Sitecore 8 EXM add a contact to list from listmanager

Question

I\'m using Sitecore 8 and the new Email Experience Manager module. I have configured a newsletter email message with an empty list from the listmanager as recipients.

Answer 1

To create a contact, you can use the sample code below, the contact name is usually the domain name plus the username, e.g. domain\username.

public static Contact CreateContact([NotNull] string contactName, [NotNull] string contactEmail, [NotNull] string contactLanguage)
{
  Assert.ArgumentNotNullOrEmpty(contactName, "contactName");
  Assert.ArgumentNotNullOrEmpty(contactEmail, "contactEmail");
  Assert.ArgumentNotNullOrEmpty(contactLanguage, "contactLanguage");

  var contactRepository = new ContactRepository();

  var contact = contactRepository.LoadContactReadOnly(contactName);
  if (contact != null)
  {
    return contact;
  }
  contact = contactRepository.CreateContact(ID.NewID);
  contact.Identifiers.AuthenticationLevel = AuthenticationLevel.None;
  contact.System.Classification = 0;
  contact.ContactSaveMode = ContactSaveMode.AlwaysSave;
  contact.Identifiers.Identifier = contactName;
  contact.System.OverrideClassification = 0;
  contact.System.Value = 0;
  contact.System.VisitCount = 0;

  var contactPreferences = contact.GetFacet<IContactPreferences>("Preferences");
  contactPreferences.Language = contactLanguage;

  var contactEmailAddresses = contact.GetFacet<IContactEmailAddresses>("Emails");
  contactEmailAddresses.Entries.Create("test").SmtpAddress = contactEmail;
  contactEmailAddresses.Preferred = "test";

  var contactPersonalInfo = contact.GetFacet<IContactPersonalInfo>("Personal");
  contactPersonalInfo.FirstName = contactName;
  contactPersonalInfo.Surname = "recipient";

  contactRepository.SaveContact(contact, new ContactSaveOptions(true, null));

  return contact;
}

After creating the contact, use the following sample code to add the contact to a recipient list.

  var repository = new ListManagerCollectionRepository();
  var recipientList = repository.GetEditableRecipientCollection(recipientListId);
  if (recipientList != null)
  {
    var xdbContact = new XdbContactId(contactId);
    if (!recipientList.Contains(xdbContact, true).Value)
    {
      recipientList.AddRecipient(xdbContact);
    }
  }

Answer 2

in case you have a tracker available and you dont need the update immediately, the following should work (note that the contact is added to the list upon session expiration):

//private const string ContactListTagName = "ContactLists";

var contact = Tracker.Current.Contact;

// Identify
if (contact.Identifiers.IdentificationLevel < ContactIdentificationLevel.Known)
{
    Tracker.Current.Session.Identify(email);
}

// Set Email
var contactEmail = contact.GetFacet<IContactEmailAddresses>("Emails");

// Create an email address if not already present

// This can be named anything, but must be the same as "Preferred" if you want
// this email to show in the Experience Profiles backend. 
if (!contactEmail.Entries.Contains("Preferred"))
    contactEmail.Entries.Create("Preferred");

// set the email
var emailEntry = contactEmail.Entries["Preferred"];
emailEntry.SmtpAddress = email;
contactEmail.Preferred = "Preferred";

// set FirstName and Surname (required for List Manager, "N/A" might not be ideal but I don't know how Sitecore behaves with empty strings)
var personal = contact.GetFacet<IContactPersonalInfo>("Personal");
personal.FirstName = personal.FirstName ?? "N/A";
personal.Surname = personal.Surname ?? "N/A";

// Add preferred language
var preferences = contact.GetFacet<IContactPreferences>("Preferences");
preferences.Language = Context.Language.Name;

// Here is the actual adding to the list by adding tags
using (new SecurityDisabler())
{
    var id = ID.Parse("CONTACTLISTID");
    contact.Tags.Set(ContactListTagName, id.ToString().ToUpperInvariant());
}

Greetz, Markus

Answer 3

I have had the exact same issue, i.e. the list manager reports 0 contacts after adding the contact to the recipient list.

I have investigated the issue closer and found that adding a contact to a recipient list actually just sets a field on the contact in the "sitecore_analytics_index" index (assuming you use Mongo/XDB as the underlying storage). Specifically, Sitecore should update the "contact.tags" field on the contact document with the value "ContactLists:{recipientListGuid}". I tried opening the index with Luke to verify that this field was indeed not being set in the index. The index is located in C:\inetpub\wwwroot[Sitename]\Data\indexes\sitecore_analytics_index.

This led me to the conclusion, that you have to save the contact after adding him to the recipient list.

Summing up, the following code works for me:

var ecm = EcmFactory.GetDefaultFactory();
XdbContactId contactId = /* some valid contact id */;
LeaseOwner leaseOwner = new LeaseOwner("UpdateContact-" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString(), LeaseOwnerType.OutOfRequestWorker);
Sitecore.Analytics.Tracking.Contact contact;
string webClusterName;
var status = ecm.Gateways.AnalyticsGateway.TryGetContactForUpdate(contactId.Value,
    leaseOwner,
    TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5),
     TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5),
     out contact, out webClusterName);

var recipientList = ecm.Bl.RecipientCollectionRepository.GetEditableRecipientCollection(recipientListId);
  if (recipientList != null)
  {
    if (!recipientList.Contains(contactId, true).Value)
    {
      recipientList.AddRecipient(contactId);
    }
  }

contact.ContactSaveMode = ContactSaveMode.AlwaysSave;
var contactRepository = new ContactRepository();
var success = contactRepository.SaveContact(contact, new ContactSaveOptions(true, leaseOwner));

Note, the above code is used in an update-scenario. In your case, I guess you just have to move this code:

contactRepository.SaveContact(contact, new ContactSaveOptions(true, null));

After this:

var recipientList = EcmFactory.GetDefaultFactory().Bl.RecipientCollectionRepository.GetEditableRecipientCollection(recipientListId);
  if (recipientList != null)
  {
    var xdbContact = new XdbContactId(contactId);
    if (!recipientList.Contains(xdbContact, true).Value)
    {
      recipientList.AddRecipient(xdbContact);
    }
  }

UPDATE: Actually the above only works if the contact saved is the contact currently tracked by Sitecore Analytics.

Answer 4

Essentially you can follow this example

<%@ Page Language="c#" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="Sitecore.Analytics" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="Testing.ContactFacets.Model" %>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Add Employee Data</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <%
      var contact = Tracker.Current.Contact;
      var data = contact.GetFacet<IEmployeeData>("Employee Data");
      data.EmployeeId = "ABC123";
    %>
    <p>Employee data contact facet updated.</p>
    <p>Contact ID: <b><%=contact.ContactId.ToString()%></b></p>
    <p>Employee #: <b><%=data.EmployeeId%></b></p>
  </body>
</html>

The changes are then written when the session is abandoned, like so

<%@ Page language="c#" %>
<script runat="server">
  void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e) {
      Session.Abandon();
  }
</script> 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Session Abandon</title>
  </head>
  <body>
  </body>
</html>

Follow this link for the source and more information - http://www.sitecore.net/learn/blogs/technical-blogs/getting-to-know-sitecore/posts/2014/09/introducing-contact-facets