Developer Q&A

Heya. Some of our customers are using the Front App to read our html emails, however we’ve received some complaints about email formatting. It looks like our paragraph <p> tags are not being treat the same as in for eg Gmail, specifically the padding/spacing between tags.Front:vs Gmail:Our raw html looks like this <p>We just wanted to drop you a note to say thank you for your recent order.</p> <p>We’ve been building ___ for almost 30 years now, relying on personal recommendations and word of mouth to grow organically and slowly, rather than on flashy advertising with big budgets we don’t have.</p>

Now we are using Twilio/Front integration as our WhatsApp channel. Is there a reason to switch to direct Front/WhatsApp integration? 

We are using Authorize.net for billing.Is there a way to integrate Front with Authorize.net?

I’m successfully creating new conversations by posting `/inboxes/inb_1234/imported_messages` endpont.  it returns something like:{ conversation_reference: '...', message_uid: 'abcdefg88fbc88046053ecd6e319', status: 'accepted' } I want the conversation id from that so I can add links etc.   So I’m passing the message_uid to messages as so:curl --request GET \ --url https://api2.frontapp.com/messages/alt:uid:abcdefg88fbc88046053ecd6e319 \ --header 'accept: application/json' \ --header 'authorization: Bearer <token>but that returns: { "_error": { "status": 404, "title": "Not found" }} What am I doing wrong?

My sidebar plugin has some interactions that invoke confirmations via `window.confirm()`, e.g. deleting a line item pops up “Are you sure?” type messages.These currently don’t work when viewing app in Front’s iframe sidebar, and I believe it’s because the “allow-modals” permission is not set on the iFrame sandbox.Can this be added?

I have been dabbling with Front’s Analytics via the API. One thing I cannot seem to find is what interval is being used for the time based metrics. My assumption is that these are seconds and that each of them is in the same interval but that is not specified in any of the documentation. Could someone help clear this up for me?

Hello everyone!I am trying to execute the process of custom SMTP channels creation, using the API. I am having trouble trying to setup a custom smtp channel that is validated and is properly configured (smtp server, port,...).With api2.frontapp.com/inboxes/XXXX/channels I manage to create an smtp channel, but it’s not valid, and the SMTP settings I send in the JSON body are not set up (although they are taken by the request).With api2.frontapp.com/channels/XXXX/validate I am able to validate that newly created channel according to the response, but in Front’s UI I am still required to send the validation test email.Trying to use PATCH api2.frontapp.com/channels/XXXX is not valid, since I cannot setup the custom SMTP settings for the channel that way (only a handful of settings that I don’t need).Am I doing something wrong here, or is the process I’m trying to do not possible to execute via the API?

I am using the custom channels API to add receive custom messageshttps://dev.frontapp.com/reference/post_channels-channel-id-incoming-messages How do I add the new custom message to an existing conversation? The metadata.thread_ref seems to be independent from the conversation ids.E.g. I added a custom message and pass“metadata”: { “thread_ref”: “cnv_#####” }doesn’t add the new message to that conversation and instead creates a new conversation. New messages using the same thread_ref goes under the new created conversation. Thanks

Can we create a shortcut for this to reduce the 2 clicks?This is a killer feature. No email client has this at this time. 

I am having trouble finding any documentation about what can be embedded/displayed in a sidebar app. I have built simple github hosted sites but find that the front sidebar is not responsive, so I have to actually hardcode the screen dimensions.  Are there any documents or parameters people have found for these custom sidebar plugins? 

Hello,I have using the search endpoint for conversations in a script for several weeks but I have a recent problem with the page_token that seems to be the same at each response.So my script is running in a loop and don’t stop anymore.Have you changed anything in your page_token generation ?Has someone have the same problem?Thank you for your help

Hi,I am building a custom channel that handles group mms and I need to either merge conversations or move messages on to a different conversations via API.For example, a user on front app composes a new message, but we already have a conversations id internally for the participants. We want that message to be added to the conversation id that we had instead of creating a new conversation. I am returning the “thread_ref” with the correct id, but it doesn’t seem to move the message to the original conversation or merge them. This is the same behavior for native SMS messages (when sending a new sms message via API, a new conversation is initially added, but than the message moves to the correct conversation). Thanks

When will there be an option to send voice messages within Front?

