Custom Objects
Read and write data models that are unique to your users' third-party platforms directly through Merge's Unified API, just like Common Models.
Each Custom Object has its own unique properties, schema, and associations to other objects, which are represented through four models:
- Custom Object Class
- Custom Object
- Association Type
- Association
The Custom Object Class contains schema and association types that apply to all instances of the class.
In this example of Custom Object Class Company Swag, the schema tells us that all Company Swag instances must have a swag_name and a swag_type field.
Merge supports GET requests for this model.
A Custom Object refers to an instance of a Custom Object Class. Custom Objects are just like Merge Common Models with their own properties and fields.
Each Custom Object has a property custom_object_class_id, which refers to the Custom Object Class of this instance.
In this example, the Merge T-Shirts Custom Object is an instance of the Company Swag class with two field values: name Merge T-Shirts and type Clothes.
Merge supports GET and POST requests for this model.
The Association Type model represents the relationship between two object classes, a source and a target. These classes can be Custom Object Classes or Common Models.
Each Association Type has a cardinality, which describes the type of relationship between the two classes. Possible cardinalities are: ONE_TO_ONE, ONE_TO_MANY, MANY_TO_ONE, and MANY_TO_MANY.
For example, we can represent company swag items that are given to people by creating an Association Type from the source Company Swag class to the target Contact Common Model.
The Association Type has cardinality MANY_TO_MANY, because multiple swag items can be given to multiple people.
Merge supports GET and POST requests for this model.
The Association model describes the relationship between two instances, a source and a target. These two instances can be Custom Objects or Common Model objects.
Each Association has a property association_type_id, which refers to the Association Type of this association.
For example, if a Merge T-shirt was given to Hayley, we can represent this relationship with an Association of the Association Type from the previous example with:
- Source pointing to the Merge T-Shirts Custom Object
- Target pointing to Hayley's Contact
Merge supports GET and PATCH requests for this model.