CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

You would need to develop an import script using the API. Are you familiar with the API and how are your PHP skills?

There are some examples on the wiki, check for the code snippets. Do not hesitate to contact me either here or on the CiviCRM IRC channel on freenode (nick is erik_h). I am in the European timezone and off to bed now :-)

Hi Erik,

Question for you (I'm in Los Angeles so I think the time difference makes this forum the best way to catch you).

I found the code for a hook that looked very similar to what I wanted (the tag_import) hook (http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC40/CiviCRM+hook+specification#CiviCRMhookspecification-hookcivicrmimport). 

I THINK, I understand what the code is doing, so I tried to adjust it to grab a value (case_import) from my import table and assign it to the civicrm_case table. 
I was able to create and enable the module in Drupal (so I know that at least something is being read), but the script isn't working.

I'm enough of a newbie that I don't even know how to tell if the script is running and not working, or not running at all.

The civicrm_tag table is also structured differently from the civicrm_case table.  I tried to make some adjustments based on my logic (just mental logic; very little computing logic going on here) but it's not working.

So, two questions: 

1) Is there a good way to see if a script (or hook) like this is functional? And, if it's even being picked up?

2) Does anything in the code jump out at you as obviously wrong?  The thing I'm guessing at the most is that I want to put the value from my import table into "case_type_id" -- this is counterintuitive.  I would think that I would want to put it in "case_id" but the case ids seem to be sequential (everytime I assign a case to a contact, it gets a new id number that is not at all connected to the contact_id).   

It's the case_type_id that seems to determine which case is assigned to that particular contact.  However, I don't know if changing that value will register with the system as "create a case."

Here's the code:

function civiVS_civicrm_import( $object, $usage, &$objectRef, $params ) {

    if ( $object != 'Contact' &&
         $usage  != 'process' ) {
        return;
    }

//during import, accept special case_import column for processing
$cType           = $objectRef->_contactType;
$dupeType        = $objectRef->_onDuplicate;
$contactID       = $params['contactID'];
$importID        = $params['importID'];
$importTempTable = $params['importTempTable'];
$fields          = $params['fields'];
   
require_once 'CRM/Core/DAO.php';
$sqlTags = "SELECT case_import
FROM $importTempTable
WHERE _id = $importID;";
$taglist = CRM_Core_DAO::singleValueQuery( $sqlTags );
   
if ( $caselist ) {
       
require_once 'api/v3/Case.php';
       
$keywords = array();
$keywords = explode( '|', $caselist );
       
foreach ( $keywords as $keyword ) {
$params = array( 'name' => $keyword );
           
//lookup tag; create new if nonexist
$case = civicrm_case_get($params);
if ( $case['is_error'] ) {
$case = civicrm_case_create($params);
$caseid = $case['case_type_id'];
} else {
$caseid = $case['case_type_id'];
Thanks again for your help and your patience.  I'm learning a ton but I know that I have a long way to go!
Best,
-tiffani

Hi Dave,

Thank you for the help.  That's definitely simpler than what I was trying to do!

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be working quite yet.  I'm back to one of my original newbie questions, which is: is there anyway to tell if a module is running?  The module shows up on the Drupal Module page and is tagged as "enabled."  But, beyond that, I'm not even sure where to look to see what's going on.

The import function works just fine (as ever) but the new contacts do not have the case attached -- nor do I get any kind of error message (would I?).

Any thoughts?

Thanks again,
-tiffani

Tiffani - I had originally tested that module in my local 4.1 sandbox (and it worked). However, I just tried it in my 3.4 local sandbox (same codebase as 4.0), and it failed silently (same results  as you're getting). :-(

Since you're just starting out, might make sense to jump right into 4.1. The stable release is scheduled to happen this week and you can upgrade your 4.0 site with the upgrade instructions:

http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC41/Upgrade+Drupal+Sites+to+4.1+-+Drupal+7

Ok, 4.1 upgrade complete.  Everything seems to be up and running (amazingly easy!). 

But, the little import/case module is still not running (still failing silently). 

Erik, I tried implement your bug test and (so sorry for the very newbie implementation, wasn't sure where to put it!).  I'm going to repost the code so that if I did anything obviously wrong, you guys will catch it.

<?php


/*import hook allows you to interact with the import data post process
 *create/assigns case to the imported contact record using a predefined case type and case details 
 */

function createCaseImport_civicrm_import( $object, $usage, &$objectRef, $params ) {


    if ( $object != 'Contact' &&
         $usage  != 'process' ) {
        return;
    }

    $caseParams['contact_id'] = $params['contactID'];
    $caseParams['case_type_id'] = 1;
    $caseParams['version'] = 3;
    $caseParams['creator_id'] = 1;
    $caseParams['subject'] = 'Student Tracking';
    $caseParams['details'] = 'Starting V-SOURCE case';
    $caseParams['location'] = 'Office';
    $caseParams['duration'] = '0';
    $caseParams['medium_id'] = 2; // 2 for phone, 1 for in person, 3 for email, 5 for postal mail


require_once 'api/v3/Case.php';
$case = civicrm_api3_case_create($caseParams);

CRM_Core_Error::debug("Import running but not working :)", $case);
exit();
}     

?>
Just so you know the details of what I'm doing (in case anything else jumps out as the obvious reason for failure):
-Module is enabled.
-CiviCRM is updated and seems to be working well (I can assign cases manually).
-I'm importing 4 contacts (rows), from a csv file.
-Each row has just 3 cols (first, last, email) as a test.
-I'm attaching contacts to a group upon import.
-I'm asking Civi to skip duplicates.

Hi Tiffani,

I would put a debug in the beginning of the function as well, which tells me the value of the params coming into the function. That will tell me the function itself is being called even if something goes wrong in the middle of it. But do try and get ssh access for dlobo so he can help you on IRC?


<?php


/*import hook allows you to interact with the import data post process
 *create/assigns case to the imported contact record using a predefined case type and case details 
 */

function createCaseImport_civicrm_import( $object, $usage, &$objectRef, $params ) {
   CRM_Core_Error::debug("incoming params", $params);


    if ( $object != 'Contact' &&
         $usage  != 'process' ) {
        return;
    }

    $caseParams['contact_id'] = $params['contactID'];
    $caseParams['case_type_id'] = 1;
    $caseParams['version'] = 3;
    $caseParams['creator_id'] = 1;
    $caseParams['subject'] = 'Student Tracking';
    $caseParams['details'] = 'Starting V-SOURCE case';
    $caseParams['location'] = 'Office';
    $caseParams['duration'] = '0';
    $caseParams['medium_id'] = 2; // 2 for phone, 1 for in person, 3 for email, 5 for postal mail


   require_once 'api/v3/Case.php';
   $case = civicrm_api3_case_create($caseParams);
   
   CRM_Core_Error::debug("Import running but not working :)", $case);
   exit();
}     

?>