Hubspot Application updating customized fields of objects

[wahoho]

Hi

I wanted to build a Hubspot app that when certain events from Contacts and Companies (insert, update),
it would trigger an API call to a 3rd party API and will return some information in JSON. I know I can achieve this via combination of webhook and timeline API but my problem now is that I want to write to customized fields of Contacts and Companies. The document says that only standard fields can be updated.

Is there a workaround regarding this issue? I really need to write to customized fields

[cbarley · Accepted solution]

Hi @wahoho, the only potential solution I can think of is to write to a standard HubSpot property that you don't use at all, then copy the value from that property to a custom one you create via a workflow. This honestly is not a great workaround, but it's technically possible. The other solution would just make a subsequent call to the batch update endpoint for contacts after you've created a timeline event: https://developers.hubspot.com/docs/methods/contacts/batch_create_or_update

Otherwise, this is not possible as per the note in the Timeline docs:

Note: To ensure compatibility with all portals, you can only stamp to standard properties which will always be available in all portals.

[wahoho]

@Connor_Barley

Thank you for your prompt reply.

I checked the batch create or update and wanted to clarify if this API cannot be used for other portals? The app I will be building will be distributed to our customers with Hubspot and will be writing data in their respective portal's Company and Contact objects.

[cbarley]

Hi @wahoho, if other portals install your application via OAuth and grant you access/refresh tokens to read and write to certain parts of the HubSpot product, you should be able to use any endpoint on anybody's portal.

[wahoho]

@Connor_Barley Thank you for the reply. That sounds great. I'll try more later.

Just to make sure, webhook API + timeline API + Contact/Company update is feasible as long as the user is has installed my app and authorized via OAuth?

[wahoho]

Confirmed I can use Contact/Company update with authorized tokens. I think I will settle with this implementation. Thank you very much for the replies. Really much appreciated @Connor_Barley