Import related entities (api-chain)

[sluc23]

@eileenmcnaughton Just asking before diving into the source code.
Is there a way a related entity to the main one could be imported in the same process? Like Contact.Email, within a Contact csv file, for example?
My guess is not , because the mapping doesn't show related entities to be selected.

So if it's not the case, do you think it is possible / worth it to add the feature to import related entities using api-chain? I could try to implement that if it's feasible.

[eileenmcnaughton]

@sluc23 1e5a9eb was an attempt by Compucorp to add some degree of related entity support- I haven't checked it out carefully though

[sluc23]

tx!. I'll take a look.
I've found this extension super-powerful for allowing import "~ large" datasets avoiding web timeouts (which I think at one point this implementation of using queues for import must be implemented in core).
But a Contact with email, address, phone and web site i.e. needs to be in imported in 4 separated processes.

I'll give a try if I can sort it out the api chain import in one csv file :)

[eileenmcnaughton]

It would be interesting to see if @colemanw has any idea about how we could make the metadata allow you to start from contact & find other entities (in api v4 I guess but we could update this easily to apiv4) - currently you can discover contact from email but not vice versa

[sluc23]

@eileenmcnaughton you right, my first impression is that the only way to "link" related entities from the parent Entity, is hardcoding who are the children per Entity.

I don't see a way to discover them using api3, for instance in Contact there's no way using api3 to discover that Email, Phone, Address, etc.. could be created using 1-level api-chain.
getfields() api method return a parameter called FKApiName which looks like the candidate to use, but it's only set in Contact fields primary_contact_id and current_employer_id

So do you think at this point makes more sense to start thinking on a migration to api4 than keep on adding exceptions or complex code to get this work on api3 ?