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Enhance Salesforce with Code
Salesforce Spring
salesforcedocs
Last updated January
Copyright Salesforce Inc All rights reserved Salesforce is a registered trademark of Salesforce Inc as are other
names and marks Other marks appearing herein may be trademarks of their respective owners
CONTENTS
Enhance Salesforce with Code
Salesforce Development Tools
Replacement Tools for Workbench
Work With APIs
Write Code
Debug Your Code
Test Your Changes
Manage Scratch Orgs
Index
ENHANCE SALESFORCE WITH CODE
You can make your Salesforce org even more useful and responsive to your users by developing custom applications and integrating
your external applications
Its best to do your development in a sandbox so you can test your code changes before you deploy them Sandboxes contain copies
of your data code and configuration settings that are isolated from your production environment You can customize your organization
and test applications in a sandbox then deploy the changes to your production organization when ready In some cases you might
have several developers working in different sandboxes who then coordinate those changes for deployment
Salesforce Development Tools
Salesforce provides various tools for all phases of app development
Replacement Tools for Workbench
Workbench httpsworkbenchdeveloperforcecom is an opensource tool for interacting with your org However because Salesforce
doesnt maintain Workbench we cant address issues or bugs related to using it We recommend that you use our alternative and
integrated tools instead such as Code Builder Salesforce CLI and VS Code Extensions
Work With APIs
Salesforce provides programmatic access to your orgs information using simple powerful and secure application programming
interfaces
Write Code
Write code using the Apex programming language to add business logic or use the Visualforce markup language to create the user
interface Integrate your application using APIs and authenticate your external applications
Debug Your Code
Use checkpoints logs and the View State tab to help debug the code youve written
Test Your Changes
Testing is key to the success of your application particularly if you deploy your application to customers If you validate that your
application works as expected with no unexpected behavior your customers are going to trust you more
Manage Scratch Orgs
The scratch org is a sourcedriven and disposable deployment of Salesforce code and metadata made for developers and automation
CICD A scratch org is fully configurable allowing developers to emulate different Salesforce editions with different features and
preferences
SEE ALSO
Sandbox Types and Templates
Complete Salesforce Developer Documentation
Enhance Salesforce with Code
Salesforce Development Tools
Salesforce Development Tools
Salesforce provides various tools for all phases of app development
EDITIONS
This table summarizes the functionality of the various Salesforce development tools
Tool
Code
Debug Test
Deploy Available From
Salesforce Extensions for Visual
Studio Code
Visual Studio Code
Marketplace
Salesforce CLI
developersalesforcecom
DevOps Center
Setup
Developer Console
Your Name or the
Available in Salesforce
Classic or Lightning
Experience depends on tool
The available tools vary
according to which
Salesforce Edition you have
quick access menu
Visualforce development mode
footer
Setup or your personal
settings
Code editor
Setup
Apex Test Execution
Setup
Change Sets
Setup
Ant Migration Tool
developersalesforcecom
SEE ALSO
Developer Console Functionality
Choose Your Tools for Developing and Deploying Changes
Enable Development Mode
Replacement Tools for Workbench
Workbench httpsworkbenchdeveloperforcecom is an opensource tool for interacting with your org However because Salesforce
doesnt maintain Workbench we cant address issues or bugs related to using it We recommend that you use our alternative and
integrated tools instead such as Code Builder Salesforce CLI and VS Code Extensions
Table Tools for Interacting with Data and APIs
Workbench Feature
Available using Salesforce Available using VS Code Available using Postman
CLI
Code Builder
Data Insert Update Upsert
Delete Undelete or Purge
Yes see documentation
Yes using a Salesforce CLI
command in the terminal
Yes see documentation
Info Metadata Types
Components
No
Partial support see
documentation
Yes see documentation
Enhance Salesforce with Code
Replacement Tools for Workbench
Workbench Feature
Available using Salesforce Available using VS Code Available using Postman
CLI
Code Builder
Info Standard Custom
Objects
Yes see documentation
Yes using a Salesforce CLI
command in the terminal
Yes see documentation
Migration Deploy
Yes see documentation
Yes see documentation
No
Migration Retrieve
Yes see documentation
Yes see documentation
No
Utilities Bulk API Job Status
Yes see documentation for Bulk Yes using a Salesforce CLI
API v and Bulk API v
command in the terminal
Yes see documentation for Bulk
API v and Bulk API v
Utilities Metadata API Process Yes see documentation
Status
Yes using a Salesforce CLI
command in the terminal
No
Utilities REST Explorer
No
Yes see documentation
No
More Details
For Bulk API Salesforce CLI supports bulk ingest with Bulk API v and v Salesforce CLI doesnt currently support bulk queries
For REST API try using Mulesoft
Table Tools for Querying Using SOQL and SOSL
Workbench Feature
Available using Salesforce Available using VS Code Available using Postman
CLI
Code Builder
Queries Async Query
No
No
No
Queries SOQL Query
Yes see documentation
Yes see documentation
Yes see documentation
Queries SOSL Search
No
No
Yes see documentation
Queries Streaming Push
Topics
No
No
No
More Details
Async SOQL was retired in Summer
