Author Topic: API not returning custom data (Read 5024 times)

Jacob Hilton · August 01, 2013, 02:50:38 am

I wrote a PHP script using the API that spontaneously stopped working a couple of weeks ago. When I isolated the problem I found that the API was not returning custom data fields in the way I expected.

For example, I have Age stored in custom_261. The following works correctly: mysite/ajax/rest?json=1&sequential=1&debug=1&entity=Contact&action=get&custom_261=22&return=country&rowCount=1 returns:

{
   "is_error":0,
   "version":3,
   "count":1,
   "id":7857,
   "values":[{
      "contact_id":"7857",
      "contact_is_deleted":"0",
      "address_id":null,
      "country_id":null,
      "country":null,
      "civicrm_value_survey__80k_36_id":"44",
      "custom_261":"22",
      "id":"7857"
   }]
}

As you can see, data for both country and custom_261 are returned, as expected.

However, the following does not seem to work correctly: mysite/ajax/rest?json=1&sequential=1&debug=1&entity=Contact&action=get&return=custom_261&rowCount=1 returns:

{
   "is_error":0,
   "version":3,
   "count":1,
   "id":1,
   "values":[{
      "contact_id":"1",
      "contact_is_deleted":"0",
      "id":"1"
   }]
}

Here no data for custom_261 is returned.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Hershel · August 01, 2013, 05:30:59 am

Please see this text on http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC42/Using+Custom+Data+with+the+API :

Quote

Generally, custom data is accessed through API v3 by use of parameters which include the unique id of the custom field. e.g. custom_22. As with normal API parameters, you can set custom_22 = 'Fred' in a get operation to filter for records that have custom_22 set to Fred, and you can make sure you get the custom field returned by setting the parameter return.custom_22 = 1.

xavier · August 01, 2013, 05:43:31 am

Hi,

is contact 1 having anything in the custom field? we tend to remove empty params in return.

try adding a id=7857 to be sure you test with a contact that has a custom field

X+

Jacob Hilton · August 01, 2013, 06:35:34 am

Thanks very much for your replies. Unfortunately, the problem persists.

For example, mysite/ajax/rest?json=1&sequential=1&debug=1&entity=Contact&action=get&id=7857&return=custom_261 returns:

{
   "is_error":0,
   "version":3,
   "count":1,
   "id":7857,
   "values":[{
      "contact_id":"7857",
      "id":"7857"
   }]
}

As you can see, no custom_261 data is returned, even though it exists for this contact as demonstrated in the original post and even though "return" was set to "custom_261".

Using the format "return.custom_261"=>1 instead of "return"=>"custom_261" in the PHP script does not seem to help either. Furthermore, attempting to sort data e.g. using "sort"=>"custom_261 ASC" returns the error message "DB Error: no such field".

Hershel · August 01, 2013, 06:50:43 am

If you are using "CiviCRM version: 4.2.3" then I would recommend you upgrade to 4.3.5 and see if that fixes this.

Eileen · August 11, 2013, 02:33:16 pm

Hmm - sounds like it might be worth checking to see if we have a unit test that covers passing in custom fields & no other fields as a return param - I feel like I may have seen this behaviour before

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Author Topic: API not returning custom data (Read 5024 times)

Jacob Hilton

API not returning custom data

Hershel

Re: API not returning custom data

xavier

Re: API not returning custom data

Jacob Hilton

Re: API not returning custom data

Hershel

Re: API not returning custom data

Eileen

Re: API not returning custom data