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https://github.com/stevenmmortimer/salesforcer

This R package connects the Salesforce APIs from R using tidy principles.
https://github.com/stevenmmortimer/salesforcer

api-wrappers r r-language r-package r-programming salesforce salesforce-apis

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This R package connects the Salesforce APIs from R using tidy principles.

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README 

        
---

output: 

  github_document:

    html_preview: false

---



```{r, echo = FALSE, message = FALSE}

knitr::opts_chunk$set(

  fig.align = 'center',

  collapse = TRUE,

  comment = "#>",

  fig.path = "man/figures/README-")

options(tibble.print_min = 5L, tibble.print_max = 5L)

```



# salesforcer



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[![CRAN Status](https://www.r-pkg.org/badges/version/salesforcer)](https://cran.r-project.org/package=salesforcer)

[![Lifecycle: Stable](https://img.shields.io/badge/lifecycle-stable-brightgreen.svg)](https://lifecycle.r-lib.org/articles/stages.html#stable)

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[![Coverage Status](https://codecov.io/gh/stevenmmortimer/salesforcer/branch/main/graph/badge.svg)](https://app.codecov.io/gh/stevenmmortimer/salesforcer?branch=main)



{salesforcer} is an R package that connects to Salesforce Platform APIs using 

tidy principles. The package implements actions from the REST, SOAP, Bulk 1.0, 

Bulk 2.0, Reports and Dashboards, and Metadata APIs.   



Package features include: 



  * OAuth 2.0 (Single Sign On) and Basic (Username-Password) Authentication 

  methods (`sf_auth()`)

  * CRUD (Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete) methods for records using the SOAP, 

  REST, and Bulk APIs 

  * Query records via the SOAP, REST, Bulk 1.0, and Bulk 2.0 APIs using `sf_query()`

  * Manage and execute reports and dashboards with:  

    * `sf_list_reports()`, `sf_create_report()`, `sf_run_report()`, and more

  * Retrieve and modify metadata (Custom Objects, Fields, etc.) using the Metadata 

  API with:  

    * `sf_describe_objects()`, `sf_create_metadata()`, `sf_update_metadata()`, and more

  * Utilize backwards compatible functions for the {RForcecom} package, such as: 

    * `rforcecom.login()`, `rforcecom.getObjectDescription()`, `rforcecom.query()`, 

    `rforcecom.create()`

  * Basic utility calls (`sf_user_info()`, `sf_server_timestamp()`, `sf_list_objects()`)

  * Functions to assist with master data management (MDM) or data integrity of 

  records by finding duplicates (`sf_find_duplicates()`, `sf_find_duplicates_by_id()`), 

  merging records (`sf_merge()`), and converting leads (`sf_convert_lead()`)

  * Recover (`sf_undelete()`) or delete from the Recycle Bin (`sf_empty_recycle_bin()`) 

  and list ids of records deleted (`sf_get_deleted()`) or updated (`sf_get_updated()`) 

  within a specific timeframe

  * Passing API call control parameters such as, "All or None", "Duplicate Rule", 

  "Assignment Rule" execution and many more!  

  

## Table of Contents  

  * [Installation](#installation)

  * [Vignettes](#vignettes)

  * [Usage](#usage)

    * [Authenticate](#authenticate)

    * [Create](#create)

    * [Query](#query)

    * [Update](#update)

    * [Bulk Operations](#bulk-operations)

    * [Using the Metadata API](#using-the-metadata-api)

  * [Future](#future)

  * [Credits](#credits)

  * [More Information](#more-information)



## Installation



```{r, eval = FALSE}

# install the current CRAN version (1.0.1)

install.packages("salesforcer")



# or get the development version on GitHub

# install.packages("remotes")

remotes::install_github("StevenMMortimer/salesforcer")

```



If you encounter an issue while using this package, please file a minimal reproducible 

example on [GitHub](https://github.com/stevenmmortimer/salesforcer/issues).



## Vignettes



The README below outlines the basic package functionality. For more information 

please feel free to browse the {salesforcer} website at https://stevenmmortimer.github.io/salesforcer/ which contains the following vignettes:



  * [Getting Started](https://stevenmmortimer.github.io/salesforcer/articles/getting-started.html)

  * [Supported Queries](https://stevenmmortimer.github.io/salesforcer/articles/supported-queries.html)

  * [Working with Bulk APIs](https://stevenmmortimer.github.io/salesforcer/articles/working-with-bulk-apis.html)

  * [Working with Reports](https://stevenmmortimer.github.io/salesforcer/articles/working-with-reports.html)

  * [Working with Attachments](https://stevenmmortimer.github.io/salesforcer/articles/working-with-attachments.html)

  * [Working with Metadata](https://stevenmmortimer.github.io/salesforcer/articles/working-with-metadata.html)

  * [Passing Control Args](https://stevenmmortimer.github.io/salesforcer/articles/passing-control-args.html)

  * [Transitioning from RForcecom](https://stevenmmortimer.github.io/salesforcer/articles/transitioning-from-RForcecom.html)



## Usage



### Authenticate



First, load the {salesforcer} package and log in. There are two ways to 

authenticate:  



  1. OAuth 2.0

  2. ~~Basic Username-Password~~

  

**NOTE**: Beginning February 1, 2022 authentication via a username and

password will not work in most Salesforce organizations. On that date Salesforce

will begin requiring customers to enable multi-factor authentication (MFA). The

function `sf_auth()` will return the error message:



```sh

INVALID_LOGIN: Invalid username, password, security token; or user locked out.

