=====================
Django Mailchimp v1.3
=====================
This is an integrated app for Django dealing with the Mailchimp mailing list system.
.. warning::
This package used to be called simply ``django-mailchimp``. But since the
mailchimp API changed in non-backwards-compatible ways between v1.2 and v1.3,
we renamed it to ``django-mailchimp-v1.3``.
Stuff may break in funny ways with this release, so make sure to thoroughly
test your code if you want to update from ``django-mailchimp``.
Quick start guide:
------------------
Installation:
*************
1. Install ``django-mailchimp-v1.3``::
pip install django-mailchimp-v1.3
2. Add a ``MAILCHIMP_API_KEY`` to your settings.py with your mailchimp API key as the value (obviously)
3. Add ``mailchimp`` to your project's list of INSTALLED_APPS
4. To start using the API, you should start by using utils.get_connection(). This will use the API_KEY you
just defined in settings.py
Subscribing a user to a list:
*****************************
1. To get the list::
list = mailchimp.utils.get_connection().get_list_by_id(<list key id>)
2. Now add a member to the mailing list::
list.subscribe('example@example.com', {'EMAIL':'example@example.com'})
Those pesky merge vars:
-----------------------
General info:
*************
Mailchimp is a quite generic service. As such, it needs to store information on people who subscribe to a list,
and that information is specific to this very list!
So to help you build dynamic forms (presumabely), mailchimp added the merge_vars. They are, basically, a
dictionnary showing infromation and meta-information defined for each piece of information.
Here's what the default set of merge vars look like (ona brand new list with default options)::
[
{
'field_type': 'email',
'name': 'Email Address',
'show': True,
'default': None,
'req': True,
'public': True,
'tag': 'EMAIL',
'helptext': None,
'order': '1',
'size': '25'
},{
'field_type': 'text',
'name': 'First Name',
'show': True,
'default': '',
'req': False,
'public': True,
'tag': 'FNAME',
'helptext': '',
'order': '2',
'size': '25'
},{
'field_type': 'text',
'name': 'Last Name',
'show': True,
'default': '',
'req': False,
'public': True,
'tag': 'LNAME',
'helptext': '',
'order': '3',
'size': '25'
}
]
As you can see, it's a list of 3 dictionnaries, each containing several fields that you should use to build your
user interface with (since you're using this app, that means your Django form).
Obtaining them:
***************
You can recreate this list using the following API call::
list = mailchimp.utils.get_connection().get_list_by_id(<The list's key ID>)
print list.merges
Using them:
***********
When you make a post to mailchimp, you need to pass merge_vars. For example, in a new list created with the default
settings on the mailchimp website, the following call adds a member to a list (with a little more info than our bare minimum example up there)::
list = mailchimp.utils.get_connection().get_list_by_id(<The list's key ID>)
list.subscribe('example@example.com', {'EMAIL': 'example@example.com', 'FNAME': 'Monthy', 'LNAME': 'Pythons'})
Note the use of the 'tag' field as the key for fields (why they didn't call it 'key' or 'id' is beyond comprehension).
Create a view:
--------------
We'll now try to move up the stack and create the necessary elements to make a useable mailchimp interface
Fire up your favorite editor and open your views.py. Put in the following snippet of code::
from django.http import HttpResponseRedirect
from mailchimp import utils
MAILCHIMP_LIST_ID = 'spamspamspamspameggsspamspam' # DRY :)
REDIRECT_URL_NAME = '/mailing_list_success/'
def add_email_to_mailing_list(request):
if request.POST['email']:
email_address = request.POST['email']
list = utils.get_connection().get_list_by_id(MAILCHIMP_LIST_ID)
list.subscribe(email_address, {'EMAIL': email_address})
return HttpResponseRedirect('/mailing_list_success/')
else:
return HttpResponseRedirect('/mailing_list_failure/')
Of course, if you feel redirecting the user is not the right approach (handling a form might be a good idea), feel
free to adapt this simple example to your needs :p