Take the community feedback survey now.

Pawan Singh
Jul 16, 2025
  268
(0 votes)

Importing Form Submission Data into Optimizely Forms Using DdsPermanentStorage

Recently, we needed to import a large number of records from a third-party system into Optimizely Forms. The data was available in CSV format, and our goal was to insert this data as form submissions within the Optimizely platform.

🔍 The Challenge

During our initial analysis, we discovered that Optimizely Forms does not offer a built-in API to directly insert or update form submissions programmatically. While the method PerformDataSubmit() handles submission automatically through the UI (taking care of cookies and submission IDs), it relies on HttpContext, which we don’t have access to in a scheduled job environment—like in our one-time migration scenario.

✅ The Solution: DdsPermanentStorage

After some investigation, we found that the internal class DdsPermanentStorage can be used to directly interact with the Optimizely Forms' data store. This allowed us to insert and update form submissions programmatically without depending on the httpContext.

We utilized this class in a scheduled job and were able to import all records successfully.

🔸 Important: To ensure these submissions show up correctly in the Form Submissions view under Edit Mode, you must include the SYSTEMCOLUMN_Language field during creation.



🕒 Handling Custom Submission DateTime

While everything was working well, we noticed that the submission timestamp (Created date) was automatically generated by the system at the time of insertion. However, our source data contained historical submission timestamps, and it was important for reporting and UI display that we preserve these original dates.

To solve this, we went one step further and overridden the default behavior to allow setting a custom submission date. We achieved this by extending DdsPermanentStorage as below.

using EPiServer.Data.Dynamic;
using EPiServer.Forms.Core.Data;
using EPiServer.Forms.Core.Models;

namespace Alloy.Customization.ExtendedDdsPermanentStorage;

public class ExtendedDdsPermanentStorage : DdsPermanentStorage
{
    public const string SYSTEMCOLUMN_SubmitTime = "SYSTEMCOLUMN_SubmitTime";
    protected override void EnsureFormFieldsExistInPostData (FormIdentity formIden, ref PropertyBag postData, out IDictionary<string, Type> typesBag)
    {
        DateTime.TryParse(Convert.ToString(postData[SYSTEMCOLUMN_SubmitTime]), out DateTime submitedTime);
        base.EnsureFormFieldsExistInPostData(formIden, ref postData, out typesBag);
        if (submitedTime > DateTime.MinValue)
        {
           postData[SYSTEMCOLUMN_SubmitTime] = submitedTime;
        }
    }
}

🧩 Dependency Injection Setup

Since this custom class may need to be reused in other parts of the solution (or injected), don’t forget to register it in the DI container if you're wrapping it inside a service or using Optimizely’s built-in services.

Hope this post helps someone facing the same challenge!

Jul 16, 2025

Comments

Please login to comment.
Latest blogs
A day in the life of an Optimizely Developer - We Hacked the Future: Netcel's Opal Hackathon Adventure

Ever wondered what happens when you mix  AI ,  creativity , and a dash of competitive spirit? Welcome to the  Opal Hackathon 2025 —where we rolled ...

Graham Carr | Aug 31, 2025

Simple Feature Flags In Optimizely CMS

The Problem I was working with a CMS 11 client who wanted to introduce two new third party content sources. These would be synchronized into new...

Mark Stott | Aug 31, 2025

SQL addon for Optimizely CMS 12 updated with new features

First released in 2021, the SQL Studio addon for Optimizely CMS lets you query your database directly from the edit UI. The latest update adds...

Tomas Hensrud Gulla | Aug 29, 2025 |

🎓 New Certification Icons Are Now Live on World!

If you’ve passed an Optimizely Academy certification, you’ll now see something new beside your name on World —  fresh certification icons are live...

Satata Satez | Aug 29, 2025