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Connect to live data from ConstantContact with the API Driver

Connect to ConstantContact

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Natively Connect to ConstantContact Data in PHP


The CData ODBC driver for ConstantContact enables you to create PHP applications with connectivity to ConstantContact data. Leverage the native support for ODBC in PHP.

Drop the CData ODBC Driver for ConstantContact into your LAMP or WAMP stack to build ConstantContact-connected Web applications. This article shows how to use PHP's ODBC built-in functions to connect to ConstantContact data, execute queries, and output the results.

Configure a DSN

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

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.

Establish a Connection

Open the connection to ConstantContact by calling the odbc_connect or odbc_pconnect methods. To close connections, use odbc_close or odbc_close_all.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC API Source","user","password");

Connections opened with odbc_connect are closed when the script ends. Connections opened with the odbc_pconnect method are still open after the script ends. This enables other scripts to share that connection when they connect with the same credentials. By sharing connections among your scripts, you can save system resources, and queries execute faster.

$conn = odbc_pconnect("CData ODBC API Source","user","password"); ... odbc_close($conn); //persistent connection must be closed explicitly

Create Prepared Statements

Create prepared statements and parameterized queries with the odbc_prepare function.

$query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM Contacts WHERE CompanyName = ?");

Execute Queries

Execute prepared statements with odbc_execute.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC API Source","user","password"); $query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM Contacts WHERE CompanyName = ?"); $success = odbc_execute($query, array('Acme, Inc.'));

Execute nonparameterized queries with odbc_exec.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC API Source","user","password"); $query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT Id, EmailAddress FROM Contacts WHERE CompanyName = 'Acme, Inc.'");

Process Results

Access a row in the result set as an array with the odbc_fetch_array function.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC ConstantContact data Source","user","password"); $query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT Id, EmailAddress FROM Contacts WHERE CompanyName = 'Acme, Inc.'"); while($row = odbc_fetch_array($query)){ echo $row["Id"] . "\n"; }

Display the result set in an HTML table with the odbc_result_all function.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC ConstantContact data Source","user","password"); $query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM Contacts WHERE CompanyName = ?"); $success = odbc_execute($query, array('Acme, Inc.')); if($success) odbc_result_all($query);

More Example Queries

You will find complete information on the driver's supported SQL in the help documentation. The code examples above are ConstantContact-specific adaptations of the PHP community documentation for all ODBC functions.