Use this reference when you call the CRM API directly instead of working in the Console. It explains integration-only behavior, including how to read one activity or relationship by its own ID, make many changes in one request, and handle an activity's owner. For help reaching the API and finding its documentation, see Access the CRM API.
Reading One Record by Its ID
| Record | What you can do | Rules |
|---|---|---|
| Activity | Fetch one activity by its ID, and request only certain fields if needed | The activity must exist in your Rhythm account, and your session must belong to that same account. If you request an ID that exists only in another account, or your session is not valid, the request is refused as not found or unauthorized |
| Relationship | Fetch one relationship by its ID | The same account and session rules apply as they do for activities |
These reads do not have their own Console screen. You can see activities and relationships on a contact or organization record, but reading one item by its own ID is available only through the API.
Listing and Changing Many Records at Once
For general bulk edits to existing records that you are not making through direct API calls, use Mass Update in the Console instead. This section covers direct API batch calls for activities and relationships, which use a separate process.
- Listing every activity in your account. The API can return activities from your Rhythm account without requiring you to name a contact or organization first. Today, it returns only the first page and does not warn you when more activities exist. You also cannot narrow the list by activity type or date, so treat a large result as incomplete if your account has many activities.
- Running many activity or relationship changes in one request. You can send one batch of creates, reads, updates, and deletes for activities, or send the same kind of batch for relationships, and receive the outcome for each item. Batch items run in parallel, so their order is not guaranteed. Because of that, creating an activity and then immediately replacing it in the same batch can produce an unpredictable result. If one item fails its own rules, that item is reported as failed, and the rest of the batch still runs.
Tip
Because batch items run in parallel with no guaranteed order, do not send two operations for the same activity or the same relationship in one batch.
How the API Treats an Activity's Owner
Every activity belongs to a contact, an organization, or both, and its owner kind records which one. The Console sets this value for you when you record an activity. This matters only when you set the value directly through the API, because the API accepts any owner kind text you send and stores it exactly as sent, without checking it against a fixed list. Rhythm still requires the activity to name at least one contact or organization and include a type and a date. If any of those are missing, the save is refused.