I’ve tried to send new message reply with signature via API:POST https://api2.frontapp.com/conversations/cnv_xyz/messages However I’ve got an error like this:{ "_error": { "status": 403, "title": "Forbidden", "message": "This agent is not allowed to read the \"signature\" with ID: \"1234567\"" }}So I tried to list signatures of my account like this:GET https://api2.frontapp.com/teammates/tea_xyz/signatures/But  I’ve got something similar{ "_error": { "status": 403, "title": "Forbidden", "message": "You do not have access to the resources of this teamm

Hi there, I have just written an integration that interfaces with the core API and I am beginning the process of trying to get it listed in the integrations marketplace. However, I am slightly confused by the Airtable form: The “Screenshots” field is required, with the directive to “include at least one screenshot of how the integration appears in Front.” The problem is that our integration does not appear in Front at all. What would you like us to show? What is meant by “Website or landing page url”? Would you like our homepage or the URL that users should go to to start the installation flow?Thanks so much.

Hi,This is the plugin we're building: https://www.zendesk.com/apps/support/470124/thank-you-gpt/We've been trying to monitor re-opened tickets in front (That were archived and then reopened by the user) however haven't been successful. What'd be the best way to do this? 

I am looking to use the Fetch an analytics report. endpoint to pull in a report that I already have created. However, I am not seeing a way via the API to list out the existing reports so I can locate the report_uid. I also do not see the report_uid in the URL of the UI or listed anywhere else.Can I only fetch analytics reports that I’ve created via the API with the Create a new analytics report. endpoint? Or is it possible to fetch existing analytics reports that were created in the UI?Thank you!

Hello, We recently started working with the Number plugin to send WHATSAPP messages. Is there any way that we can start a conversation on the WHATSAPP channel and add a customer without having to type the whole name or phone number? Typically, when creating emails, we can type the first few letters and suggestions would come up. but not for WHATSAPP conversations

Hi,I don't understand how to use the customFields with the FrontChat widget.When I try and declare them when doing a 'ChatFront init', how can I use them to apply 'Rules' on ma associated Inbox ? Thanks

Hi,would it be possible to have a more complete documentation about the "Chat Widget SDK Reference"?Typically, the 'option' object, what are all the possible parameters? Also the events listener, except the "onUnreadChange" listener, what else do we have? Thanks

Hi, front team, I’m using `/channels/xxx/incoming_messages` API to create custom message to front.I got a response like```{"conversation_reference":"xxx","message_uid":"xxx","status":"accepted"}```how can I generate a link to this conversation, to help to link to the conversation directly from our internal system?Thanks!

I am currently building out an application that I am hoping to get published in the app marketplace. This app relies heavily on Webhooks, and I’m trying to figure out how an application with access to multiple front instances could differentiate between events from each instance. Is there something I’m missing in the documentation?

I’m testing out the postman libraries shared from front.When testing out the Sync Inbound message endpoint, no matter what I do/chnage I get the below error. Anyone else seen this? {"_error": {"status": 401,"title": "Unauthenticated","type": "resource_unavailable","message": "Invalid token"}}

Hi community!So I’ve been going through a POC using the Front webchat and everything worked until I try to identify the user.Once I run the FrontChat(‘identity’, {...}) script, when I try to send a message through the chat I get “Not delivered - connection issues.”If I never identify the user, it works like a charm. (Other scenario) If I run the init with the identity fields I get 400s.Can some help?

We regularly receive direct messages to teammates that should have otherwise been directed to a team. Is there any way in the slack integration to connect it on a per-user basis instead of just a public channel?I thought it should be as simple as connecting a new source to a personal front user. I know you can use the more menu in slack and create a new Front conversation which does work but then you can’t reply to it from Front.