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When I'm creating a new contact record with the API or even with an action set. The new contact type is always "OtherName"

Does anyone know what is causing this? Or how I can go about automatically making a new contact record without it saying this? It should just be "Customer" but I cannot figure it out.

Hi there!

The Contact should belong to an Entity, otherwise it is orphaned. Entities are existing customers, vendors, or OtherName.

This is a JSON I just posted to create a contact:

It gave me back the RecordID of the newly created contact. When I query the Contacts for that RecordID I get back this:

Thanks for the reply Paul, When you created your contact it looks like it made it as a vendor, how would you specify vendor or contact when creating?

The Entity ""Supply Central" already existed, and existed as a Vendor.

The relationship between an Entity and a Contact is that an Entity have 1 or many Contacts.

So I could have:

Entity (Customer): Bob Crenshaw

Contact 1: Bob Crenshaw

Contact 2: Betty Crenshaw

Or a business

Entity (Customer): XYZ Industries

Contact 1: Jane Doe

Or a supplier

Entity (Customer): Supply Centry

Contact 1: Mary Jane

I'm sorry. I guess then what I'm trying to do is create a new entity that does not set it self as the type "OtherName"

When I post to the entity end point say this data

{
"Name": "Prime Ribs",
"FullName": "Prime Ribs",
"EntityType": "Customer",
"IsActive": true,
"Sublevel": 0,
"CompanyName": "Prime Ribs",
"NameOnCard": "Prime Ribs",
"NameOnCheck": "Solis Foods",
"TenantID": 1,
"Currency": "CAD",
"Currency_RecordID": 196
}

It comes back like this

{
"RecordID": 305,
"Name": "Prime Ribs",
"FullName": "Prime Ribs",
"EntityType": "OtherName",

How can I create a new customer type, and not Entity type?

So, we aren't making this easy on you!  

Instead of creating an Entity, create a Customer.   That will automatically create an Entity with EntityType Customer.  

Here's one I created using PostMan: https://imgur.com/a/BH1Ezn8

Note, when you create a new Customer, it will automatically create a Contact for you. You can query for this contact using the Customer/Entity RecordID that is returned.

In my example here, I got back RecordID 474.

So my RestAPI URL to get the Contact added for that Customer/Entity was:

{{baseUrl}}/api/v1/tables/Contacts?filter=Entity_RecordID eq 474

Sorry this was so confusing!

Paul

Ok I think the problem I was running into was that I was hitting the Contact end point, and nothing was happening. But I hit the customer end point and it will make the entity, and the contact at the same time?

Is that similar if I am making a new customer from an action set? Do I create a new record in the customer table instead of the contact or entity table?

"Ok I think the problem I was running into was that I was hitting the Contact end point, and nothing was happening. But I hit the customer end point and it will make the entity, and the contact at the same time?"

-Yes. This is correct.

-Worth pointing out though, that you may still need to use the Contact end point to create additional contacts for that same customer.

-You might also need to use the Contact end point to edit more Contact fields of that primary contact. 

"Is that similar if I am making a new customer from an action set? Do I create a new record in the customer table instead of the contact or entity table?"

-Exactly the same. Making it via actions should have the same behaviour as via the API.

Fantastic, thanks for the clarification. I really appreciate your help with tis