What is Salesforce API?
Salesforce offers a comprehensive API (Application Programming interface) that allows developers to interact with and integrate Salesforce’s platform, data and services into external applications. These APIs enable various tasks such as retrieving, creating, updating and deleting records as well as managing users, custom objects and more.
Key Aspects of Salesforce's API
REST API: Salesforce provides a RESTful API that uses standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) and supports JSON and XML formats for data exchange. This API is commonly used for building web and mobile applications, integrating with third-party systems, and performing CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations on Salesforce records.
- Resource and Endpoints: The REST API provides a set of resources and endpoints that correspond to different Salesforce objects and operations. For example, you can interact with standard objects like “Account”, “Contact”, or custom objects you’ve created.
- Query Language: Use the Salesforce Object Query Language (SOQL) to retrieve specific records or perform complex queries. You can also use the Salesforce Object Search Language (SOSL) for full-text searches.
- Authentication: Authenticate using OAuth 2.0, which involves obtaining an access token and using it to make API requests. OAuth tokens can have different scopes, granting different levels of access.
- Pagination: The API supports pagination to retrieve large result sets in manageable chunks. You can use query parameters like offset and limit to control the number of records returned.
SOAP API: The SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) API is another option for integrating with Salesforce. It’s a more traditional and robust API that supports more complex operations and is suited for enterprise-level integrations.
- WSDL (Web Services Description Language): To use the SOAP API, you’ll need to obtain the WSDL file for your Salesforce instance. This file describes the available API methods, data types, and structures.
- Complex Operations: The SOAP API supports more complex operations than the REST API, including querying, creating, updating, and deleting records, as well as executing custom APEX code.
- Batching: You can group multiple API calls into a single SOAP envelope, reducing the number of round-trip requests and improving efficiency.
Bulk API: The Bulk API is designed for handling large volumes of data, allowing you to perform operations on thousands of records at once. This is useful for tasks such as data migration and data loading.
- Asynchronous Processing: The Bulk API is optimized for bulk data operations, such as inserting, updating, upserting, or deleting large numbers of records. These operations are performed asynchronously, and you can monitor the job status.
- CSV or XML Format: Data for bulk operations is typically provided in CSV or XML format. You can submit data as a batch, and the API processes it in the background.
Streaming API: The Streaming API provides real-time data updates by allowing you to subscribe to changes in Salesforce records and receive notifications as events occur.
- Push Notifications: The Streaming API allows you to subscribe to changes in Salesforce data and receive real-time notifications as records are created, updated, or deleted. This is useful for building applications that need to respond immediately to data changes.
- Topics: You subscribe to specific “topics” that correspond to objects or events you’re interested in. When an event occurs, a message is pushed to your subscribed client.
Metadata API: This API allows you to retrieve and manipulate metadata, such as custom objects, fields, layouts, and more. It’s particularly useful for managing and deploying changes to your Salesforce configuration.
- Metadata Types: The Metadata API lets you work with Salesforce’s configuration settings and metadata. You can retrieve, deploy, create, update, and delete metadata components like custom objects, fields, workflows, and more.
- Packaging and Deployments: Use the Metadata API to create and manage change sets or packages for deploying configuration changes between environments.
Chatter API: The Chatter API enables you to interact with Salesforce Chatter, the social collaboration platform within Salesforce, and create custom social applications.
- Social Features: The Chatter API allows you to interact with Salesforce Chatter, enabling you to create custom social applications, post updates, comment on feeds, and collaborate within your organization.
Apex REST: Developers can create custom RESTful services using Salesforce’s Apex programming language. This allows you to expose custom logic and data from your Salesforce organization.
- Custom Logic: With Apex REST, you can expose custom logic written in the Apex programming language as RESTful services. This allows you to extend the functionality of Salesforce and create custom endpoints.
Getting Started with Salesforce API Development: Key Steps
Register a Salesforce Developer Account: If you don’t already have one, sign up for a Salesforce Developer account to access the API and create a sandbox environment for testing.
Create an App: Within your Salesforce account, create a new connected app to obtain API credentials (client ID and client secret).
