Content Sources

In Acumbamail, you can now define content sources. These allow you to upload a list of items defined by an image, a title, short descriptive text, long descriptive text, a link, author, and publication date. You can attach the information with the list of items by uploading a file or by providing a URL from which they will be retrieved periodically and automatically. These items can then be easily inserted into your email or landing page designs. Imagine, as a paradigm example, being able to include products from your e-commerce or a new blog entry in the emails of your campaigns.

In this article:

• Access to the functionality
  • Features by plan
• Content sources
  • Create a content source
  • Compatible formats
  • Edit a content source
  • Delete a content source
• Include a content source from the editor

Access to the functionality

You can access content sources from the "Integrations" option in the main side menu. From "Integrations," select "Content Sources" in the top menu.

Features by plan

The following table describes exactly what each user can do according to the rate or plan assigned to them.

Content sources are limited in two different ways:

• Number of content sources: This determines how many different content sources you can create and configure, from which the content will be retrieved.
• Number of items: This determines the maximum number of items that will be retrieved from each content source. This means that even if we find 50 items in a content source, if your plan limits you to a maximum of 10 items, then only the first 10 detected items will be visible for each content source.

Content sources

When accessing this section, a list of available content sources is displayed, from where you can manage them.

Create a content source

To add a new content source, click the "New Source" button. A popup will then appear from which you can select how to add the content:

• From URL: In this option, you will need to provide a URL that we will call periodically and automatically to retrieve the contents. A GET request will be made to this URL, and the returned content must be in RSS/ATOM feed (XML) format or a JSON list.
• Upload a file: In this option, you will need to upload a file with the contents you want to have available in the editor. This would be a static content source. Just like if it were retrieved from a URL, the format must be RSS/ATOM feed (XML) or a JSON list.

Depending on the chosen option, you will need to enter a name to identify the source and provide the URL or select the file with the predefined content of the source.

By clicking the "Create" button, the new content source will be created, and you will be redirected to the editing view, where you can check if valid content has been detected or if there has been any problem.

If the number of detected contents is different from 0, then they have been successfully retrieved. If the number of detected contents is equal to 0, then one of the following problems has occurred:

• Content could not be retrieved from the provided URL, or the uploaded file has no content.
• The detected content does not have a valid format.
• The content has a valid format but contains 0 entries or an empty list.

When there is a problem retrieving the contents from the source, a warning will appear both in the editing view and in the main list of content sources (next to the date and time of the last reload).

Compatible formats

Remember that it is possible to provide the content of a source in two different formats.

RSS/ATOM feed (XML)

If you have a website, such as a blog or an e-commerce site, where you have configured an RSS/ATOM feed, you simply need to enter its associated URL, and you will have access to the list of items described in that feed.

JSON list

If you do not have an RSS/ATOM feed, you can also prepare an endpoint that, upon GET requests, returns a JSON list describing items of interest, such as products from your online store. In this case, the JSON object must have specific keys to recognize the different elements, which are:

• title: This represents the title associated with the item
• author: This represents the name of the person who created the item
• published: This represents the date when the item was created
• summary: This represents the short descriptive text associated with the item. It can be text in HTML format.
• content: This represents the long descriptive text associated with the item. It can be text in HTML format.
• link: This represents a link to redirect the user for more information about the item.
• id: This is a unique identifier that distinguishes the item from others.

Remember that the image associated with the product will be attempted to be retrieved from the content associated with the keys "summary" and "content" if they are defined as HTML and contain an image node.

Click here to see an example of valid content in this format.

Edit a content source

From the list, click on the name of the source you want to edit or from the associated menu, select "Edit".

Preview

Whether the content was added from a URL or uploaded from a file, you can review the detected content by clicking the "Preview" button, which will open a popup where the associated image (if an image has been detected), the title, the short description, and the link of each item will appear.

Reload contents (only for URL)

If you have provided a URL, the content will refresh automatically every 8 hours. If you need to reload the content immediately, you can click the "Reload" button.

Update source

If it is a URL, you can update the internal name and the associated URL. If you have uploaded a file, you can edit the internal name and upload a new file. You must click "Save" for the changes to be saved, at which point the contents associated with the source will be reloaded.

You should keep in mind that the detected contents are not cumulative, meaning that only the items currently present in the source will be available. If you uploaded a file with 10 sources and within it, you upload a new file with another 5 sources, the first 10 will be deleted, and only the 5 new ones will be available.

Similarly, if you update the URL and it returns different items, the items originally detected for the first source will not be accessible. The old items will not be selectable to be inserted into your new designs, although if you had already included them previously, those designs will preserve these contents.

Delete a content source

From the list, click on the menu associated with the source you want to delete and choose the "Delete" option. When you delete a content source, it will no longer be selectable from the editor, but the contents you have already added to your landing page and email design templates will remain visible.

Include a content source from the editor

All sources can be embedded in any of your landing pages or newsletters. To do this, you just need to go to the "Content" tab in the editor and drag the "Content Source" element to your design.

Click the "Add Content" button. A popup will show all your active sources (those with at least 1 selectable item). Choose a source and click "Next".

Next, you will need to select the contents you want to add, their orientation, and the individual elements you want to be visible for each content. When you confirm the selection, the contents will appear in the row.

Content selection

Regarding content selection:

• This editor element ("Content Source") adds a complete row to your design.
• In the row, you can include one, two, or up to 3 of the contents from your source.
• If you need to show more contents, you can drag more "Content Source" elements to your design.

Orientation of each content

There are two possible orientations. The orientation is applied individually to each added content:

• Vertical. A single column is designated to show the elements of each content stacked.
• Horizontal. Two columns are designated to show the elements of each content.

Visible elements

Depending on which orientation you have chosen, you can decide which elements will be visible or not in the available column or two columns for each content. By default, the image, title, short description, and link with a button are displayed.