CDS Visitor Field Mapping

The default mapping ExpoPlatform uses when reading visitor records from CDS, plus the CDS-specific External QR composite field.

CDS returns records as flat key-value objects (for example, {"FirstName": "Jane", "Email": "jane@example.com"}), so external paths in the default mapping are top-level CDS field names — not nested dot-paths.

Default mapping

The default mapping is what ships with the CDS integration. You can override or extend any row through the Field Mapping tab on the CDS configuration page.

CDS field	ExpoPlatform target	Notes
`Email`	Email (identity)	Used for visitor identity matching — see Identity matching below
`FirstName`	First Name
`LastName`	Last Name
`Company`	Company Name
`Street`	Address
`Zipcode`	Zip
`City`	City
`State`	Region
`Country`	Country	Matched by country name, not ISO code
`WebsiteURL`	Company Website
`RegClass`	Visitor Category	Mapped to an ExpoPlatform category through the integration's Category Mapping setting
`Badge`, `EventCode`, `FirstName`, `LastName`, `Company`	External QR (CDS)	Composite value — see below

Country matching

Country is matched by name, not by ISO code. The default mapping is configured with the Country Matching option set to name-based lookup. If CDS returns country names that don't match ExpoPlatform's Countries catalogue, the record is still saved — without a country, and without its City and Region values. See Country Field for the full behaviour.

External QR (CDS)

What it does: Builds a composite External QR value from five CDS fields concatenated with $ as the separator. Replaces the generic External QR pass-through for CDS visitors.

Source fields (fixed): Badge, EventCode, FirstName, LastName, Company

Example output: BADGE001$EV2025$Jane$Smith$Acme Ltd

Behaviour: This field runs after the generic External QR pass-through and overwrites its value, so the composite is what ultimately lands in ExpoPlatform. CDS doesn't return a standalone QR string of its own.

Missing source fields are concatenated as empty strings — for example, BADGE001$EV2025$Jane$$Acme Ltd when LastName is blank.

Configuration: None at the client level. The five source fields are fixed. To use a different rule, replace this field with the generic External QR pass-through.

Notable behaviours

Identity matching is email-only

CDS doesn't provide a stable external ID for visitors, so the integration matches incoming records by email address only. Two distinct people who share the same email in CDS will be merged into a single ExpoPlatform visitor — the second record silently updates the first rather than creating a new one. There is no skip result or warning logged for this.

If a freshly seeded event shows unexpected update counts, an email collision is the first thing to check.

Composite External QR overrides the generic pass-through

The CDS-specific External QR field runs after the generic External QR pass and has higher priority, so the value that ends up in ExpoPlatform is always the five-field composite. When debugging unexpected External QR values for CDS visitors, look at the five source fields — not at any single QR field.

The active mapping drives the API query

CDS returns only the fields requested in the API query, and the integration derives that list from the active mapping at sync time. Fields not used in any mapping row are not requested from CDS.

The composite External QR field expands to its five source fields automatically
Email is always requested regardless of mapping, because identity matching depends on it