Troubleshooting API Errors

Errors listed below are grouped according to which processes / calls are being used to encounter them. 

• any
• validate an address
• create contact
• update contact
• search contacts
• delete contact
• get districts for an address
• get officials for an address
• get advocacy responses

Any

Response: Secured connections must provide an API Key.

Problem: Your headers do not include the encrypted API Key.

Response: Invalid API key.

Problem: The encrypted API key you provided is incorrect. Check to ensure that the complete key is copied over.

Response: 415 Unsupported Media Type

Problem: Your headers do not include the content type as application/JSON.

Response: Invalid Association

Problem: There is no association with the name you entered in the parameters of your call. Use the ID name provided by the Support Team. You can also find that in any votervoice.net links to your Action Center.

Validate an Address

Response: Please enter a valid address.

Problem: The address you provided is incorrect. Check to ensure that the various parts of the address are correctly labeled, that there are no typos, and that the address is actually valid.

Response: Insufficient address data.

Problem: There is too little information to match the address. Check to ensure you have the street address, city, state, and ZIP included. 

Response: Street address missing.

Problem: You are missing the street address. It may be that the parameter is misspelled. If you only have the ZIP code, use the simpleLookup=true parameter in the call. 

Create Contact

Response: Invalid home / business address.

Problem: The address block you provided is incorrect. Check to ensure that the various parts of the address are correctly labeled, that there are no typos, and that the checksum value is included.

Response: Cannot yet update via POST

Problem: The Contact ID for the record you're trying to create is already applied to an existing record. Either you've already created a record for this contact, or you are reusing the contact ID from another record. Contact IDs have to be unique, so they cannot be reused. 

Response: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. 

Problem: The system is looking for something within the submitted content that it is not finding. This could be as simple as you forgetting to paste in the body of the submission, or it could be as minute as a syntax error. Programs such as Postman will typically give you a red underline immediately after the first occurrence of the problem, but it is a good idea to go through the body and make sure of the following:

• It is set to raw.
• You use curly brackets, and those are always in pairs (every opened bracket is closed and vice versa).
• Field names are in camel case.
• Field names are in double quotes.
• Field names are followed by colons and spaces.
• Values are in double quotes.
• Commas (outside of the quotes) follow any value that precedes another value in the same set.
• You include no erroneous punctuation.

Response: (24,INVALID_BIT)

Problem: The value for a Yes/No custom field is not what is set in the admin site for that field to expect. For instance, it may be set to expect a "yes" value of either "yes," "true," or "1;" but instead the value listed is "Smith."

Response: (24,INVALID_REAL)

Problem: The value for a Number custom field is not a numeral.

Response: (24,INVALID_MONEY)

Problem: The value for a Currency custom field is not a numeral or includes a special character.

Response: (24,INVALID_DATETIME)

Problem: The value for a Date custom field is not a properly formatted date. Use a format such as MM/DD/YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD.

Update Contact

Response: Invalid home / business address.

Problem: The address block you provided is incorrect. Check to ensure that the various parts of the address are correctly labeled, that there are no typos, and that the checksum value is included.

Response: Cannot yet update via POST

Problem: The Contact ID for the record you're trying to create is already applied to an existing record. Either you've already created a record for this contact, or you are reusing the contact ID from another record. Contact IDs have to be unique, so they cannot be reused. 

Response: Value cannot be null. Parameter name: contract.

Problem: The system is looking for something within the submitted content that it is not finding. This could be as simple as you forgetting to paste in the body of the submission, or it could be as minute as a syntax error. Programs such as Postman will typically give you a red underline immediately after the first occurrence of the problem, but it is a good idea to go through the body and make sure of the following:

• It is set to raw.
• You use curly brackets, and those are always in pairs (every opened bracket is closed and vice versa).
• Field names are in camel case.
• Field names are in double quotes.
• Field names are followed by colons and spaces.
• Values are in double quotes.
• Commas (outside of the quotes) follow any value that precedes another value in the same set.
• You include no erroneous punctuation.

Response: (24,INVALID_BIT)

Problem: The value for a Yes/No custom field is not what is set in the admin site for that field to expect. For instance, it may be set to expect a "yes" value of either "yes," "true," or "1;" but instead the value listed is "Smith."

Response: (24,INVALID_REAL)

Problem: The value for a Number custom field is not a numeral.

Response: (24,INVALID_MONEY)

Problem: The value for a Currency custom field is not a numeral or includes a special character.

Response: (24,INVALID_DATETIME)

Problem: The value for a Date custom field is not a properly formatted date. Use a format such as MM/DD/YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD.

Search Contacts

Response: [ ]

Problem: No contact was found with that contact ID or email address.

Response: Query parameter combination not supported

Problem: Check over the value you have for the dateUpdated. Make sure it is properly written in ISO 8601. 

Delete Contact

Response: ContactID required

Problem: You have to identify the record to delete by its contact ID. If it doesn't have a contact ID (likely because it was added manually by an admin or by the user themselves), then you can't delete it via the API.

Response: 404 Not Found

Problem: No contact was found with that contact ID. Check to make sure it is correct and does match with the ID used in the VoterVoice database.

Get Districts for an Address

Response: Invalid address.

Problem: The address block you provided is incorrect. Check to ensure that the various parts of the address are correctly labeled, that there are no typos, and that the checksum value is not the only part you included.

Get Officials for an Address

Response: Invalid address.

Problem: The address block you provided is incorrect. Check to ensure that the various parts of the address are correctly labeled, that there are no typos, and that the checksum value is not the only part you included.

Get Advocacy Responses

Response: [ ]

Problem: No messages were sent within the date range you provided. Try expanding it or using > or <. 

Response: Query parameter combination not supported

Problem: Check over the value you have for the dateUpdated. Make sure it is properly written in ISO 8601. 

Response: Invalid start date

Problem: Check over the value you have for the dateUpdated. Make sure it is properly written in ISO 8601. 

If you have questions concerning the API calls, please email your specific questions, including the curl and any errors to [e-mail] for a Support agent to review.