HubDB API - Populate HubDB tables automatically

[ChrisChiha]

Hello, I would like to know if there's a way to populate my HubDB tables automatically. Maybe an Api integration that will fetch content from an online portal and populate it in the table.I am using this data dynamically in my email campaigns, and the data is subject to change on daily basis. So it is not feasible to do it manually. Thanks ! 

[Teun]

You can store external data in HubDB, in default object properties (like contact), or in a custom object.

Using an object is only a good fit in certain scenarios.

Could you elaborate on what you are trying to achieve? What kind of data do you want to store in HubSpot?

[ChrisChiha]

I am trying to retrieve data (Name, Status, and comment sections) from my backend into my email.

Hubdb is not applicable in my case, and the contact section already has its data in it. 

I was thinking of another approach, maybe pulling the email html/html blocks from the backend into husbspot using API. Do you think this is doable from your experience ?

[ChrisChiha]

Hubdb approach worked for me, but it is not a go to solution for me now unfortunately.
By object, what do you mean exactly ? can you please elaborate on an approach that doesnt include Hubdb for now ? 
Programming language is not a restriction, i could manage to some extent. Just need to know what is an alternative approach to hubdb in a similar case

[Teun]

Hi @ChrisChiha ,

Data used in HubSpot emails need to be stored somewhere in the CRM. Either in an object or in HuBDB. So your approach to storing data in HubDB is not a bad solution at all.
What programming languages are you familiar with? 

[Teun]

Hi @ChrisChiha ,

Do you want to fetch data from your online portal and store it HubDB automatically? If the answer is yes, you can build a NodeJS application that does that (assuming your online portal has an API or a way to retrieve the data).

You can build an NodeJS app that stores the data in HubDB by using the HubDB API.
If you use a CRON Job to run the application every 5 minutes, your data should be always up to date.

[ChrisChiha]

Thanks for your fast replies !

Do you think is there a way to populate my email directly from backend ? without storing data in Hubspot. 
Can an API load email content directly from backend ?

[Teun]

Hi @ChrisChiha ,

I've build an NodeJS application that syncs data from Google Spreadsheet to HubDB. Is it something similar that you want to achieve?

[bendonahower]

Hey Teun, would you sell the app for use by other agencies? If so, please email ben@noboundsdigital.com? Especially since we can push object properties to sheets via workflow there are a lot of applications for this.

[ChrisChiha · Accepted solution]

Hello @Teun , @bendonahower 
 
I was able to populate the Hubdb table from Backend and send email through workflow.
- Creating email template (HTML+Hubl) to display data from hub db table
- Sending data to hubdb table through API (This requires good effort on backend to set scheduler and jobs to call API and fill the table)
- Send email through workflow
- Send webhook after email is sent to trigger the job that handles deleting all rows from table
 
It wasn't a simple thing to do, but i just reached testing phase yesterday, and it worked.