Choose an API: Decide which API (REST, SOAP, Bulk, etc.) best suits your integration needs.
Authentication: Authenticate your API requests using OAuth 2.0, which involves obtaining an access token using your client credentials.
API Requests: Make HTTP requests to the appropriate Salesforce API endpoints to perform desired operations (querying, creating records, updating data, etc.).
Error Handling and Testing: Handle API responses, errors, and exceptions appropriately. Test your integration thoroughly in a sandbox environment before deploying to production.
Use Cases
Salesforce APIs are used in a range of practical scenarios to enhance the functionality and efficiency of Salesforce-based operations. Some common use cases are:
Integration with Third-Party Applications: Many businesses use multiple software systems to manage different aspects of their operations. Salesforce APIs enable seamless integration between Salesforce and other third-party applications, allowing data to flow between systems. For example, integrating Salesforce with an e-commerce platform to synchronize customer data, orders, and inventory.
Automating Business Process: Salesforce APIs empower organizations to automate repetitive and manual tasks. This can involve creating, updating, or deleting records based on specific triggers or events. For instance, automatically generating follow-up tasks for sales representatives when a new lead is added to Salesforce.
Custom Application Development: Developers leverage Salesforce APIs to build custom applications that interact with Salesforce data and features. This enables the creation of tailored solutions to meet unique business needs. For example, developing a mobile app for field service agents to access and update customer information while on-site.
Real-Time Event Monitoring: Salesforce APIs, such as the Streaming API, allow real-time event monitoring and data synchronization. This is particularly useful for applications that require immediate updates, such as social media monitoring tools that track brand mentions and customer interactions in real time.
Data Migration and Synchronization: When transitioning from one system to another, businesses often need to migrate data. Salesforce APIs facilitate the smooth transfer of data between systems, ensuring that critical information is accurately migrated. Additionally, ongoing data synchronization can be established to maintain consistent data across platforms.
Reporting and Analytics: Developers use Salesforce APIs to extract data for reporting and analytics purposes. This involves querying data from Salesforce objects and using that data to generate custom reports and visualizations, providing insights into business performance.
External Data Access: Salesforce APIs enable external systems to access and update Salesforce data. This is valuable when external partners, suppliers, or customers need to interact with your Salesforce data in a controlled manner. For example, allowing customers to view their order history and account information through a customer portal.
Authentication and Security
Salesforce API authentication and security measures are designed to protect sensitive data and maintain the integrity of interactions between applications and Salesforce services. Different authentication methods and security practices are used to verify the identity of users and applications before granting access to resources. Some key points to consider include:
OAuth 2.0 Authentication: Salesforce uses OAuth 2.0, an industry-standard protocol, for authentication. OAuth allows applications to obtain limited access to user accounts on an HTTP service. It enables secure access without exposing user credentials.
OAuth Flows: Salesforce supports different OAuth flows, including User-Agent Flow, Web Server Flow, and JWT Bearer Flow. Each flow is suitable for different scenarios and requirements. For example, User-Agent Flow is commonly used for client-side applications, while Web Server Flow is suitable for server-side applications.
API Tokens and Session IDs: In addition to OAuth, Salesforce also provides API tokens and session IDs for authentication. API tokens act as passwords for API calls, and session IDs are generated after successful authentication, providing a secure session context for subsequent requests.
HTTPS Encryption: ll API communication with Salesforce is recommended to be conducted over HTTPS, ensuring that data exchanged between the client and Salesforce is encrypted and secure.
OAuth Scopes: Scopes define the level of access an application has to Salesforce resources. Applications can request specific scopes during authentication, allowing users to control the access permissions they grant.
Secure Token Handling: Developers need to implement secure token handling practices, such as securely storing and managing tokens, to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data.
IP Whitelisting: Salesforce provides IP whitelisting capabilities, allowing administrators to restrict API access to specific IP addresses or ranges, enhancing the security of API interactions.
API Permissions and Profiles: Salesforce administrators can define API access permissions and profiles for different user roles, ensuring that only authorized users have access to specific APIs and resources.
