Sync xDB contact data: SubmitContact pipeline

Question

I have to sync (external) data into contacts facets and was looking for possible ways to do this. I stumbled upon some -limited- information based on the SubmitContact pipeline. But I can't seem to find a lot of information on that pipeline. So, does anyone know:

• when this pipeline is called?
• what the actual purpose of the pipeline is?
• if this is the right place to place a processor to fill facet data - or was the information I found outdated and should I use the Data Exchange Framework?

Answer 1

For you case I suggest you to use Sitecore Data Exchange Framework. You have to create your own facets, you set what fields you have to map, create scheduler tasks and configure how often to run. For all you will need to create custom code.

SubmitContact pipeline is used by :

// Sitecore.Analytics.Pipelines.SubmitContact.SubmitContactPipeline
public static void Run(SubmitContactArgs args)
{
    Assert.ArgumentNotNull(args, "args");
    if (!XdbSettings.Enabled)
    {
        args.AbortPipeline();
        return;
    }
    CorePipeline.Run("submitContact", args);
}

The method Run is used by :

// Sitecore.Analytics.Data.ContactRepository
public override bool SaveContact(Contact contact, ContactSaveOptions options)
{
    Assert.ArgumentNotNull(contact, "contact");
    Assert.ArgumentNotNull(options, "options");
    ContactContext contactContext = (ContactContext)contact;
    if (contactContext.IsTemporaryInstance)
    {
        contactContext = (ContactContext)this.MergeTemporaryContact(contactContext, options.LeaseOwner, System.TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10.0));
        contactContext.IsTemporaryInstance = false;
    }
    if (!options.Release && options.LeaseOwner != null && contactContext.Contact.Lease == null)
    {
        System.DateTime expirationTime = System.DateTime.UtcNow + AnalyticsSettings.MaxAcceptedClockDeviation + options.LeaseDuration;
        contactContext.Contact.Lease = new LeaseData
        {
            ExpirationTime = expirationTime,
            Owner = options.LeaseOwner
        };
    }
    SubmitContactArgs args = new SubmitContactArgs(contactContext, this.provider, true);
    SubmitContactPipeline.Run(args);
    if (this.provider.SaveContact(contactContext.Contact, options))
    {
        ProcessingReason reason = contactContext.IsNew ? ProcessingReason.Created : ProcessingReason.Updated;
        this.ScheduleForProcessing(contactContext.Contact.Id.Guid, reason);
        LeaseOwner leaseOwner = new LeaseOwner(AnalyticsSettings.ClusterName, LeaseOwnerType.WebCluster);
        ID successorId = new ID(contact.ContactId);
        System.Guid[] mergingSources = contact.GetMergingSources();
        System.Guid[] array = mergingSources;
        for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; i++)
        {
            System.Guid sourceContactId = array[i];
            this.ObsoleteContact(sourceContactId, leaseOwner, successorId);
        }
        foreach (System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair<string, object> current in from pair in contact.Attachments
        where pair.Value is IUpdatableObject
        select pair)
        {
            this.provider.Update(current.Value as IUpdatableObject);
        }
        return true;
    }
    return false;
}