Step by Step Guide to Building a Constant Contact API Integration in Python

Introduction

Hey there, fellow developer! Ready to supercharge your marketing efforts with Constant Contact's API? You're in the right place. We're going to walk through building a robust Python integration that'll have you managing contacts and campaigns like a pro in no time.

Prerequisites

Before we dive in, make sure you've got:

• A Python environment (3.7+ recommended)
• A Constant Contact account with API credentials

Got those? Great! Let's get cracking.

Setting up the project

First things first, let's set up our project:

mkdir constant_contact_integration
cd constant_contact_integration
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows, use `venv\Scripts\activate`
pip install requests oauthlib

Authentication

Constant Contact uses OAuth 2.0. Here's a quick way to get your access token:

from oauthlib.oauth2 import BackendApplicationClient
from requests_oauthlib import OAuth2Session

client_id = 'your_client_id'
client_secret = 'your_client_secret'

client = BackendApplicationClient(client_id=client_id)
oauth = OAuth2Session(client=client)
token = oauth.fetch_token(
    token_url='https://authz.constantcontact.com/oauth2/default/v1/token',
    client_id=client_id,
    client_secret=client_secret
)

access_token = token['access_token']

Basic API Requests

Now that we're authenticated, let's make a simple GET request:

import requests

headers = {
    'Authorization': f'Bearer {access_token}',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}

response = requests.get('https://api.cc.email/v3/contact_lists', headers=headers)
print(response.json())

Core Functionalities

Managing Contacts

Adding a new contact:

new_contact = {
    "email_address": {"address": "[email protected]"},
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "Doe"
}

response = requests.post('https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts', headers=headers, json=new_contact)

Managing Email Campaigns

Creating a campaign:

campaign = {
    "name": "My Awesome Campaign",
    "email_campaign_activities": [{
        "format_type": 1,
        "from_email": "[email protected]",
        "from_name": "Your Name",
        "subject": "Check out our latest offers!"
    }]
}

response = requests.post('https://api.cc.email/v3/email_campaigns', headers=headers, json=campaign)

Error Handling and Rate Limiting

Always implement retry logic and respect rate limits:

import time

def api_request(url, method='GET', data=None, max_retries=3):
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        response = requests.request(method, url, headers=headers, json=data)
        if response.status_code == 429:  # Too Many Requests
            time.sleep(2 ** attempt)  # Exponential backoff
            continue
        response.raise_for_status()
        return response.json()
    raise Exception("Max retries reached")

Best Practices

• Store API credentials securely (use environment variables)
• Batch operations when possible to reduce API calls
• Implement proper logging for debugging

Testing the Integration

Here's a simple unit test to get you started:

import unittest

class TestConstantContactIntegration(unittest.TestCase):
    def test_get_contact_lists(self):
        response = api_request('https://api.cc.email/v3/contact_lists')
        self.assertIsInstance(response, dict)
        self.assertIn('lists', response)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    unittest.main()

Conclusion

And there you have it! You've just built a solid foundation for your Constant Contact API integration. Remember, this is just the beginning – there's so much more you can do with the API. Keep exploring, keep coding, and most importantly, keep having fun with it!

Need more info? Check out the official Constant Contact API docs. Happy coding!