I am using the contacts API and was wondering if there was a way to limit the data content of the returned contact record.
I know its possible to use the property parameter in the url but there are other items, particularly "identity-profiles", that come back in the response that are not relevant to my use case.
The reason this is causing issues is that the size of the response is getting very large with the inclusion of these default items.
There isn't a way to limit the response data at this time, but I can certainly appreciate the use case. (It is a pretty large object returned.)
I'll pass this feedback along internally, but I also recommend posting your request on the HubSpot Community Ideas Forum. This information is sent directly to our Product team and helps prioritize feature requests that have the greatest impact on our customers. If you post, share the link below and I'll be happy to upvote it.
In this topic, I discuss how the identity-profiles array contains a record's merge history.
When you're in the HubSpot app, you can only create a new identity by manually creating a new contact record. If you merged this record into another, the resulting record would have at least two identities.
I say "at least" because a contact can be associated with more identities when they visit your site and identify themselves as the same person as a known contact record.
The HubSpot Analytics system identifies unique records using two pieces of data, the usertoken (stored in the visitors browser in the hubspotutk cookie) and the email address. When the HubSpot tracking code tracks an action (such as a page view) for a visitor, the tracking code automatically associates that action with the usertoken. When you use the Tracking Code API to identify a record by its email address, the analytics system will tie that email address to the usertoken, so that the HubSpot Contacts system can update the contact record with that email address, or create a new contact record with the email address if no contact with that email exists yet.
Generally speaking, whenever a usertoken is associated with an existing email address (e.g. through a form submission or the identify method), it will create a new identity in the identity-profiles array.
I was revisiting solutions to a problem related to this particular issue and wanted to understand what that particular property ("identity-profiles") is used for or its purpose? How are entries into this list triggered through the interface and why do some records seem to have a lot of them?
There isn't a way to limit the response data at this time, but I can certainly appreciate the use case. (It is a pretty large object returned.)
I'll pass this feedback along internally, but I also recommend posting your request on the HubSpot Community Ideas Forum. This information is sent directly to our Product team and helps prioritize feature requests that have the greatest impact on our customers. If you post, share the link below and I'll be happy to upvote it.