Push Topics is a deprecated feature Use Change Data Capture instead
Table Tools for Testing Apex Code
Workbench Feature
Available using Salesforce Available using VS Code Available using Postman
CLI
Code Builder
Utilities Apex Execute
Yes see documentation
Yes see documentation
SEE ALSO
Code Builder
Salesforce Extensions for VS Code
Salesforce CLI Command Reference
No
Enhance Salesforce with Code
Work With APIs
Work With APIs
Salesforce provides programmatic access to your orgs information using simple powerful and secure application programming interfaces
Which API Do I Use
Choose the right Salesforce API for your integration needs Review the selection of APIs Salesforce offers including the supported
protocols data formats and use cases
Give Integration Users API Only Access
Following the principle of least privilege we recommend creating and configuring one Salesforce user for every integration By
assigning a different user to each calling system domain use case or API resource you restrict each of those users to a unique subset
of data and functionality Setting up dedicated integration users gives you more control over operations and traceability of transactions
And it minimizes the impact if a user or integration is compromised The Salesforce Integration user license supports this best practice
by offering a profile that restricts assigned users to APIonly access ideal for systemtosystem integration users
Download API WSDL and Client Certificates
To integrate your applications with Salesforce using the API download a Web Services Description Language WSDL document
Manage API Usage Notifications
When you create a request usage notification you specify an administrator to receive an email notification whenever your organization
exceeds a specified limit for the number of API requests made in a specified span of hours
SEE ALSO
Write Code
Debug Your Code
Test Your Changes
Secure Your Code
Enhance Salesforce with Code
Which API Do I Use
Which API Do I Use
Choose the right Salesforce API for your integration needs Review the selection of APIs Salesforce
offers including the supported protocols data formats and use cases
EDITIONS
Available in Salesforce
Classic not available in all
orgs and Lightning
Experience
API Name
API Type
Data Format
Communication
REST API
REST
JSON XML
Synchronous
SOAP API
SOAP WSDL
XML
Synchronous
Connect REST API
REST
JSON XML
Synchronous photos
are processed
asynchronously
Apex REST API
REST
JSON XML Custom
Synchronous
Apex SOAP API
SOAP WSDL
XML
Synchronous
USER PERMISSIONS
Analytics REST API
REST
JSON XML
Synchronous
User Interface API
REST
JSON
Synchronous
To use the APIs
API Enabled
GraphQL API
GraphQL
JSON
Synchronous
Tooling API
REST or SOAP WSDL JSON XML Custom
Synchronous
Bulk API
REST
CSV
Asynchronous
Metadata API
SOAP WSDL
XML
Asynchronous
PubSub API
gRPC and protocol
buffers
Binary
Asynchronous
Available in Professional
with API access enabled
Enterprise Performance
Unlimited and Developer
Editions
To use Apex classes and
methods as REST web
services
Enables access to Apex REST
services even if API Enabled
permission is not granted
Apex REST Services
When to Use REST API
REST API provides a powerful convenient and simple RESTbased web services interface for interacting with Salesforce Its advantages
include ease of integration and development and its an excellent choice of technology for use with mobile applications and web
projects For certain projects you can use REST API with other Salesforce REST APIs To build UI for creating reading updating and
deleting records including building UI for list views actions and dependent picklists use User Interface API To build UI for BB Commerce
on Lightning CMS managed content Experience Cloud sites or Chatter use Connect REST API If you have many records to process
consider using Bulk API which is based on REST principles and optimized for large sets of data
See REST API Developer Guide
When to Use SOAP API
SOAP API provides a powerful convenient and simple SOAPbased web services interface for interacting with Salesforce You can use
SOAP API to create retrieve update or delete records You can also use SOAP API to perform searches and much more Use SOAP API
in any language that supports web services
For example you can use SOAP API to integrate Salesforce with your orgs ERP and finance systems You can also deliver realtime sales
and support information to company portals and populate critical business systems with customer information
See SOAP API Developer Guide
Enhance Salesforce with Code
Which API Do I Use
When to Use Connect REST API
Connect REST API provides programmatic access to BB Commerce for Lightning CMS managed content Experience Cloud sites files
notifications topics and more Use Connect REST API to display Chatter feeds users and groups especially in mobile applications
See Connect REST API Developer Guide
When to Use Apex REST API
Use Apex REST API when you want to expose your Apex classes and methods so that external applications can access your code through
REST architecture Apex REST API supports both OAuth and Session ID for authorization
See Apex Developer Guide Exposing Apex Classes as REST Web Services
When to Use Apex SOAP API
Use Apex SOAP API when you want to expose Apex methods as SOAP web service APIs so that external applications can access your
code through SOAP
Apex SOAP API supports both OAuth and Session ID for authorization
See Apex Developer Guide Exposing Apex Methods as SOAP Web Services and SOAP API Developer Guide ApexRelated Calls
When to Use Analytics REST API
You can access CRM Analytics assets such as datasets lenses and dashboards programmatically using the Analytics REST API Send
queries and access datasets that have been imported into the analytics platform Create and retrieve lenses Access XMD information
