites/all/modules/civicrm';
require_once $civicrm_root . '/civicrm.config.php';
require_once 'api/api.php';

$params = array(
   'version' => 3,
   'check_permissions' => true
);

$results = civicrm_api('contact','get',$params);

if (civicrm_api3_error( $results )) {
   echo $results['error_message'];
} else {
   echo '<pre>';
      print_r ($results);
   echo '</pre>';
}

?>

Going to mysite/drupal/custom_api_calls/ getContact.php, I see all my contacts, which is good.

First of all, I'm not sure if I put my PHP page in the correct location since most of the examples I've looked at show the require_once lines not having to go directory up to then traverse to the sub-directories to get the files it needs to run. Also, according to the Wiki, I've seen these two lines

civicrm_initialize();
require_once ' api/api.php ';

I'm not using civicrm_initialize() in my code and it appears to work just fine.

Another question I have is about security. If someone knew the hard link to my PHP page they could run it and see all the contacts. Of course, we want to block anonymous users from doing this, so as you can see in my code above, I put in the line

'check_permissions' => true

That seems to do nothing. I've logged out of CiviCRM, cleared my history, cookies and cache and I can still run the PHP file from a browser. Also, in the admin interface, I've removed all access for anonymous users.

I thought maybe moving my PHP file to \Drupal\sites\all\modules\civicrm might be the cause of permissions not being followed.

As stated above, I was concerned about all the examples not having to traverse the directory structure like I was doing, so I figured moving it to \Drupal\sites\all\modules\civicrm\ getContact.php would do the trick.

I change my app just a little to look like this now:

<?php

require_once 'civicrm.config.php';
require_once ' api / api.php';

$params = array(
  'version' => 3,
  'check_permissions' => true
);

$results = civicrm_api( 'contact','get',$params );

if (civicrm_api3_error( $results )) {
   echo $results['error_message'];
} else {
   echo '<pre>';
      print_r ($results);
   echo '</pre>';
}

?>

Going to the page in a browser still allows me to run this page and see the results which is still not what I am expecting.

I know this was a VERY long winded way of asking this, but...

Where exactly should I place my PHP code that calls the APIs?
Why isn't the security working as expected?
Why do some examples have civicrm_initialize(); and others don't?

Thanks,

Brian

Where exactly should I place my PHP code that calls the APIs?

That depends on what you want to do and where you do it from. If you are calling the API from your own PHP script, you can place it in a specific directory which you then register as being the one where your CiviCRM custom code is (Global Settings/Directories).

Why isn't the security working as expected?

Xavier answered that one

Why do some examples have civicrm_initialize(); and others don't?

Since API v3, you do not have to do the civicrm_initialize as all requirements on that level are handled within the 'api/api.php'

Ammending the Wiki? Karma +


Brian below - this is an example of the .module file of module called 'custom_membership_report' it registers the url 'customcivireports/contributionmembers' As being a call to function
custom_membership_report_contributions_members in reports.inc (same folder).
 & specifies the drupal permission required

<?php

/**
 * Implementation of hook_menu().
 */
function custom_membership_report_menu() {
  $items = array();
  $items['customcivireports/contributionmembers'] = array(
    'access callback' => 'user_access',
    'access arguments' => array('administer Reports'),
    'file' => 'reports.inc',
    'type' => MENU_CALLBACK,
    'page callback' => 'custom_membership_report_contributions_members',
  );
 
  return $items;
}


The structure is

folder ::
custom_membership_report

contents
custom_membership_report.module (per above
reports.inc (with the function)

custom_membership_report.info

name = Current Membership Report (CSV)
description = Generates a CSV file that shows membership status of those users that have made a contribution in the dates given.
dependencies[] = civicrm
package = "Custom CiviCRM"
core = 6.x


NB - the micro module was written by dgtlmoon