Marketing Cloud API retrieve Send summary yields empty response

Question

I'm trying to retrieve summary information about an email send (opens, number sent, number delivered, etc.) using the Marketing Cloud SOAP API. The response I get has an overall status of "OK" but none of the requested data in it (it is a fully formed XML response but only includes the overall status and a RequestID).

I've tried several SendIDs with the same result. I AM able to retrieve link information (ObjectType "LinkSend") for the same SendIDs.

Thanks for any suggestions.

My SOAP request:

      <RetrieveRequestMsg xmlns="http://exacttarget.com/wsdl/partnerAPI">
         <RetrieveRequest>
            <ObjectType>Send</ObjectType>
            <Properties>UniqueOpens</Properties>
            <Properties>NumberSent</Properties>
            <Properties>NumberDelivered</Properties>
     <Filter xsi:type="ns1:SimpleFilterPart" xmlns:ns1="http://exacttarget.com/wsdl/partnerAPI">
               <Property>SendID</Property>
               <SimpleOperator>equals</SimpleOperator>
               <Value>xxxx</Value>
            </Filter>
         </RetrieveRequest>
      </RetrieveRequestMsg>

And the response:

        <soap:Body>
            <RetrieveResponseMsg xmlns="http://exacttarget.com/wsdl/partnerAPI">
                <OverallStatus>OK</OverallStatus>
                <RequestID>xxxxx-xxxx-xxxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxx</RequestID>
            </RetrieveResponseMsg>
        </soap:Body>

Answer 1

A support ticket with Salesforce solved this problem. The key is adding a dot in the filter property name between "Send" and "ID":

       <Filter xsi:type="ns1:SimpleFilterPart" xmlns:ns1="http://exacttarget.com/wsdl/partnerAPI">
           <Property>Send.ID</Property>
           <SimpleOperator>equals</SimpleOperator>
           <Value>xxxx</Value>
        </Filter>

What I find so odd about this is that when I retrieve click data (using ObjectType "LinkSend") for the same SendIDs, I don't include the dot in the filter property name, and it works. But in any case, it's working now so life is good.

Answer 2

This is behavior (OK response with no objects) I often see using clientId/Secret as authentication rather than the newer fueloauth.

Are you using clientid/secret in your soap envelope to authenticate, or are you getting a token then using that?

The difference is:

<o:Security xmlns:o="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd" s:mustUnderstand="1">
         <o:UsernameToken>
            <o:Username>{{soapUsername}}</o:Username>
            <o:Password><![CDATA[{{soapPassword}}]]></o:Password>
         </o:UsernameToken>
      </o:Security>

vs.

<a:fueloauth><![CDATA[{token}]]></a:fueloauth>

To get a fueltoken, you can make a rest POST call using the clientId/Secret to:

https://auth-{stack}.exacttargetapis.com/v1/requestToken

with a body

{ "clientId":"{clientId}", "clientSecret":"{clientSecret}", "AccessType": "offline" }

Give that a try and let us know if it works for you. These is also a Rest api endpoint to obtain the same information that is easier IMO to use than making a Soap call. Unfortunately, a lot of the Send and Event tracking information is not available via the Rest Api, but the information you are trying to retrieve is.