Retrieve a list of dataset versions Create and retrieve CRM Analytics apps Create update and retrieve dashboards Retrieve a list of
dependencies for an application Determine what features are available to the user Work with snapshots Manipulate replicated datasets
See Analytics REST API Developer Guide
When to Use User Interface API
Build Salesforce UI for native mobile apps and custom web apps using the same API that Salesforce uses to build Lightning Experience
and Salesforce for Android iOS and mobile web Build user interfaces that let users work with records list views actions favorites and
more Not only do you get data and metadata in a single response but the response matches metadata changes made to the org by
Salesforce admins You dont worry about layouts picklists fieldlevel security or sharingall you do is build an app that users love
See User Interface API Developer Guide
When to Use GraphQL API
Build highly responsive and scalable apps by returning only the data a client needs all in a single request GraphQL API overcomes the
challenges posed by traditional REST APIs through field selection resource aggregation and schema introspection Field selection
reduces the size of the payload sending back only fields that were included in the query Aggregations reduce round trips between the
client and server returning a set of related resources within a single response Schema introspection enables a user to see the types
fields and objects that the user has access to
See GraphQL API Developer Guide
Enhance Salesforce with Code
Which API Do I Use
When to Use Tooling API
Use Tooling API to integrate Salesforce metadata with other systems Metadata types are exposed as sObjects so you can access one
component of a complex type This fieldlevel access speeds up operations on complex metadata types You can also build custom
development tools for Forcecom applications For example use Tooling API to manage and deploy working copies of Apex classes and
triggers and Visualforce pages and components You can also set checkpoints or heap dump markers execute anonymous Apex and
access logging and code coverage information
REST and SOAP are both supported
See Tooling API
When to Use Bulk API
Use Bulk API to query queryAll insert update upsert or delete a large number of records asynchronously Bulk API is designed
on the Salesforce REST framework
Any data operation that includes more than records is a good candidate for Bulk API to successfully prepare execute and
manage an asynchronous workflow that uses the Bulk framework Its best if jobs with fewer than records involve bulkified
synchronous calls in REST for example Composite or SOAP
When working with large volumes of data its the easiest way to create read update and delete CRUD records at scale If your job
includes just one sObject type or extracts up to TB of data per day Bulk API is your Salesforce API of choice
See Bulk API and Bulk API Developer Guide
When to Use Metadata API
Use Metadata API to retrieve deploy create update or delete customizations for your org The most common use is to migrate changes
from a sandbox or testing org to your production environment Metadata API is intended for managing customizations and for building
tools that can manage the metadata model not the data itself
The easiest way to access the functionality in Metadata API is to use the Salesforce Extensions for Visual Studio Code or Salesforce CLI
Both tools are built on top of Metadata API and use the standard tools to simplify working with Metadata API
The Salesforce Extensions for Visual Studio Code includes tools for developing on the Salesforce platform in the lightweight extensible
VS Code editor These tools provide features for working with development orgs scratch orgs sandboxes and DE orgs Apex Aura
components and Visualforce
Salesforce CLI is ideal if you use scripting or the command line for moving metadata between a local directory and a Salesforce org
See Metadata API Developer Guide
When to Use PubSub API
You can use Pub Sub API to integrate external systems with events Event streams are based on custom payloads through platform
events or changes in Salesforce records through Change Data Capture In Salesforce you can publish and subscribe to events with Apex
triggers Process Builder and Flow Builder
PubSub API is built for high scale bidirectional event integration with Salesforce Use PubSub API to efficiently publish and subscribe
to binary event messages in the Apache Avro format PubSub API is based on gRPC and HTTP and uses a pullbased model so that
you can control the subscription flow With PubSub API you can use one of the programming languages that gRPC supports
Use the type of streaming event that suits your needs
Change Data Capture Event Receive changes to Salesforce records with all changed fields Change Data Capture supports more
standard objects than PushTopic events and provides more features such as header fields that contain information about the change
Enhance Salesforce with Code
Give Integration Users API Only Access
Platform Event Publish and receive custom payloads with a predefined schema The data can be anything you define including
business data such as order information Specify the data to send by defining a platform event Subscribe to a platform event channel
to receive notifications
Legacy Events PushTopic and Generic Event PushTopic and generic events are firstgeneration events They have limited support
and are no longer updated with new features We recommend that you use Change Data Capture events instead of PushTopic
events and Platform Events instead of Generic events
See the PubSub API documentation
SEE ALSO
Work With APIs
