How Can ListManager Use My Data?

ListManager uses a single members_ table which contains the email addresses and other information it needs to send email messages. You may already have data about your list members in your own database table, and you'd like to use this data when sending out mail using ListManager. There are a number of ways of having ListManager use this data, depending on how your database is set up and how you'd like it to work. Here are some suggestions:

1. Add columns with pertinent member information to your ListManager members_ table, and import your members with this additional information. Use triggers to keep the data between your other tables and the ListManager members_ table in synch.

2. Import your members into the ListManager members_ table, and use a column you've added to the members_ table to refer to the primary key used by your other table. You may then create advanced subsets which join to that other table based on the added field.

3. Import your members into the ListManager members_ table, and create a lookup table which matches the ListManager members_.MemberID_ field with the primary key of the table which contains the additional data you need for your mailings. You may then create advanced subsets which join to that other table.

In previous versions of ListManager, there was an option to use your own database table as a foreign members table in ListManager. Although using a foreign members table is currently supported, it will be deprecated, and it is not recommended that new users of ListManager use this data configuration.