a 60 minutes step by step diy guide to salesforce rest api for non developers

Visit asagarwal.com for daily dose of useful tips and tricsk on Salesforce

Step-By-Step DIY GuideTo Salesforce REST API For Non-

Developers

1

Visit asagarwal.com for daily dose of useful tips and tricsk on SalesforceVisit asagarwal.com for daily dose of useful tips and tricsk on Salesforce

Using This Guide


A couple of standards/conventions have been followed in this guide. Here is what they mean

Important information. Take a closer look and follow as advised. You may not be able to complete the guide successfully if you miss these instructions

General explanation/information to support actions mentioned on the slide. Will assist you in understanding what is being done and why

Actions that you need to follow to configure. Carry out these steps in the order of their serial number.

Appears on the bottom bar of the page on right hand side. Provides information on the Hardware and Software currently being used

Text with Red Background

Text with Yellow Background

1. Text with White background, red border and a number. In a callout format

Text with Green Background

2


Steps Overview


■ Create Connected Apps in Salesforce■ Install Advanced REST Client in Google Chrome■ Connect to Salesforce from Advanced REST Client■ Query Records in Salesforce using REST API■ Create Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Update Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Delete Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Other REST API Calls■ Extra Bytes

3


A 60 Minutes Step-By-Step DIY Guide to Salesforce REST API for Non-Developers

http://www.asagarwal.com/4334/a-60-minutes-step-by-step-diy-guide-to-salesforce-rest-api-for-non-developers

Please do not forget to refer to the above blog post for related information, useful links and videos

Related Blog

Visit asagarwal.com for daily dose of useful tips and tricsk on Salesforce 4





■ Salesforce Developer Edition / Enterprise Edition or above. Your Salesforce Edition must allow the API Access. Your can sign up for a FREE Salesforce Developer Edition at URL https://developer.salesforce.com/

■ Google Chrome■ Internet connection■ Vodka with ice, lemon & a pinch of salt celebrate your

learning. :-)

Ingredients


https://developer.salesforce.com/




Steps Overview


➡ Create Connected Apps in Salesforce■ Install Advanced REST Client in Google Chrome■ Connect to Salesforce from Advanced REST Client■ Query Records in Salesforce using REST API■ Create Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Update Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Delete Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Other REST API Calls■ Extra Bytes

6


Login To Salesforce


1. Login to Salesforce Org

Chrome on Mac


Get Your Security Token


1. Click on your name -> My Settings

If you do not already have your security token, follow these steps to

get your security token. If you already have the security token, you

can skip this section

Chrome on Mac




1. Click on Personal

2. Click ‘Reset My Security Token’. If you have specified the ‘Login IP Ranges’ at the profile level, then you will not see option. In that case you don’t need the

security token and you can skip the rest of the steps in this section

Chrome on Mac




1. Click ‘Reset Security Token’. The security token will be emailed

to your email address

Chrome on Mac




1. You will get the confirmation that the security token has been emailed to your email address

Chrome on Mac




1. Navigate to your inbox and copy and paste the security token

in a text editor

Chrome on Mac


Create Connected Apps


1. Back in Salesforce, Click on Setup

Chrome on Mac




1. Navigate to Create -> Apps2. Click New

Chrome on Mac




1. Specify the Connected App Name, API Name and Contact

Email

Chrome on Mac




1. Check Enable OAuth Settings

2. Specify Callback URL. Just specify the value https://localhost:8080. This will not

be used

3. Select ‘Full Access (full) from Available OAuth Scopes and move it to Selected

OAuth Scopes

4. Click Save

Chrome on Mac

https://localhost:8080




1. Click Continue

Chrome on Mac




1. Copy and paste the Consumer Key in a text editor. We will need to

use it later

2. Click on ‘Click to reveal’ for Consumer Secret

Chrome on Mac




1. Copy and paste the Consumer Secret in a text editor. We will need

to use it later together with Consumer Key

2. Click on Manage

Chrome on Mac


Grant Permission to User’s Profile


1. Click Edit

Chrome on Mac




1. Under OAuth Policies for ‘Permitted Users’ select the value ‘Admin approved users are pre-

authorized’

