REST

How to call salesforce.com using REST

Inspired by the Quickstart

Requirements

• Your salesforce org

• UNIX shell with cURL command

Legend

• Text you will edit

Three Easy Steps

1) Replace na9 below with your instance.

2) Authenticate via Workbench for your session:

Workbench > Login > Info > Session Info > Connection > Session Id

Use that in <session ID> below.

3) Run these examples in your shell:

Basic examples

# List available versions of the REST API

curl https://na9.salesforce.com/services/data/ \

-H 'Authorization: Bearer <session ID>' \

-H "X-PrettyPrint:1"

# List all custom objects and fields

curl https://na9.salesforce.com/services/data/v26.0/sobjects \

-H 'Authorization: Bearer <session ID>' \

-H 'X-PrettyPrint:1' \

| grep name | grep __c

Chatter examples

# List all users in this org

curl https://na9.salesforce.com/services/data/v26.0/chatter/users \

-H 'Authorization: Bearer <session ID>' \

-H 'X-PrettyPrint:1' \

| grep name

# List all groups in this org

curl https://na9.salesforce.com/services/data/v26.0/chatter/groups \

-H 'Authorization: Bearer <session ID>' \

-H 'X-PrettyPrint:1' \

| grep name

# Who am I?

curl https://na9.salesforce.com/services/data/v26.0/chatter/users/me \

-H 'Authorization: Bearer <session ID>' \

-H 'X-PrettyPrint:1' \

| grep name

# My groups

curl https://na9.salesforce.com/services/data/v26.0/chatter/users/me/groups \

-H 'Authorization: Bearer <session ID>' \

-H 'X-PrettyPrint:1' \

| grep name

# Update my status

curl https://na9.salesforce.com/services/data/v26.0/chatter/feeds/news/me/feed-items?text=Posted+using+REST+API \

-H 'Authorization: Bearer <session ID>' \

-H 'X-PrettyPrint:1' -X POST

Retrieval and Description examples

(Assumes your data model includes a custom object Job__c with textual field status__c.  Season to taste)

# Retrieve all records in one object (here the custom object Job__c):

curl https://na9.salesforce.com/services/data/v26.0/query?q=SELECT+Name+FROM+Job__c \

-H 'Authorization: Bearer <session ID>' \

-H "X-PrettyPrint:1"

# Describe an object (Job__c):

curl https://na9.salesforce.com/services/data/v26.0/sobjects/Job__c/describe/ \

-H 'Authorization: Bearer <session ID>' \

-H 'X-PrettyPrint:1'

# Inspect a record (replace literal Id below with your actual record Id)

curl https://na9.salesforce.com/services/data/v26.0/sobjects/Job__c/a0OE0000000TjF7/ \

-H 'Authorization: Bearer <session ID>' \

-H "X-PrettyPrint:1"

DML examples

Step 1: Prepare source data files:

Create a file (NewRecord.json)containing one record to be added to our object Job__c:

{ "Name" : "Java Janitor" }

Create a file (PatchRecord.json) containing an updated field to be applied to a record:

{ "Status__c" : "Closed" }

Step 2: Create or Update a record:

# Insert from source data file (above): 

curl https://na9.salesforce.com/services/data/v26.0/sobjects/Job__c/ \

-H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @NewRecord.json \

-H 'Authorization: Bearer <session ID>' \

-H "X-PrettyPrint:1"

# Update a record.  Replace the literal Id below with your actual Id of the record to be replaced:

curl https://na9.salesforce.com/services/data/v26.0/sobjects/Job__c/a0OE0000000TjF7 \

-H 'Authorization: Bearer <session ID>' \

-H "Content-Type: application/json" --data-binary @PatchRecord.json -X PATCH \

-H "X-PrettyPrint:1" 

Authored by Matthew Reiser, 2013.  Your feedback is always welcome.