Data Access and Object-Level Security: Salesforce’s robust security model includes object-level security, field-level security, and record-level security. These mechanisms ensure that users and applications can only access and manipulate data they are explicitly allowed to.
API Endpoints and Resources
API endpoints in the Salesforce API represent specific functionalities and data within the Salesforce ecosystem that developers can access, manipulate, or interact with. These endpoints are structured URLs that follow a predefined pattern and are used to make API requests. Each endpoint corresponds to a resource, such as objects, records, metadata, and more. Here’s an overview of how API endpoints and resources work:
- Resource Hierarchy: Salesforce API endpoints are organized hierarchically to represent different categories of resources. For example, the base endpoint might be something like: “/services/data/vXX.X/” where “vXX.X” denotes the API version.
- Object Endpoints: Object endpoints allow developers to perform operations on specific Salesforce objects, such as “Account”, “Contact”, “Opportunity” and custom objects. The object endpoint might look like: “/services/data/vXX.X/sobjects/Account/”
- Query Endpoint: The query endpoint is used to retrieve data from Salesforce objects using the Salesforce Object Query Language (SOQL). Developers can perform powerful queries to retrieve specific records or data subsets. The query endpoint might look like: “/services/data/vXX.X/query/”.
- Tooling API Endpoint: The Tooling API provides access to metadata and customization settings, allowing developers to interact with various development-related resources. The tooling API endpoint might look like: “services/data/vXX.X/tooling/”.
- Custom Endpoints: Depending on your Salesforce setup and integrations, you might have custom endpoints that represent specific functionalities or features unique to your organization.
- HTTP Methods: Developers interact with these endpoints using standard HTTP methods, such as “GET”, “POST”, “PUT” and “DELETE”. Each HTTP method corresponds to a different type of operation (e.g., retrieving data, creating records, updating records, deleting records).
- Request Parameters: API requests to these endpoints often include parameters like query strings, headers, and request bodies. These parameters specify the details of the operation, such as filtering criteria, data to be updated, or authentication information.
Request and Response Formats
When making API calls to the Salesforce API, developers need to structure their requests and handle the corresponding responses in a specific format. The request format defines how you send data to the API, while the response format defines how the API provides data back to your application.
Request Format:
- Salesforce API supports both JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) and XML (eXtensible Markup Language) formats for sending data in API requests.
- JSON Format: When sending data in JSON format, you’ll construct a JSON object that contains the necessary information for the API call. This might include data for creating or updating records, specifying query parameters, or providing authentication details.
- XML Format: When using XML, you’ll construct an XML document with the required data elements and structure, following the API documentation’s specifications.
Response Format:
- Similarly, when you make an API request, Salesforce responds with data in either JSON or XML format, based on the “Accept” header in your request.
- JSON Response: If you specify JSON in the “Accept” header, the response will be in JSON format. This response will contain the requested data or relevant information, such as records details, query results, error messages or success indicators.
- XML Response: If you specify XML in the “Accept” header, the response will be in XML format, containing the requested data or information according to the API call’s purpose.
Parsing and generation:
- Your application needs to parse the API response to extract relevant data. This involves interpreting the JSON or XML structure and accessing specific elements within it.
- For API requests that require data submission, you’ll need to generate JSON or XML payloads that adhere to the API’s data structure requirements.
Headers and Encoding:
- API requests and responses also include headers that provide additional information about the request, such as the content type (“Content-Type”) for the request payload and the accepted response format (“Accept”).
- Encoding, such as UTF-8, is important to ensure that data is accurately transmitted and received without character encoding issues.
Key Aspects and Factors for Salesforce API Integration
API Usage Monitoring and Optimization: Salesforce provides tools for monitoring and analyzing your API usage. The API Usage page in Salesforce Setup allows you to track your organization’s API consumption, monitor rate limits, and identify areas where optimization may be needed. This information can help you fine-tune your integrations and avoid potential issues.
Data Manipulation and Transformation: Data manipulation refers to the ability to create, read, update, and delete records using the Salesforce API. Integrating with Salesforce often involves data manipulation and transformation to ensure data consistency and compatibility. You might need to convert data formats, handle data validation, and map fields between different systems. Tools like Data Loader, external ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) tools, or custom code can assist in these tasks.