Give Integration Users API Only Access
Following the principle of least privilege we recommend creating and configuring one Salesforce
user for every integration By assigning a different user to each calling system domain use case or
API resource you restrict each of those users to a unique subset of data and functionality Setting
up dedicated integration users gives you more control over operations and traceability of transactions
And it minimizes the impact if a user or integration is compromised The Salesforce Integration user
license supports this best practice by offering a profile that restricts assigned users to APIonly
access ideal for systemtosystem integration users
EDITIONS
Available in Enterprise
Unlimited Performance
and Developer Editions
The Salesforce Integration user license makes the Minimum Access API Only Integrations profile and the Salesforce API Integration
permission set license available for assignment
Note The Minimum Access API Only Integrations profile replaces the deprecated Salesforce API Only System Integrations profile
which isnt available in newly provisioned orgs
The Minimum Access API Only Integrations profile enables and also restricts assigned users to operate via API You cant turn off the
APIonly access granted through this profile but you can change other capabilities permissions settings and data access granted to
users via this profile Find and review the profile in your org to understand what it can and cant control If your integration users need
more access than the profile provides use permission set licenses to expand the options
The Salesforce API Integration permission set license extends the functionality of the Salesforce Integration user license with many of
the same user and object permissions typically available on the System Administrator standard profile Find and review the Salesforce
API Integration permission set license on the Company Information page in Setup to see what it makes available Assign this or other
permission set licenses to users with the Minimum Access API Only Integrations profile to make more permissions available Configure
and assign permission sets or permission set groups to grant permissions to integration users so they can perform the API operations
Follow the standard process to find and assign the user license and profile and any permission set licenses permission sets and permission
set groups to your integration user
Considerations
Users assigned the Salesforce Integration user license and Salesforce API Only System Integrations profile are not authorized to access
Salesforce data or features through any user interface The individual permissions granted through the Salesforce Integration license
and the related Minimum Access API Only Integrations profile cant be turned off including on any clones of the profile
By default orgs in supported editions are granted a limited number of Salesforce Integration user licenses Contact a Salesforce account
executive for information on how to purchase addon licenses
Enhance Salesforce with Code
Download API WSDL and Client Certificates
As a part of integration planning or after assigning permissions to an integration user decide how users are authorized and authenticated
via the API so they can log in to an org For integrations using a RESTbased API create a connected app and use an OAuth flow For
integrations using a SOAPbased API including the Bulk API use the SOAPspecific login call
SEE ALSO
Salesforce Developer Integration Patterns and Practices
Licenses Overview
Standard Profiles
Which API Do I Use
REST API Developer Guide Authorization Through Connected Apps and OAuth
SOAP API Developer Guide login
Download API WSDL and Client Certificates
To integrate your applications with Salesforce using the API download a Web Services Description
Language WSDL document
EDITIONS
Enterprise WSDL Use this WSDL document to build an integration for a single org The
enterprise WSDL is strongly typed which means that it contains objects and fields with specific
data types such as int and string You must download and reconsume the enterprise
WSDL document when changes are made to the custom objects or fields in an org or when
you want to use a different version of the API
Available in both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Partner WSDL Use this WSDL to build an integration that works across multiple Salesforce
orgs regardless of their custom objects or fields Typically partners and ISVs use this WSDL Its
loosely typed which means that you work with namevalue pairs of field names and values
instead of specific data types The partner WSDL document needs to be downloaded and
consumed only once per version of the API
Apex WSDL Use this WSDL to run or compile Apex in another environment
Available in Professional
Enterprise Developer and
Databasecom Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To download a WSDL
Customize Application
Metadata WSDL Use this WSDL to migrate configuration changes between orgs or work with
the customizations in your org as XML metadata files
To download a WSDL document navigate to Setup enter API in the Quick Find box then select API
Download the appropriate WSDL
If youre downloading an enterprise WSDL and you have managed packages installed in your org click Generate Enterprise WSDL
Select the version of each installed package to include in the generated WSDL By default it is set to the latest installed versions of
the packages Otherwise rightclick the link for the appropriate WSDL document to save it to a local directory In the menu Internet
Explorer users can choose Save Target As while Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox users can choose Save Link As
