I am using Xero Invoice API POST request with PHP, specifically the updateOrCreateInvoices function in the Xero API to sync transactions. However, I’ve noticed that everytime I run this function, some contact details are being updated or overwritten, particularly the “additional persons” field. This field gets cleared out after the sync process.

I would appreciate any insights or clarifications on the behaviour of the updateOrCreateInvoices function. Is there a specific way to structure the request to maintain the integrity of the contact information? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Function Used: updateOrCreateInvoices

Problem: Contact details, specifically the “additional persons” field, are being overwritten or cleared.

Here is a snippet of code that I am using to sync invoices.

public function create_or_update_invoice($xero_tenant_id, $api_instance, $invoice_list = array()){
    $arr_invoices = array();
    foreach ($invoice_list as $invoice) {
        //Retrieve Existing Contact Details (using the getContacts function):
        $contact = $this->get_contact_by_id($xero_tenant_id, $api_instance, $xero_contact_id, $contact_name);
    
        //Prepare Invoice Data with Existing Contact & Invoice Details:
        $new_invoice = new XeroAPIXeroPHPModelsAccountingInvoice;
        $new_invoice->setType(XeroAPIXeroPHPModelsAccountingInvoice::TYPE_ACCREC)
        ->setContact($contact)
        ...
        ...
        ->setStatus(XeroAPIXeroPHPModelsAccountingInvoice::STATUS_AUTHORISED);
    
        $arr_invoices[] = $new_invoice;
    }

    $invoices = new XeroAPIXeroPHPModelsAccountingInvoices;
    $invoices->setInvoices($arr_invoices);

    try{
        //Update or Create Invoice:
        $result = $api_instance->updateOrCreateInvoices($xero_tenant_id, $invoices); 
        return $result;
    }catch(Exception $e){
        return $e;
    }
}

After the above steps, the “additional persons” field in the contact details is cleared out or overwritten.