Batch Processing and Bulk Data Loads: For large-scale data operations, such as data migration or periodic data synchronization, consider using batch processing and bulk data loading techniques. These methods help you efficiently process and manage large volumes of data while staying within Salesforce’s API limits.
API Governance and Documentation: Establish API governance practices within your organization. This includes documenting API integrations, specifying usage guidelines, managing API versioning, and ensuring that developers follow consistent naming conventions and error handling procedures.
Rate Limits and Throttling: To ensure fair usage and system stability, Salesforce enforces rate limits on API requests. These limits define the maximum number of requests that can be made within a specific time period. Developers need to manage their API usage to avoid hitting these limits, which could lead to temporary suspension of API access.
Error Handling and Retry Strategies: API requests may encounter transient errors, rate limits, or other issues. Implement robust error handling mechanisms, including retries with exponential backoff, to ensure the reliability of your integrations.
Some Advanced Concepts and Features of Salesforce API
Governor Limits: Salesforce enforces various limits, known as Governor Limits, on the amount of resources an API request can consume. These limits ensure fair usage and maintain the performance and stability of the platform. For instance, you’ll encounter limits on the number of API calls, the number of records retrieved or modified, and the amount of data processed. It’s crucial to understand and design your integrations to stay within these limits.
Composite API: The Composite API allows you to execute multiple subrequests in a single API call, making complex interactions more efficient. You can group CRUD operations, query requests, and more, into a single composite request, reducing the number of round-trip API calls and enhancing performance.
External Services: Salesforce’s External Services feature enables you to integrate external REST APIs declaratively. You can define external services using API specifications (e.g., OpenAPI) and then consume them directly in Salesforce using Apex code or Flow elements.
Change Data Capture (CDC): The Change Data Capture API allows you to receive real-time notifications about changes to Salesforce records. This is different from the Streaming API in that CDC focuses specifically on changes to data, such as when a record is created, updated, deleted, or undeleted.
Platform Events: Platform Events provide a way to publish and subscribe to custom events in Salesforce. They are similar to the Streaming API but are designed for custom application events. This enables loosely coupled systems to communicate and trigger actions based on specific events.
Bulk Query: The Bulk Query API lets you query a large volume of data using a query you define in a CSV file. This is particularly useful for extracting and analyzing data from Salesforce in bulk.
Field Service API: The Field Service API is tailored for organizations that manage field service operations. It allows you to create, update, and manage service appointments, work orders, service resources, and more.
Einstein Analytics API: If you’re leveraging Salesforce’s Einstein Analytics (now known as Tableau CRM), you can use the Einstein Analytics API to programmatically interact with datasets, dashboards, and lenses for advanced data analysis and visualization.
API Versioning: Salesforce introduces new API versions to offer backward compatibility while introducing new features and improvements. It’s important to specify the API version you’re using in your requests and stay updated on any version changes.
Tools and Libraries
Developers have access to various tools, libraries, and SDKs that simplify interactions with the Salesforce API. Salesforce DX (Developer Experience), Postman collections, language-specific libraries (e.g., Python, Java), and frameworks like JavaScript’s “jsforce” can streamline API integration and development.
Changelog
Maintaining a changelog helps track the evolution of the Salesforce API. It includes information about significant updates, new features, changes to existing endpoints, and any deprecated functionalities. Staying updated with the changelog ensures that developers are aware of important modifications that might impact their integrations.
API Documentation and Resources
API documentation is a central resource that provides complete information about Salesforce API. It offers guidance on how to interact with APIs, what endpoints are available, how to structure requests and how to interpret responses. Below are few useful links on Salesforce API:
API Documentation, Developer Forums and More: https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/apis
Developer Documentation: https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/?service=Force.com&sort=title
REST API Developer Guide: https://resources.docs.salesforce.com/latest/latest/en-us/sfdc/pdf/api_rest.pdf
Community
The developer community plays an essential role in enriching the knowledge base around Salesforce API by actively contributing and participating in:
https://developer.salesforce.com/forums#!/feedtype=RECENT&criteria=ALLQUESTIONS&