On your computer import the local copy of the WSDL document into your development environment You can also select the
default package versions without downloading a WSDL in the Package Version Settings section
Optionally you can download a certificate to authenticate Salesforce orgs To download a certificate navigate to Setup enter API
in the Quick Find box then select API
Use this certificate for workflow outbound messaging This certificate identifies that the request comes from Salesforce not a specific
user If you want to use certificates to ensure secure connections using other Salesforce features such as Apex callouts use Salesforce
certificates and key pairs
In Client Certificate section click Manage API Client Certificate
In the API Client Certificate section click the API Client Certificate
Enhance Salesforce with Code
Manage API Usage Notifications
Click Download Certificate The crt file is saved in the download location specified in your browser
You can then import the downloaded certificate into your application server and configure your application server to request the
client certificate
SEE ALSO
Certificates and Keys
Work With APIs
Apex Developer Guide
Metadata API Developer Guide
Manage API Usage Notifications
When you create a request usage notification you specify an administrator to receive an email
notification whenever your organization exceeds a specified limit for the number of API requests
made in a specified span of hours
The API usage notifications list includes details such as who is getting notified how often and at
what thresholds You can create up to ten notifications per organization
EDITIONS
Available in both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Create an API Usage Notification
On the API Usage Notifications page you can supply the required values for a ratelimiting
notification
Available in Enterprise
Performance Unlimited
Developer and
Databasecom Editions
View API Usage Notifications
You can view edit delete or clone information about a API usage notification
USER PERMISSIONS
To view create edit or
delete notifications
Modify All Data
SEE ALSO
Work With APIs
Create an API Usage Notification
On the API Usage Notifications page you can supply the required values for a ratelimiting
notification
EDITIONS
From Setup enter API Usage Notifications in the Quick Find box then select
API Usage Notifications
Available in both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Click New
Enter the details
Notification Recipient The Salesforce user who will receive the notifications
Threshold The percentage of the rate limit that once exceeded in the specified notification
interval triggers a notification to be sent to the specified user Value must be between
and
Notification Interval Hours The time period for which the number of requests is measured
in hours For example if the interval is the rate must be exceeded in the past hours
for a notification to be sent
Available in Enterprise
Performance Unlimited
Developer and
Databasecom Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To view create edit or
delete notifications
Modify All Data
Enhance Salesforce with Code
Write Code
If you change the time period the new time period does not take effect until after the next notification of the existing time
period For example assume you have set the time period to send notifications every hour Then at pm you set the time
period to send notifications every hours A last notification from the old time period is sent at pm The next notification
would be sent at pm the next day
SEE ALSO
View API Usage Notifications
Manage API Usage Notifications
View API Usage Notifications
You can view edit delete or clone information about a API usage notification
EDITIONS
Notification Recipient The username for the person to whom the email notification is sent
Threshold The percent of the usage limit that when reached triggers an email notification
Notification Interval Hours The frequency at which the notifications are sent For example if
the notification interval is four hours a notification is sent only if the last notification was sent
at least four hours ago Due to the asynchronous nature of the notification process Salesforce
cant guarantee the notification interval
Created By The user who created the notification request and the time it was created
Modified By The user who last edited the notification
You can also create a new notification based on the values of the notification being displayed Click
Clone to create a new notification with the current values populated in the new notification You
can edit the values before saving
SEE ALSO
Available in both Salesforce
Classic and Lightning
Experience
Available in Enterprise
Performance Unlimited
Developer and
Databasecom Editions
USER PERMISSIONS
To view create edit or
delete notifications
Modify All Data
Create an API Usage Notification
Manage API Usage Notifications
Write Code
Write code using the Apex programming language to add business logic or use the Visualforce markup language to create the user
interface Integrate your application using APIs and authenticate your external applications
Developer Console
The Developer Console is an integrated development environment with a collection of tools you can use to create debug and test
applications in your Salesforce org
Work with Code
This section contains information about the tools and techniques you can use when making changes to your organization by using
code
Custom Metadata Types
You can create your own declarative developer frameworks for internal teams partners and customers Rather than building apps
from data you can build apps that are defined and driven by their own types of metadata Metadata is the information that describes
the configuration of each customers organization