Chrome on Mac




1. Click OK

Chrome on Mac




1. Click Save

Chrome on Mac




1. Scroll down the page

Chrome on Mac




1. Click on Manage Profile

Chrome on Mac




1. Select the Profile of the user who will be connecting through

REST API 2. Click Save

Chrome on Mac


Verify that the User’s Profile is API Enabled


1. Ensure that the profile of the user with which you want to connect using REST API has the ‘API

Enabled’ permission checked. If you are connecting with the user whose profile is ‘System

Administrator’, this is checked by default

Chrome on Mac


Steps Overview


✓ Create Connected Apps in Salesforce➡ Install Advanced REST Client in Google Chrome■ Connect to Salesforce from Advanced REST Client■ Query Records in Salesforce using REST API■ Create Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Update Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Delete Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Other REST API Calls■ Extra Bytes

28


Install Advanced REST Client


1. Open Google Chrome and click on ‘Customize and control Google

Chrome’ icon

2. Select More Tools -> Extensions

Now let’s proceed to install the Advanced REST Client in Google

Chrome Browser

Chrome on Mac




1. Scroll down the page and click ‘Get more extensions’

Chrome on Mac




1. Type ‘Advanced REST Client’ and press Enter

Chrome on Mac




1. Click ‘Add to Chrome’ for Advanced REST Client

Chrome on Mac




1. Click Add App

Chrome on Mac




2. Click on ‘Advanced REST client’

1. Click on ‘Apps’ icon in Google Chrome to view all Apps

installed in Google Chrome

Chrome on Mac




Now we are ready to explore the magic of Salesforce REST API. The first thing we

need to do is to connect to Salesforce from Advanced REST Client

ARC in Chrome on Mac


Steps Overview


✓ Create Connected Apps in Salesforce✓ Install Advanced REST Client in Google Chrome➡ Connect to Salesforce from Advanced REST Client■ Query Records in Salesforce using REST API■ Create Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Update Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Delete Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Other REST API Calls■ Extra Bytes

36


Connecting to Salesforce from REST ClientTo connect to Salesforce from Advanced REST API Client, you need to prepare the connection string as per following format

https://login.salesforce.com/services/oauth2/token?grant_type=password&client_id=<client_id>&client_secret=<client_secret>&username=<username>&password=<password><security_token>

Replace the value highlighted in blue with your own values

1. Use login.salesforce.com if you are connecting to production or developer edition org. Use test.salesforce.com if you want to connect to Sandbox.

2. Replace <client_id> with Consumer key copied in previous steps3. Replace <client_secret> with Consumer Secret copied in previous steps4. Replace <username> with your Salesforce Username5. Replace <password> with your Salesforce password. Append the security token

if required

37


Connecting to Salesforce from REST ClientSo your final connection string should like something like this

https://login.salesforce.com/services/oauth2/token?grant_type=password&client_id=3BRG9rKhT8ocoxGlaFYGe98k75x5bSs1_f2tFh.EM7PpvDCu.d_wubQWT0yPLUlit0599q.1Bz8Ud_2Ujkf9Z&client_secret=472345243512440999&[email protected]&password=ilovesalesforceiAb1J1diHc8DSVle9dTZJ4Q0e

No, Don’t try to connect using the above string. These are not the actual values of my Salesforce Org. :-)