```



It has always been recommended to use OAuth 2.0 so that passwords do not have to

be shared or embedded within scripts. For more information on how OAuth 2.0 works

within the {salesforcer} package, please read the 

[Getting Started](https://stevenmmortimer.github.io/salesforcer/articles/getting-started.html) 

vignette.



```{r auth, include = FALSE}

suppressWarnings(suppressMessages(library(dplyr)))

library(salesforcer)

token_path <- Sys.getenv("SALESFORCER_TOKEN_PATH")

sf_auth(token = paste0(token_path, "salesforcer_token.rds"))

```



```{r, eval=FALSE}

library(dplyr, warn.conflicts = FALSE)

library(salesforcer)



# Using OAuth 2.0 authentication

sf_auth()

```



After logging in with `sf_auth()`, you can check your connectivity by looking at 

the information returned about the current user. It should be information about you!



```{r}

# pull down information of person logged in

# it's a simple easy call to get started 

# and confirm a connection to the APIs

user_info <- sf_user_info()

sprintf("Organization Id: %s", user_info$organizationId)

sprintf("User Id: %s", user_info$userId)

```



### Create



Salesforce has objects and those objects contain records. One default object is the 

"Contact" object. This example shows how to create two records in the Contact object.



```{r create-records}

n <- 2

new_contacts <- tibble(FirstName = rep("Test", n),

                       LastName = paste0("Contact-Create-", 1:n))

created_records <- sf_create(new_contacts, object_name = "Contact")

created_records

```



### Query



Salesforce has proprietary form of SQL called SOQL (Salesforce Object Query 

Language). SOQL is a powerful tool that allows you to return the attributes of records 

on almost any object in Salesforce including Accounts, Contacts, Tasks, Opportunities, 

even Attachments! Below is an example where we grab the data we just created 

including Account object information for which the Contact record is associated 

with.



```{r query-records}

my_soql <- sprintf("SELECT Id, 

                           Account.Name, 

                           FirstName, 

                           LastName 

                    FROM Contact 

                    WHERE Id in ('%s')", 

                   paste0(created_records$id , collapse = "','"))

queried_records <- sf_query(my_soql)

queried_records

```



**NOTE**: In the example above, you'll notice that the `"Account.Name"` column

does not appear in the results. This is because the SOAP and REST APIs only

return an empty Account object for the record if there is no relationship to an

account (see #78). There

is no reliable way to extract and rebuild the empty columns based on the query

string. If there were Account information, an additional column titled

`"Account.Name"` would appear in the results. Note, that the Bulk 1.0 and Bulk

2.0 APIs will return `"Account.Name"` as a column of all `NA` values for this

query because they return results differently.



### Update



After creating records you can update them using `sf_update()`. Updating a record 

requires you to pass the Salesforce `Id` of the record. Salesforce creates a unique 

18-character identifier on each record and uses that to know which record to 

attach the update information you provide. Simply include a field or column in your 

update dataset called "Id" and the information will be matched. Here is an example 

where we update each of the records we created earlier with a new first name 

called "TestTest".



```{r update-records}

# Update some of those records

queried_records <- queried_records %>%

  mutate(FirstName = "TestTest")



updated_records <- sf_update(queried_records, object_name = "Contact")

updated_records

```



```{r cleanup-records, include=FALSE}

deleted_records <- sf_delete(updated_records$id)

deleted_records

```



### Bulk Operations



For really large operations (inserts, updates, upserts, deletes, and queries) Salesforce 

provides the [Bulk 1.0](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_asynch.meta/api_asynch/asynch_api_intro.htm) 

and [Bulk 2.0](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_asynch.meta/api_asynch/introduction_bulk_api_2.htm) 

APIs. In order to use the Bulk APIs in {salesforcer} you can just add `api_type = "Bulk 1.0"` 

or `api_type = "Bulk 2.0"` to your functions and the operation will be executed 

using the Bulk APIs. It's that simple. 



