Automate ConstantContact Integration Tasks from PowerShell



Are you in search of a quick and easy way to access ConstantContact data from PowerShell? This article demonstrates how to utilize the ConstantContact Cmdlets for tasks like connecting to ConstantContact data, automating operations, downloading data, and more.

The CData API Driver for ADO.NET is a standard ADO.NET Provider that make it easy to accomplish data cleansing, normalization, backup, and other integration tasks by enabling real-time access to ConstantContact.

ADO.NET Provider

The ADO.NET Provider provides a SQL interface for ConstantContact; this tutorial shows how to use the Provider to retrieve ConstantContact data.

Once you have acquired the necessary connection properties, accessing ConstantContact data in PowerShell can be enabled in three steps.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the ConstantContact Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\ConstantContact.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Profile (see below).

ConstantContact API Profile Settings

ConstantContact uses OAuth-based authentication.

First, you will need to register an OAuth application with ConstantContact. You can do so from the ConstantContact API Guide (https://v3.developer.constantcontact.com/api_guide/index.html), under "MyApplications" > "New Application". Your Oauth application will be assigned a client id (API Key) and you can generate a client secret (Secret).

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

  • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
  • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
  • OAuthClientId: Set this to the client_id that is specified in you app settings.
  • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client_secret that is specified in you app settings.
  • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app settings.

  1. Load the provider's assembly:

    [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFile("C:\Program Files\CData\CData API Driver for ADO.NET\lib\System.Data.CData.API.dll")
  2. Connect to ConstantContact:

    $conn= New-Object System.Data.CData.API.APIConnection("Profile=C:\profiles\ConstantContact.apip;Authscheme=OAuth;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackUrl=your_callback_url;") $conn.Open()
  3. Instantiate the APIDataAdapter, execute an SQL query, and output the results:

    $sql="SELECT Id, EmailAddress from Contacts" $da= New-Object System.Data.CData.API.APIDataAdapter($sql, $conn) $dt= New-Object System.Data.DataTable $da.Fill($dt) $dt.Rows | foreach { Write-Host $_.id $_.emailaddress }

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from ConstantContact with the API Driver

Connect to ConstantContact