38


Connecting to Salesforce from REST Client


1. In Advanced REST Client, paste the connection string here2. Select the method as

POST

3. Click ‘Send’ and keep your fingers crossed



Connecting to Salesforce from REST Client


1. Scroll down the page and look the value in the status column. If the status is 200, bingo. You have successfully

logged on to Salesforce

2. Look at the values returned by Salesforce. Copy and paste these values in a text editor. We will

need to use some of these values in subsequent calls

If you don’t get the status 200 or see “authentication failure”, you will need to review the steps that you have completed so far and

ensure that all the instructions were followed correctly. Also make sure

that your password does not contain ‘&’ (ampersand) character



Steps Overview


✓ Create Connected Apps in Salesforce✓ Install Advanced REST Client in Google Chrome✓ Connect to Salesforce from Advanced REST Client➡ Query Records in Salesforce using REST API■ Create Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Update Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Delete Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Other REST API Calls■ Extra Bytes

41


Execute Query through REST APINow that you are connected, you can execute a SOQL Query in Salesforce through REST API. The URI for the REST Query is

https://<instance_url>/services/data/v35.0/query?q=<SOQL Query>

Replace the value highlighted in blue with your own values

1. Use the value of instance_url returned in the response of the login call2. v35.0 - This will be the API version. This changes with every new release of

Salesforce. For example for Winter 16 release of Salesforce, the API version is 35.0

3. SOQL Query that you want to execute

42


Execute Query through REST API


1. To execute a query in Salesorce using REST API, specify the URI, i.e.https://<instance_url>/services/data/v35.0/query?q=<SOQL Query>

where you replace the value of the instance URL with the value returned as response from the login call

3. Set the Header of the REST API Call to Authorization: Bearer <access_token>

where the value of the access token is the value returned in the response of the login call

2. Select the HTTP method to

GET4. Click Send





1. Alternatively, you can click on the ‘Form’ tab for HTTP Headers and specify the Header and its value separately

2. Click Send





1. If everything goes well, you should see a status of 200 returned by the API. This means that your request

was successful

2. And here is the response to your query in JSON format. We

can also get the response in XML format but hold on to that for now. We have other more

important things to learn



Review StepsNow that you have executed a simple REST API call, let’s do a quick recap of steps

■ Connect to Salesforce and get an Access Token■ Make REST Calls specifying

■ The Resource URI (stands for Uniform Resource Identifier)

■ The HTTP Method (e.g. GET, POST, PATCH etc.)■ The Request Headers (e.g. Access Token)

■ Review Response■ The Status Code (200 denotes all OK)■ The response Body (by default is returned in JSON

format)Once you have response returned by the API, you can process the response in whatever way you want. E.g. if you are using Java to make API calls, use Java libraries and methods to process the JSON response returned by the API

46


Steps Overview


✓ Create Connected Apps in Salesforce✓ Install Advanced REST Client in Google Chrome✓ Connect to Salesforce from Advanced REST Client✓ Query Records in Salesforce using REST API➡ Create Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Update Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Delete Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Other REST API Calls■ Extra Bytes

47


Creating Record through REST API


1. To create a record in Salesorce using REST API, specify the URI, i.e.https://<instance_url>/services/data/v35.0/sobjects/<Object API Name>

Here I am creating an ‘Account’ Record

3. Set the Header of the REST API Call to Authorization Bearer <access_token>

Content-Type application/json

2. Select the HTTP method to

POST

5. Click Send4. Since we are creating a record here, we need to specify the values for the fields in Account object in JSON format (this is known as PAYLOAD). In the

PAYLOAD section, select ‘Raw’ tab and enter the values as shown here. The value is entered in format of

“Field API Name”: “Field Value”





1. And Voila, Salesforce REST API has dutifully created the record in

Account object in Salesforce

2. In the response to the Create Call, Salesforce sends you the Salesforce Record Id, a success flag and errors. If you see any errors here, correct the

error and retry





1. If you don’t believe me, logon to your Salesforce instance, navigate to Account tab see it for yourself. The Account you just created using Salesforce API

very much exists there

Chrome on Mac


Steps Overview


✓ Create Connected Apps in Salesforce✓ Install Advanced REST Client in Google Chrome✓ Connect to Salesforce from Advanced REST Client✓ Query Records in Salesforce using REST API✓ Create Record in Salesforce using REST API➡ Update Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Delete Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Other REST API Calls■ Extra Bytes