The benefits of using the Bulk API for larger datasets is that the operation will 

reduce the number of individual API calls (organization usually have a limit on 

total calls) and batching the requests in bulk is usually quicker than running thousands 

of individuals calls when your data is large. **Note:** the Bulk 2.0 API does **NOT** 

guarantee the order of the data submitted is preserved in the output. This means 

that you must join on other data columns to match up the Ids that are returned 

in the output with the data you submitted. For this reason, Bulk 2.0 may not be 

a good solution for creating, updating, or upserting records where you need to keep 

track of the created Ids. The Bulk 2.0 API would be fine for deleting records where 

you only need to know which Ids were successfully deleted.



```{r bulk-example}

# create contacts using the Bulk API

n <- 2

new_contacts <- tibble(FirstName = rep("Test", n),

                       LastName = paste0("Contact-Create-", 1:n))

created_records <- sf_create(new_contacts, "Contact", api_type = "Bulk 1.0")

created_records



# query large recordsets using the Bulk API

my_soql <- sprintf("SELECT Id,

                           FirstName, 

                           LastName

                    FROM Contact 

                    WHERE Id in ('%s')", 

                   paste0(created_records$Id , collapse = "','"))



queried_records <- sf_query(my_soql, "Contact", api_type = "Bulk 1.0")

queried_records



# delete these records using the Bulk 2.0 API

deleted_records <- sf_delete(queried_records$Id, "Contact", api_type = "Bulk 2.0")

deleted_records

```



### Using the Metadata API



Salesforce is a very flexible platform in that it provides the 

[Metadata API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_meta.meta/api_meta/meta_intro.htm) 

for users to create, read, update and delete their entire Salesforce environment from 

objects to page layouts and more. This makes it very easy to programmatically setup 

and teardown the Salesforce environment. One common use case for the Metadata API 

is retrieving information about an object (fields, permissions, etc.). You can use 

the `sf_read_metadata()` function to return a list of objects and their metadata. 

In the example below we retrieve the metadata for the Account and Contact objects. 

Note that the `metadata_type` argument is "CustomObject". Standard Objects are an 

implementation of CustomObjects, so they are returned using that metadata type.



```{r metadata-read}

read_obj_result <- sf_read_metadata(metadata_type='CustomObject',

                                    object_names=c('Account', 'Contact'))

read_obj_result[[1]][c('fullName', 'label', 'sharingModel', 'enableHistory')]

first_two_fields_idx <- head(which(names(read_obj_result[[1]]) == 'fields'), 2)

# show the first two returned fields of the Account object

read_obj_result[[1]][first_two_fields_idx]

```



The data is returned as a list because object definitions are highly nested representations. 

You may notice that we are missing some really specific details, such as, the picklist 

values of a field with type "Picklist". You can get that information using 

`sf_describe_object_fields()`. Here is an example using `sf_describe_object_fields()` 

where we get a `tbl_df` with one row for each field on the Account object: 



```{r soap-describe-object-fields}

acct_fields <- sf_describe_object_fields('Account')

acct_fields %>% select(name, label, length, soapType, type)



# show the picklist selection options for the Account Type field

acct_fields %>% 

  filter(label == "Account Type") %>% 

  .$picklistValues

```



## Future



Future APIs to support (roughly in priority order):



 - [Connect (Chatter) REST API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.chatterapi.meta/chatterapi/intro_what_is_chatter_connect.htm)

 - [Analytics External Data API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.bi_dev_guide_ext_data.meta/bi_dev_guide_ext_data/bi_ext_data_overview.htm)

 - [Analytics REST API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.bi_dev_guide_rest.meta/bi_dev_guide_rest/bi_rest_overview.htm) 

 - [Tooling API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_tooling.meta/api_tooling/intro_api_tooling.htm)

 - [Actions API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_action.meta/api_action/actions_intro.htm)

 - [Streaming API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_streaming.meta/api_streaming/intro_stream.htm)

 - [Place Order API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_placeorder.meta/api_placeorder/sforce_placeorder_rest_api_intro.htm)

 - [Industries API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_rest_industries.meta/api_rest_industries/intro.htm)

 - [Data.com API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.datadotcom_api_dev_guide.meta/datadotcom_api_dev_guide/datadotcom_api_dev_guide_intro.htm)  

 

## Credits



This application uses other open source software components. The authentication 

components are mostly verbatim copies of the routines established in the {googlesheets}

package (https://github.com/jennybc/googlesheets). Methods are inspired by the {RForcecom} 

package (https://github.com/hiratake55/RForcecom). We acknowledge and are grateful 

to these developers for their contributions to open source.



## More Information



Salesforce provides client libraries and examples in many programming languages (Java, 

Python, Ruby, and PhP) but unfortunately R is not a supported language. However, 

most all operations supported by the Salesforce APIs are available via this package. 

This package makes requests best formatted to match what the APIs require as input. 

This articulation is not perfect and continued progress will be made to add and improve 

functionality. For details on formatting, attributes, and methods please refer to 

[Salesforce's documentation](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/content/learn/modules/api_basics/api_basics_overview) as they are explained better there. More information 

is also available on the {salesforcer} pkgdown website at https://stevenmmortimer.github.io/salesforcer/.  



[Get supported salesforcer with the Tidelift Subscription](https://tidelift.com/subscription/pkg/cran-salesforcer?utm_source=cran-salesforcer&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=readme)



---

Please note that this project is released with a [Contributor Code of Conduct](https://github.com/stevenmmortimer/salesforcer/blob/main/.github/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md). 

By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.  



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