How to fire Journey API Entry event through AMPscript?

Question

I need to trigger a Double Opt-In Journey process instantly after a Marketing Cloud Landingpage form submit (Smart Capture cannot be used).

I'm aware that I could save data in a DE an run an automation on it, but we need to send the Double Opt-In E-Mail right after submit. It would be perfect if I could fire the API Entry Source from AMPscript or SJSS, have anyone done that before?

Answer 1

You can fire the event using a REST-API call to the "POST /interaction/v1/events" endpoint.

An example request looks like this:

{
    "ContactKey": "YOUR_CONTACTS_KEY",
    "EventDefinitionKey":"EVENT_DEFINITION_KEY_OF_API_EVENT",
    "EstablishContactKey": true,
    "Data": {
        "dataForEvent1":"John",
        "dataForEvent2":"Doe"
    }
}

Prerequisites:

Before initiating this request, you need to obtain an access token, that needs to be sent in the header of the request to the /interaction/v1/events endpoint. Requesting this token can be done using the /v1/requestToken endpoint and the following payload:

{
    "clientId": "YOUR_CLIENT_ID_FROM_APP_CENTER",
    "clientSecret": "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET_FROM_APP_CENTER"
}

AMPscript example:

%%[
    Var @body, @callstatus, @response, @accessToken, @resultOfParsing
    Set @body = '{"clientId": "xxxxx", "clientSecret": "yyyyyyy"}'

    HTTPPost2("https://auth.exacttargetapis.com/v1/requestToken", "application/json", @body, True, @callstatus, @response)

    Set @body = '{"ContactKey": "YOUR_CONTACTS_KEY", "EventDefinitionKey":"EVENT_DEFINITION_KEY_OF_API_EVENT", "EstablishContactKey": true, "Data": { "dataForEvent1":"John", "dataForEvent2":"Doe"}}'

    Set @regex = '^{"accessToken":"(.*)",.*$'
    Set @accessToken = REGEXMATCH(@response, @regex, 1)
    Set @accessToken = CONCAT('Bearer ', @accessToken)

    HTTPPost2("https://auth.exacttargetapis.com/interaction/v1/events", "application/json", @body, True, @callstatus, @response, 'Authorization', @accessToken)
]%%

Further reading:

• POST /interaction/v1/events
• Get an Access Token
• requestToken Reference
• HTTPPost2(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Answer 2

Below is a similar solution using SSJS in a CloudPage to retrieve Installed Package details from a Data Extension called 'Client_Auth_Details' to perform a v2 Auth token request. This is followed by a rest call to inject a record into a Journey and then returns the EventInstanceID as confirmation. Comments are included for context.

Requirements:

-V2 Server to Server Installed Package with scope to read/write to Data Extensions, read/write/execute for Journeys and read/write to 'Lists and Subscribers' .
-Journey configured with API Entry Event
-Substitute details for your configuration within all {{}} labels.
-Data Extension named 'Client_Auth_Details' with fields 'ClientID', 'PackageName', and 'ClientSecret'. Each field should contain corresponding values for the Installed Package.

    %%[ var @clientid,@clientsecret,@packagename 
Set @clientid = Lookup('Client_Auth_Details','ClientID','PackageName','{{Installed Package Name}}') 
Set @clientsecret = Lookup('Client_Auth_Details','ClientSecret','PackageName','{{Installed Package Name}}') ]%%


<script runat="server">
 Platform.Load("Core", "1.1.1");

    //Get client id and secret from ampscript variables
    // Static API authentication properties
    var clientId = Variable.GetValue("@clientid");
    var clientSecret = Variable.GetValue("@clientsecret");
    var grantType = "client_credentials";

    var eventDefinitionKey = "{{Event Definition Key}}"; // unique key for the API Event used as the entry source for the journey
    var subscriberKey = "Test123";
    var emailAddress = "[email protected]";

    try 
    {
      var success = false;
      var accessToken = GetAccessTokenForAPI(clientId, clientSecret, grantType);
      if (accessToken != null) 
      {
        success = InjectSubscriberIntoAPIEventForJourney(subscriberKey, emailAddress, accessToken,eventDefinitionKey);
      }
      if (success) {
        Write("Subscriber injected into Journey");
      } else {
        Write("Failed to inject subscriber.");
      }
    } 
    catch (ex) 
    {
     Write("Exception Error: " + Stringify(ex));
 }

    function GetAccessTokenForAPI(clientId, clientSecret, grantType) 
    {
     var url = 'https://{{Tenant Specific Domain}}.auth.marketingcloudapis.com/v2/token';
        var contentType = 'application/json';
        var payload = 
        {
          client_id: clientId,
          client_secret: clientSecret,
          grant_type: grantType

        };

        var accessTokenRequest = HTTP.Post(url, contentType, Stringify(payload));
        if (accessTokenRequest.StatusCode == 200) { 
           var tokenResponse = Platform.Function.ParseJSON(accessTokenRequest.Response[0]);
           return tokenResponse.access_token;
        }
  else // Call failed, return nothing
        {
          return null;
          Write("Error");
        }

    }

    function InjectSubscriberIntoAPIEventForJourney(subscriberKey, emailAddress, accessToken,eventDefinitionKey)
    {
        var url = 'https://{{Tenant Specific Domain}}.rest.marketingcloudapis.com/interaction/v1/events';
       //Write("URL OK");
        var contentType = 'application/json';
      //Write("contenttype OK");
       var headername = ["Authorization"];
       //Write("contenttype OK" + headername);
       var headervalue = ["Bearer " + accessToken];
      //Write("contenttype OK" + headervalue);
       var payload =

           '{"ContactKey":"'+subscriberKey+'","EventDefinitionKey":"'+eventDefinitionKey+'","Data": {"SubscriberKey":"'+subscriberKey+'", "EmailAddress":"'+emailAddress+'"}}';
          /* {
            ContactKey: subscriberKey,
             EventDefinitionKey: eventDefinitionKey,
            EstablishContactKey: false, // this must be provided if you want to also supply Data below
             Data:
               { // You need to create a matching Data Extension for the API Event entry source
                 SubscriberKey: subscriberKey,
                  EmailAddress: emailAddress,
                }
              }*/
   //Write("payload OK" + payload);
          var eventRequest = HTTP.Post(url, contentType, payload,headername,headervalue);
      //Write("Call Successful");
          if (eventRequest.StatusCode == 201)// 201 is Created
          { 
             var requestResponse = Platform.Function.ParseJSON(eventRequest["Response"][0]);
               Write(Stringify(requestResponse)); // uncomment to see the returned object
              if (requestResponse.eventInstanceId != null && requestResponse.eventInstanceId != "") // eventInstanceId is a GUID 
              { 
                  // TODO: maybe we should check that it is actually a GUID and not some other string
                 return true; // we got a GUID the event has been fired
              }
          }
    return false; // the injection failed
}

  </script>