51


Updating Record through REST API


1. Oops ! I made a mistake. I forgot to specify the Billing City & Phone for the Account I just created. Let’s correct it. To update a record in Salesorce using REST API, specify the URI, i.e.

https://<instance_url>/services/data/v35.0/sobjects/<Object API Name>/<Salesforce Record Id>


Content-Type application/json

2. Select the HTTP

method to PATCH

5. Click Send4. To update the record, follow the same method as Create. Specify the fields and their values in the Payload in JSON format. In the PAYLOAD section, select ‘Raw’ tab and enter the values as shown here. The value is entered in format of

“Field API Name”: “Field Value”





1. And the status code that you will receive this time is 204.

2. However, there is no content in the response. This does not mean that the record has not been updated. This just

means that Salesforce has no response to send if it updates the record successfully.





1. You are still not believing me. Come on. Refresh your Account tab in Salesforce and see it for

yourself.

Chrome on Mac


Steps Overview


✓ Create Connected Apps in Salesforce✓ Install Advanced REST Client in Google Chrome✓ Connect to Salesforce from Advanced REST Client✓ Query Records in Salesforce using REST API✓ Create Record in Salesforce using REST API✓ Update Record in Salesforce using REST API➡ Delete Record in Salesforce using REST API■ Other REST API Calls■ Extra Bytes

55


Deleting Record through REST API


1. Ok, let’s complete the cycle. Now, we will delete the record we just created. To delete a record in Salesorce using REST API, specify the URI, i.e.

https://<instance_url>/services/data/v35.0/sobjects/<Object API Name>/<Salesforce Record Id>

3. Set the Header of the REST API Call to Authorization Bearer <access_token>The Content-Type is not required here

2. Select the HTTP

method to DELETE

4. The Payload is also not required so just click on Send





1. The status code that you will receive is again 204.

2. And there is no content in the response (unless there are any errors). Salesforce has deleted the record

successfully





1. Switch back to Salesforce and go to Recycle Bin and the record you just deleted has been moved to

Recycle Bin

Chrome on Mac


Steps Overview


✓ Create Connected Apps in Salesforce✓ Install Advanced REST Client in Google Chrome✓ Connect to Salesforce from Advanced REST Client✓ Query Records in Salesforce using REST API✓ Create Record in Salesforce using REST API✓ Update Record in Salesforce using REST API✓ Delete Record in Salesforce using REST API➡ Other REST API Calls■ Extra Bytes

59


Other REST API Calls


1. To get a list of all the objects in your Salesforce instance use the URI

https://<instance_url>/services/data/v35.0/sobjects/


Now that we have learnt how to query, create, update & delete

using REST API, let’s explore some more API calls

4. Click Send

2. Set the HTTP

Method to GET





1. And in response you will get a list of all the SObjects and its details in your Salesforce Instance.





1. To get a list of all the child relationships and fields in an object use the URI

https://<instance_url>/services/data/v35.0/sobjects/<Object Name>/describe


4. Click Send

2. Set the HTTP

Method to GET





1. And in response you will get a list of all the child relationships, fields and its attributes on the specified

SObject





1. To get a list of all the field values on a particular record use the URIhttps://<instance_url>/services/data/v35.0/sobjects/<Object Name>/<Salesforce Record Id>


4. Click Send

2. Set the HTTP

Method to GET





1. And in response you will get a list of all the fields and its values for the specified record id.



Additional Reading■ In previous slides, we have seen a few useful URIs and

the functionality that they provide. ■ There are many other URIs that Salesforce REST API

provides. Refer to Salesforce REST API Developer Guide at the following URL to learn more about these URIs■ https://resources.docs.salesforce.com/sfdc/pdf/api_rest.pdf

