iContact Authenticate an Element

You can authenticate with iContact to create your own instance of the iContact element through the UI or through APIs. Once authenticated, you can use the element instance to access the different functionality offered by the iContact platform.

Authenticate Through the UI

Use the UI to authenticate with iContact and create an element instance as described in Authenticate an Element Instance (UI). In addition to the base authentication parameters, you will need the credentials that you identified in API Provider Setup.

After successfully authenticating, we give you several options for next steps. Make requests using the API docs associated with the instance, map the instance to a virtual data resource, or use it in a formula template.

Authenticate Through API

Authenticating through API is similar to authenticating via the UI. Instead of clicking and typing through a series of buttons, text boxes, and menus, you will instead send a request to our /instances endpoint. The end result is the same, though: an authenticated element instance with a token and id.

To authenticate an element instance:

1. Construct a JSON body as shown below (see Parameters):

   {
     "element": {
       "key": "icontact"
     },
     "configuration": {
       "api.version": "<iContact Api version>",
       "AppID": "<iContact Api-AppId>",
       "api.username": "<iContact iContact username>",
       "api.password": "<iContact API password>"
     },
     "tags": [
       "<Add_Your_Tag>"
     ],
     "name": "<INSTANCE_NAME>"
   }
   

2. Call the following, including the JSON body you constructed in the previous step:

   POST /instances
   

   Note: Make sure that you include the User and Organization keys in the header. For more information, see Authorization Headers, Organization Secret, and User Secret.

3. Locate the token and id in the response and save them for all future requests using the element instance.

Example cURL

curl -X POST \
  https://api.cloud-elements.com/elements/api-v2/instances \
  -H 'authorization: User <USER_SECRET>, Organization <ORGANIZATION_SECRET>' \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "element": {
    "key": "icontact"
  },
  "configuration": {
    "api.version": "2.0",
    "AppID": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "api.username": "xxxxxxx@mycoolapp.com",
    "api.password": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
  },
  "tags": [
    "Docs"
  ],
  "name": "API Instance"
}'

Parameters

API parameters not shown in Cloud Elements are in code formatting.

Example Response for an Authenticated Element Instance

In this example, the instance ID is 12345 and the instance token starts with "ABC/D...". The actual values returned to you will be unique: make sure you save them for future requests to this new instance.

{
  "id": 12345,
  "name": "API Instance",
  "createdDate": "2017-08-07T18:46:38Z",
  "token": "ABC/Dxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
  "element": {
    "id": 13766,
    "name": "iContact",
    "key": "icontact",
    "description": "Add an iContact instance to connect your existing iContact account to the Marketing Hub, allowing you to manage campaigns, lists, contacts etc. across multiple Marketing Elements. You will need your iContact account information to add an instance.",
    "image": "elements/provider_icontact.png",
    "active": true,
    "deleted": false,
    "typeOauth": false,
    "trialAccount": false,
    "resources": [ ],
    "transformationsEnabled": true,
    "bulkDownloadEnabled": true,
    "bulkUploadEnabled": true,
    "cloneable": true,
    "extendable": false,
    "beta": false,
    "authentication": {
        "type": "custom"
    },
    "extended": false,
    "hub": "marketing",
    "protocolType": "http",
    "parameters": [  ],
    "private": false
    },
  "elementId": 13766,
  "tags": [
    "Docs"
  ],
  "provisionInteractions": [],
  "valid": true,
  "disabled": false,
  "maxCacheSize": 0,
  "cacheTimeToLive": 0,
  "configuration": {    },
  "eventsEnabled": false,
  "traceLoggingEnabled": false,
  "cachingEnabled": false,
  "externalAuthentication": "none",
  "user": {
    "id": 12345
    }
}