Developers

Example Usage of 
message_template_edit

Edit an existing basic message template.

Description: Update information associated with an existing basic message template. This API call lets you manage basic templates only. Designer templates can only be managed from the admin interface.
Endpoint: /admin/api.php?api_action=message_template_edit
HTTP method: POST
Supported output formats: xml, json, serialize
Requires authentication: true
Parameters:
* indicates requirement. Underlined params include in URL, otherwise as part of the post body. POST data must be formatted as 
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
. We don't accept any other input formats like JSON.
Variable Description
api_action*message_template_edit
api_outputxml, json, or serialize (default is XML)
name*Internal template name. Example: 'My Template'
htmlActual template HTML content. Example: '<html><head><title>Template added via API</title></head><body>This template was added via the API</body></html>'
textActual template text content. Example: 'This template was added via the API'
template_scope*List visibility. Examples: 'all', 'specific'
tags[]Optional template tag array. Example: tags[] = 'Holiday'
p[]If template_scope is 'specific', supply individual list ID's.
Example response:
Variable Description
messagesArray of messages using this template.
is_fatalWhether or not there are any fatal errors. Example: false
oldwidthsArray of old template widths
reparseWhether to reparse this template. Example: false
instanceidID of the template instance being edited. Example: 2
result_codeWhether or not the response was successful. Examples: 1 = yes, 0 = no
result_messageA custom message that appears explaining what happened. Example: Template updated
result_outputThe result output used. Example: serialize

PHP Example

This is an example of using the message_template_edit call with PHP. You can replicate the same idea in virtually any other programming language. The example shown is using serialize as the output format. You can change that to XML or JSON if you would like. 

<?php

// By default, this sample code is designed to get the result from your ActiveCampaign installation and print out the result
$url = 'https://account.api-us1.com';


$params = array(

	// this is the action that modifies message template info based on the ID you provide
	'api_action'   => 'message_template_edit',

	// define the type of output you wish to get back
	// possible values:
	// - 'xml'  :      you have to write your own XML parser
	// - 'json' :      data is returned in JSON format and can be decoded with
	//                 json_decode() function (included in PHP since 5.2.0)
	// - 'serialize' : data is returned in a serialized format and can be decoded with
	//                 a native unserialize() function
	'api_output'   => 'serialize',
);

// here we define the data we are posting in order to perform an update
$post = array(
	'id'                       => 1, // example template ID to modify
	'name'                     => 'My Template', // internal template name
	'html'                     => '<html><head><title>Template added via API</title></head><body>This template was added via the API</body></html>', // actual template content HTML

	// list visibility:
	'template_scope'           => 'all',
	// possible values:
	// - 'all'
	// - 'specific'

	'tags[]'                   => 'Holiday', // optional template tag
	//'tags[]'                 => 'Travel', // another tag?
	'p[1]'                     => '1', // if template_scope = 'specific', supply individual list ID's
);

// This section takes the input fields and converts them to the proper format
$query = "";
foreach( $params as $key => $value ) $query .= urlencode($key) . '=' . urlencode($value) . '&';
$query = rtrim($query, '& ');

// This section takes the input data and converts it to the proper format
$data = "";
foreach( $post as $key => $value ) $data .= urlencode($key) . '=' . urlencode($value) . '&';
$data = rtrim($data, '& ');

// clean up the url
$url = rtrim($url, '/ ');

// This sample code uses the CURL library for php to establish a connection,
// submit your request, and show (print out) the response.
if ( !function_exists('curl_init') ) die('CURL not supported. (introduced in PHP 4.0.2)');

// If JSON is used, check if json_decode is present (PHP 5.2.0+)
if ( $params['api_output'] == 'json' && !function_exists('json_decode') ) {
	die('JSON not supported. (introduced in PHP 5.2.0)');
}

// define a final API request - GET
$api = $url . '/admin/api.php?' . $query;

$request = curl_init($api); // initiate curl object
curl_setopt($request, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('API-TOKEN: ' . $api_key));  //  Provide the API Token via the API-TOKEN header
curl_setopt($request, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0); // set to 0 to eliminate header info from response
curl_setopt($request, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1); // Returns response data instead of TRUE(1)
curl_setopt($request, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data); // use HTTP POST to send form data
// curl_setopt($request, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, FALSE); // uncomment if you get no gateway response and are using HTTPS
curl_setopt($request, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);

$response = (string)curl_exec($request); // execute curl fetch and store results in $response

// additional options may be required depending upon your server configuration
// you can find documentation on curl options at http://www.php.net/curl_setopt
curl_close($request); // close curl object

if ( !$response ) {
	die('Nothing was returned. Do you have a connection to Email Marketing server?');
}

// This line takes the response and breaks it into an array using:
// JSON decoder
// $result = json_decode($response, true);
// unserializer
$result = unserialize($response);
// XML parser...
// ...

// Result info that is always returned
echo 'Result: ' . ( $result['result_code'] ? 'SUCCESS' : 'FAILED' ) . '<br />';
echo 'Message: ' . $result['result_message'] . '<br />';

// The entire result printed out
echo 'The entire result printed out:<br />';
echo '<pre>';
print_r($result);
echo '</pre>';

// Raw response printed out
echo 'Raw response printed out:<br />';
echo '<pre>';
print_r($response);
echo '</pre>';

// API URL that returned the result
echo 'API URL that returned the result:<br />';
echo $api;

echo '<br /><br />POST params:<br />';
echo '<pre>';
print_r($post);
echo '</pre>';?>

Questions? Discuss this API call in our developer forum