66ARC in Chrome on Mac

https://resources.docs.salesforce.com/sfdc/pdf/api_rest.pdf

https://resources.docs.salesforce.com/sfdc/pdf/api_rest.pdf


Steps Overview


✓ Create Connected Apps in Salesforce✓ Install Advanced REST Client in Google Chrome✓ Connect to Salesforce from Advanced REST Client✓ Query Records in Salesforce using REST API✓ Create Record in Salesforce using REST API✓ Update Record in Salesforce using REST API✓ Delete Record in Salesforce using REST API✓ Other REST API Calls➡ Extra Bytes

67


Extra BytesHopefully these examples give you a pretty good idea on how to use the Salesforce REST API. Now let’s take a look at ■ Some of the other things that REST API supports■ Useful features of “Advanced REST Client” (ARC)

Google Chrome extension that we are using

68


Getting Response in XML Format


To get the response in XML format, all you need to do is to set the Request Header to Accept application/xml

By default all responses to REST API Calls are in JSON format.

However you do have the option of getting the response in XML format

also



Getting Response in XML Format


Salesforce REST API will now return the response in XML

format



Sending Payload in XML Format


2. And make sure that the Payload is in XML format as shown here. The field API Names are appearing as XML

tags in the Payload

Any Payload that you are sending to Salesforce should be in JSON

format. However you also have the option of sending the payload in

XML format

1. To send the payload in XML format, you need to specify the request header to

Content-Type application/xml



Sending Payload in XML Format


1. Salesforce creates the record and returns the response in XML format because in the REST Call on previous slide, we also set the request header to

Accept application/xml



Useful Information - Supported HTTP MethodsSalesforce REST API supports the following HTTP Methods

■ HEAD (to retrieve resource metadata)■ GET (to retrieve information)■ POST (to create a record)■ PATCH (to update a record)■ DELETE (to delete a record)

73


Useful Information - Status Codes■ To view a list of different status codes that Salesforce

REST API returns, please refer to the following URL■ https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.

api_rest.meta/api_rest/errorcodes.htm

74

https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_rest.meta/api_rest/errorcodes.htm




ARC Features - Save


1. You can save your REST API Call details for future use. In ARC click on ‘Save’



ARC Features - Save


1. Specify a Name and click ‘Save’



ARC Features - Open


1. Once saved, you can reload the API call details by clicking on Open



ARC Features - Open


1. Click on ‘Select’ for the desired call



ARC Features - History


1. In ARC, click on History to view a history of all the recent calls made to

Salesforce

2. Click Select to reload the API call in

ARC



Steps Overview


✓ Create Connected Apps in Salesforce✓ Install Advanced REST Client in Google Chrome✓ Connect to Salesforce from Advanced REST Client✓ Query Records in Salesforce using REST API✓ Create Record in Salesforce using REST API✓ Update Record in Salesforce using REST API✓ Delete Record in Salesforce using REST API✓ Other REST API Calls✓ Extra Bytes

80


Celebrate Your Learning

81

■ Though the examples in this guide is specific to Salesforce, you can use Advanced REST Client (ARC) extension to test REST API Calls with any other technology like Google, Facebook, Twitter etc.

■ Have the Vodka to celebrate your learning. You have dipped your feet into one of the most powerful features of a platform (or any platform for that matter) - How to integrate it with other applications using APIs


Leave Your FeedbackAnd before you get drunk, please do not forget to leave your feedback/suggestions on my blog at URL http://www.asagarwal.com/4334/a-60-minutes-step-by-step-diy-guide-to-salesforce-rest-api-for-non-developers

If you got stuck anywhere and were able to resolve the issue, mention that as a comment on the above mentioned blog post URL so that others can benefit from your experience

82






Thank You !

For Daily Dose of Useful Tips & Tricks on Salesforce.com Please Visithttp://www.asagarwal.com

83

http://www.asagarwal.com

http://www.asagarwal.com


Document Change LogVersion Changes

1.0 First Release

1.1 Re-ordering of 1st 3 slides to make links it clickable on Slideshare

84

a 60 minutes step by step diy guide to salesforce rest api for non developers

Technology