Search for custom field and retrun all contact data.

[Ryanlewis2010]

Hi there guys ive been lurking for the last few weeks here but finally need to ask a question i cant find answerd. I have a client that has configured ACT pro v16 with custom fields thru the ACT GUI. Now im in the proccess of building a webconsole for them that will allow thier customer service team to access act without viewing everything. I already have it so they can add a contact into the database with thouse custom fields as follows.

act login is completed above

Contact ctct = FW.Contacts.CreateContact();
ctct.Fields["REP", Act.Framework.MutableEntities.FieldNameType.Alias] = rep;
        ctct.Fields["TO", Act.Framework.MutableEntities.FieldNameType.Alias] = to;
        ctct.Fields["ROOM", Act.Framework.MutableEntities.FieldNameType.Alias] = room;
        ctct.Fields["PACKAGE", Act.Framework.MutableEntities.FieldNameType.Alias] = package;
        ctct.Fields["PRICE", Act.Framework.MutableEntities.FieldNameType.Alias] = price;
        ctct.Fields["type", Act.Framework.MutableEntities.FieldNameType.Alias] = cardType;

Now on the other side i want to be able to query those fileds one of the fileds is called "VERIFIED" in the main contacts area. i would like to be able to search by contacts who are in "PENDING" status and display thier contact data like follows.

        Act.Framework.Lookups.CriteriaColumn actColumn = FW.Lookups.GetCriteriaColumn("TBL_CONTACT", "VERIFIED", true);
        Act.Framework.Lookups.Criteria[] actCriteria = {
                    new Act.Framework.Lookups.Criteria(Act.Framework.Lookups.LogicalOperator.End, 0, 0, actColumn, Act.Framework.Lookups.OperatorEnum.EqualTo, "PENDING")
                };
        Act.Framework.Lookups.ContactLookup actLookup = FW.Lookups.LookupContactsReplace(actCriteria, true, true);
        Act.Framework.Contacts.ContactList actContacts = actLookup.GetContacts(null);

the following is the theory so it displays each  item for each contact in pending

foreach Contact cont in actContacts
{
@cont.name
@cont.package   *@ symbol is required for mvc Razor syntax to print
}

Now my problem is it returns "Column is null" but if i change it to a standard column like BUISNESS_EMAIL it will work.

[Ahsan · Accepted solution]

I think your problem is here

        Act.Framework.Lookups.CriteriaColumn actColumn = FW.Lookups.GetCriteriaColumn("TBL_CONTACT", "VERIFIED", true);

Custom fields almost always have a random number appended to their name, so I doubt the column is actually called "VERIFIED" in SQL. Standard ACT fields have preset column names, so it is safe to use them, but for custom fields, I would recommend that when trying to get the field descriptors, use the "Display Name" of the field

If just looking for one or two fields, I usually like to use filtercriteria rather than lookups. The code below should work for you.

ContactFieldDescriptor cfdVerified = GetCFD("VERIFIED");

ContactList lstContacts = ActApp.ActFramework.Contacts.GetContacts(null, new IFilterCriteria[] 
{ 
     new ComparisonFilterCriteria(cfdVerified, ComparisonFilterCriteria.Operation.Equals, "PENDING")
});

if (lstContacts != null)
{
    //.. Do something
}

        private ContactFieldDescriptor GetCFD(string displayName)
        {
            ContactFieldDescriptor[] arFd = ActApp.ActFramework.Contacts.GetContactFieldDescriptors();

            foreach (ContactFieldDescriptor cfd in arFd)
            {
                if ((cfd.DisplayName.ToLower().Equals(displayName.ToLower())))
                {
                    return cfd;
                }
            }
            //Log error as necessary
            return null;
        }

[Ahsan · Accepted solution]

I think your problem is here

        Act.Framework.Lookups.CriteriaColumn actColumn = FW.Lookups.GetCriteriaColumn("TBL_CONTACT", "VERIFIED", true);

Custom fields almost always have a random number appended to their name, so I doubt the column is actually called "VERIFIED" in SQL. Standard ACT fields have preset column names, so it is safe to use them, but for custom fields, I would recommend that when trying to get the field descriptors, use the "Display Name" of the field

If just looking for one or two fields, I usually like to use filtercriteria rather than lookups. The code below should work for you.

ContactFieldDescriptor cfdVerified = GetCFD("VERIFIED");

ContactList lstContacts = ActApp.ActFramework.Contacts.GetContacts(null, new IFilterCriteria[] 
{ 
     new ComparisonFilterCriteria(cfdVerified, ComparisonFilterCriteria.Operation.Equals, "PENDING")
});

if (lstContacts != null)
{
    //.. Do something
}

        private ContactFieldDescriptor GetCFD(string displayName)
        {
            ContactFieldDescriptor[] arFd = ActApp.ActFramework.Contacts.GetContactFieldDescriptors();

            foreach (ContactFieldDescriptor cfd in arFd)
            {
                if ((cfd.DisplayName.ToLower().Equals(displayName.ToLower())))
                {
                    return cfd;
                }
            }
            //Log error as necessary
            return null;
        }

[Ryanlewis2010]

Thanks Ahsan!

That works awesome at returning the contacts but i cant figure out how to access the column data for the contact all i can get is the Contact name to show doing this:

ContactList cfdList = newPending();

 foreach (var Data in cfdList)
 {
     @Data
 }

in theory i would like to accomplish something like this.

ContactList cfdList = newPending();

 foreach (var Data in cfdList)
 {
<td>
     @Data
</td>
<td>
     @Data.Email
</td>
<td>
     @Data.CustomField
</td>
etc....
 }

once again thanks!

[Ahsan]

Once you have a ContactFieldDescriptor, you can use the GetValue method to return the value of that field for any Contact.

Example:

ContactFieldDescriptor cfdVerified = GetCFD("VERIFIED");

foreach (Contact contact in lstContacts)
{
     object o = cfdVerified.GetValue(contact);
    
     //Check for null values. Convert to string or cast the object as necessary
     MessageBox.Show(o == null ? "" : o.ToString());
}

[Ryanlewis2010]

Yes thanks for your repsonse i just was in the proccess of typing that up i cant believe i didnt catcht that earlier. 

Have a great day

Ryan Lewis