> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.extole.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Test a Campaign Draft Over REST > Send consumer events to a campaign sandbox to test a campaign's unpublished changes before you publish them, and to compare them with the published version. # Overview A campaign sandbox runs a campaign's latest version, including changes you have not published yet. Live traffic keeps the published version. To test a draft before you publish it, send the events of a test journey, such as a share, a share click, a signup, and a conversion, to a campaign sandbox. To see what the published version does with the same events, send them to a production sandbox. ## Choose a Sandbox | Sandbox | Value | Campaign version | Container | | - | - | - | - | | Campaign preview | `campaign_preview-` or `campaign_preview--` | Latest, including unpublished changes | `test` | | Campaign | `campaign--` or `campaign---` | Latest, including unpublished changes | The container you name, such as `test` | | Production | `production-`, such as `production-test` | Published | The container you name | The campaign id is in the campaign's address in My Extole, after `/campaigns/`. If a request sends no sandbox, Extole uses a production sandbox: `production-production`, or `production-` when the request names a container. Such a request runs the published version, not your draft. The two campaign sandboxes differ in who can enter a journey and which rules run: * **Campaign preview**: a person can enter a journey without a referral, so you can test a friend journey without an advocate. A journey name in the value, such as `FRIEND`, gives that journey the highest priority. The campaign's quality rules do not run. * **Campaign**: journey entry follows the campaign's own rules. A friend enters the friend journey only through a referral, as on your live site. The campaign's quality rules run. Use the campaign preview sandbox to check that each part of a journey runs and renders. Use the campaign sandbox to check who enters a journey and what the quality rules stop, and send the same events to a production sandbox to compare the draft with the published version. ## Send an Event to a Sandbox ### Consumer Events On the consumer API, pass the sandbox in the `X-Extole-Sandbox` header. Send every request of one test journey with the same header. ```bash theme={null} curl -X POST "https:///api/v6/events" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer " \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -H "X-Extole-Sandbox: campaign_preview--FRIEND" \ -d '{"event_name": "signed_up", "data": {"email": "friend@example.com", "shareable_code": ""}}' ``` ### Server Events For an event your server sends to `https://api.extole.io/v6/events`, put the sandbox in the event's data as `sandbox`. The `X-Extole-Sandbox` header applies only to the consumer API. Use a server-side access token, as in [Send Events from the Partner Platform](https://docs.extole.com/technical/building-partner-integrations/integration-types/partner-events-send-from-platform.md). ```bash theme={null} curl -X POST "https://api.extole.io/v6/events" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer " \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"event_name": "converted", "data": {"email": "friend@example.com", "partner_conversion_id": "", "sandbox": "campaign--test"}}' ``` A consumer event can carry `sandbox` in its data too. Extole ignores a value that does not match a sandbox format above and processes the event as if it named no sandbox. ### See How Extole Processed an Event To see each decision Extole made for a test event, such as which sandbox and campaign it used and which rules passed, ask for the processing log: * On the consumer API, add the `X-Extole-Debug` header or the `debug` query parameter with any value other than `false` or `0`. The response returns the log in `X-Extole-Log` headers. The value `trace` adds timing and trace detail. * On a server call, add the `X-Extole-Debug` header with a level from `1` to `3`, as [Common Errors](https://docs.extole.com/api-reference/getting-started/common-errors.md) describes. ```bash theme={null} curl -i -X POST "https:///api/v6/events?debug=true" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer " \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -H "X-Extole-Sandbox: campaign--test" \ -d '{"event_name": "share_destination", "data": {"advocate_code": ""}}' ``` ## What a Test Event Does A sandbox changes which campaign version handles the event and which container records it. The event is processed in full: * In the `test` container and in the campaign preview sandbox, a reward comes from your account's test reward supplier, whatever supplier the campaign's reward names. If your account has no test reward supplier, the reward is not issued. A rule that counts a person's earlier rewards counts only rewards in the same container. * Emails and webhooks run as they do for a live event. Use test email addresses that you control. See [Exclude Test Data from Analytics](https://docs.extole.com/technical/operational-tasks/program-testing/exclude-test-data-from-analytics.md) for how test containers are reported. * An event can start schedules, such as a reward's pending period or a reminder email, which run later. After a test, cancel the schedules it started and check that each test person has no reward. * Your account's prehandlers still apply, so a prehandler can record an event in another container than the one the sandbox names. To check a test, read each test person's events and rewards. A person's steps show the container each event was recorded in. ## Related topics - [Campaign States Over REST](https://docs.extole.com/technical/platform-integrations/rest-apis/campaign-states-over-rest.md) - [Component Settings Over REST](https://docs.extole.com/technical/platform-integrations/rest-apis/component-settings-over-rest.md) - [How to Push Your Test Campaign Live](https://docs.extole.com/guides/programs-and-campaigns/managing-campaigns/how-to-push-your-test-campaign-live.md) - [Campaign Monitors](https://docs.extole.com/technical/platform-integrations/extensions/campaign-monitors.md) - [A/B Testing Your Campaign](https://docs.extole.com/guides/strategy-and-best-practices/campaign-optimization/a-b-testing-your-campaign.md) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.