Survey Monkey- Custom Values via API v3

Question

I am currently unable to figure out how to obtain several custom fields via the API. The Excel extracts provide the columns I need, but I cannot find a v3 GET or POST protocol to obtain the desired fields.

From: api.surveymonkey.net/v3/surveys/[survey_id]/details

I see the desired fields:

custom_variables.a = [Variable a Column Name]
custom_variables.b = [Variable b Column Name]

With the following: api.surveymonkey.net/v3/surveys/[survey_id]/responses/bulk?page=[#]&per_page=[#]

data.0.custom_value = blank
data.0.recipient_id = blank

10/6/16 Update: Change Custom Variables Plan Requirement

Description of Changes: Make survey custom variables accessible to Gold plan and above.

Endpoints Affected: /surveys, /surveys/{id}, /surveys/{id}/responses/bulk, /collectors/{id}/responses/bulk, /surveys/{id}/responses/{id}, /collectors/{id}/responses/{id}, /surveys/{id}/responses/{id}/details, /collectors/{id}/responses/{id}/details

I hit my API call limit and have not been able to run the /collectors/{id}/responses yet. I thought it best to ask now and get the right answer (so I can finish off this project and hit my deadline when my "counter" gets reset). As information I am using Alteryx to make the calls, and once I get this piece completed will be posting the Workflow on the Alteryx site (to give a little back to the community).

Thank you in advance for your help!

-Drew

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 01 '17 at 18:38

So those are two different kinds of "custom values".

There are Custom Variables which are basically URL parameters that will be accepted and stored with the survey response. These only work for non-email based collectors, particularly for a Weblink collector. The custom variables are also stored on the Survey, so when you fetch with

GET /v3/surveys/<survey_id>

You'll get a response like

{
  "title": "My Survey",
  "custom_variables": {
    "name1": "label1",
    "name2": "label2"
    ...

  },
  ...
}

Then when you fetch survey responses, assuming they were filled in, you would get a response back like this:

GET /v3/surveys/<survey_id>/responses/<response_id>
{
  "id": "<response_id>",
  "response_status": "completed",
  "custom_variables": {
    "name1": "value1",
    "name2": "value2"
    ...
  },
  ...
}

With regards to Custom Values, these are custom data stored on a Contact resource in your address book used to create a recipient on an Email collector (not the Survey).

So when you create a new recipient on an email collector, you can set custom_fields which are stored on the contact as well as the recipient. When you fetch that recipient, it'll look something like this:

GET /v3/collectors/<collector_id>/recipients/<recipient_id>
{
    "id": "<recipient_id>",
    "email": "<email>",
    "first_name": "<first_name>",
    "last_name": "<last_name>",
    "custom_fields": {
      "1": "field1",
      "2": "field2",
      "3": "field3",
      ...
    }
    ...
}

And then when that specific recipient answers the survey and you fetch the response, you will get the contact information in the response metadata like:

GET /v3/surveys/<survey_id>/responses/<response_id>
{
  "id": "<response_id>",
  "response_status": "completed",
  "metadata": {
    "contact": {
        {
          "id": "<response_id>",
          "response_status": "completed",
          "metadata": {
            "contact": {
                "first_name": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "value": "<first_name>"
                },
                "last_name": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "value": "<last_name>"
                },
                "name1": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "value": "value1"
                },
                "name2": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "value": "value2"
                },
                "name3": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "value": "value3"
                }
            },
            ...
          },
          ...
        }
        ...
    },
    ...
  }
}

Note that metadata will only have the first name, last name, and email in the bulk responses endpoint. This is a current limitation in bulk responses.

Hope that helps clarify the difference.

Thank you for the super informative post. I know this was two years ago but I very much appreciate it -- which SurveyMonkey wrote their documentation as clearly as this :) — Stan Lin, Aug 30 '19 at 16:53

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 21 '17 at 05:43

When you use the below url

https://api.surveymonkey.net/v3/surveys/{SURVEY_ID}/responses/bulk,

in response you get the custom variables ,

{
  "per_page": 50,
  "total": 6,
  "data": [
    {
      "total_time": 108,
      "href":"https://api.surveymonkey.net/v3/surveys/119486428/responses/6287196301",
      "custom_variables": {
      "key1": "value1",
      "key2": "value2"
    },
}

I am using web collector . and adding custom variables as url parameter.

Survey Monkey- Custom Values via API v3

2 Answers2

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