Replicate Multiple iContact Accounts via the CData Sync CLI

CData Sync for iContact is a stand-alone application that provides solutions for a variety of replication scenarios such as replicating sandbox and production instances into your database. Both Sync for Windows and Sync for Java include a command-line interface (CLI) that makes it easy to manage multiple iContact connections. In this article we show how to use the CLI to replicate multiple iContact accounts.

Configure iContact Connections

You can save connection and email notification settings in an XML configuration file. To replicate multiple iContact accounts, use multiple configuration files. Below is an example configuration to replicate iContact to SQLite:

Windows

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<CDataSync>
  <DatabaseType>SQLite</DatabaseType>
  <DatabaseProvider>System.Data.SQLite</DatabaseProvider>
  <ConnectionString>Profile=C:\profiles\IContact.apip;ProfileSettings='AppId=your_app_id;Username=your_username;Password=your_password;AccountId=your_account_id';</ConnectionString>
  <ReplicateAll>False</ReplicateAll>
  <NotificationUserName></NotificationUserName>
  <DatabaseConnectionString>Data Source=C:\my.db</DatabaseConnectionString>
  <TaskSchedulerStartTime>09:51</TaskSchedulerStartTime>
  <TaskSchedulerInterval>Never</TaskSchedulerInterval>
</CDataSync>

Java

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<CDataSync>
<DatabaseType>SQLite</DatabaseType>
  <DatabaseProvider>org.sqlite.JDBC</DatabaseProvider>
  <ConnectionString>Profile=C:\profiles\IContact.apip;ProfileSettings='AppId=your_app_id;Username=your_username;Password=your_password;AccountId=your_account_id';</ConnectionString>
  <ReplicateAll>False</ReplicateAll>
  <NotificationUserName></NotificationUserName>
  <DatabaseConnectionString>Data Source=C:\my.db</DatabaseConnectionString>
</CDataSync>

Set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for iContact (see below).

iContact API Profile Settings

In your iContact account, navigate to Settings & Billing > Integrations and create a Custom API Integration. Your AppId, Username, Password, and AccountId are all available on the Getting Connected page of that integration.

Configure Queries for Each iContact Instance

Sync enables you to control replication with standard SQL. The REPLICATE statement is a high-level command that caches and maintains a table in your database. You can define any SELECT query supported by the iContact API. The statement below caches and incrementally updates a table of iContact data:

REPLICATE Campaigns;

You can specify a file containing the replication queries you want to use to update a particular database. Separate replication statements with semicolons. The following options are useful if you are replicating multiple iContact accounts into the same database:

You can use a different table prefix in the REPLICATE SELECT statement:

REPLICATE PROD_Campaigns SELECT * FROM Campaigns 

Alternatively, you can use a different schema:

REPLICATE PROD.Campaigns SELECT * FROM Campaigns

Run Sync

After you have configured the connection strings and replication queries, you can run Sync with the following command-line options:

Windows

APISync.exe -g MyProductionAPIConfig.xml -f MyProductionAPISync.sql

Java

java -Xbootclasspath/p:c:\sqlitejdbc.jar -jar APISync.jar -g MyProductionAPIConfig.xml -f MyProductionAPISync.sql