ContentDistribution

Represents information about sharing a document externally. This object is available in API version 32.0 and later.

Supported Calls

create(), delete(), describeSObjects(), query(), retrieve(), undelete(), update(), upsert()

Special Access Rules

Salesforce CRM Content must be enabled to query shared documents. To query content deliveries, content deliveries must be enabled.
Users (including users with the “View All Data” permission) can query only the files that they have access to. If the file is managed by a Content Library, the user must have “Deliver Content” enabled in the library permission definition and be a member of the library. If the file isn’t managed by a Content Library, the user must have the “Enable Creation of Content Deliveries for Salesforce Files” permission.
Users can query the DistributionPublicUrl and Password fields only if they are the file owner, if the file is shared with them, or if the RelatedRecordId specifies a record that the users can access.
If the shared document is deleted, the delete cascades to any associated ContentDistribution. The ContentDistribution is still queryable by using the QueryAll verb.
If the shared document is archived, the only fields that users can edit are ExpiryDate and PreferencesExpires.
Customer Portal users can’t access this object.
Chatter Free users can’t access this object.

Fields

Field Name	Details
ContentDocumentId	Type reference Properties Filter, Group, Nillable, Sort Description ID of the shared document.
ContentVersionId	Type reference Properties Create, Filter, Group, Sort Description ID of the shared document version.
DistributionPublicUrl	Type string Properties Nillable, Sort Description URL of the link to the shared document.
ExpiryDate	Type dateTime Properties Create, Filter, Nillable, Sort, Update Description Date when the shared document becomes inaccessible.
FirstViewDate	Type dateTime Properties Filter, Nillable, Sort Description Date when the shared document is first viewed.
LastViewDate	Type dateTime Properties Filter, Nillable, Sort Description Date when the shared document was last viewed.
Name	Type string Properties Create, Filter, Group, Sort, Update Description Name of the content delivery.
OwnerId	Type reference Properties Create, Filter, Group, Sort, Update Description ID of the user who owns the shared document.
Password	Type string Properties Group, Nillable, Sort Description A password that allows access to a shared document.
PreferencesAllowOriginalDownload	Type boolean Properties Create, Filter, Update Description When `true`, the shared document can be downloaded as the file type that it was uploaded as. When `false`, download availability depends on whether a preview of the file exists. If a preview exists, the file can’t be downloaded. If a preview doesn’t exist, the file can still be downloaded. If the shared document is a link, it can’t be downloaded.
PreferencesAllowPDFDownload	Type boolean Properties Create, Filter, Update Description When `true`, the shared document can be downloaded as a PDF if the original file type is PDF or if a PDF preview has been generated.
PreferencesAllowViewInBrowser	Type boolean Properties Create, Filter, Update Description When `true`, a preview of the shared document can be viewed in a Web browser.
PreferencesExpires	Type boolean Properties Create, Filter, Update Description When `true`, access to the shared document expires on the date that’s specified by ExpiryDate.
PreferencesLinkLatestVersion	Type boolean Properties Create, Filter, Update Description When `true`, users see the most recent version of a shared document. When `false`, users see the version of the document that’s shared, even if it isn’t the most recent version.
PreferencesNotifyOnVisit	Type boolean Properties Create, Filter, Update Description When `true`, the owner of the shared document is emailed the first time that someone views or downloads the shared document.
PreferencesNotifyRndtnComplete	Type boolean Properties Create, Filter, Update Description When `true`, the owner of the shared document is emailed when renditions of the shared document that can be previewed in a Web browser are generated.
PreferencesPasswordRequired	Type boolean Properties Create, Filter, Update Description When `true`, a password, specified by Password, is required to access the shared document.
RelatedRecordId	Type reference Properties Create, Filter, Group, Nillable, Sort, Update Description ID of the record, such as an Account, Campaign, or Case, that the shared document is related to.
ViewCount	Type int Properties Filter, Group, Nillable, Sort Description The number of times that the shared document has been viewed.

Usage

Use this object to create, update, delete, or query information about a document shared externally via a link or via Salesforce CRM Content delivery.

The ContentDistribution object supports triggers before and after these operations: insert, update, delete. It supports triggers after undelete.

Example

The VP of Marketing wants file authors to specify whether their files can be shared with external people using content delivery. He also wants some files to have a password. You can add a custom field DeliveryPolicy on the ContentVersion object. Make the custom field a picklist with the values, Allowed, Blocked, and Password required. Add the field to the ContentVersion layout so that the user can set the delivery policy per file. Then, add an insert trigger for the ContentDistribution object to enforce the rules based on the delivery policy set in the file.

The ContentVersionId for ContentDistribution must be unique.

Note

This trigger for the ContentDistribution object enforces the delivery policy rules for each file:

1trigger deliveryPolicy on ContentDistribution (before insert) {
2    for (ContentDistribution cd : trigger.new) {
3        String versionId = DeliveryPolicyHelper.getContentVersionId(cd);
4        ContentVersion version = [select DeliveryPolicy__c from ContentVersion where Id = :versionId];
5        String policy = version.DeliveryPolicy__c;
6        if (policy.equals('Blocked')) {
7            cd.addError('This file is not allowed to be delivered.');
8        } else if (policy.equals('Password required')){
9            if (!DeliveryPolicyHelper.requirePassword(cd)) {
10                cd.addError('To deliver this file, set a password.');
11            }
12        } 
13    }
14}

The trigger calls this helper class:

1public class DeliveryPolicyHelper {
2    public static String getContentVersionId(ContentDistribution cd) {
3        if (cd.ContentVersionId != null) {
4            return cd.ContentVersionId;
5        } else {
6            String versionId = [select LatestPublishedVersionId from ContentDocument where Id = :cd.ContentDocumentId].get(0).LatestPublishedVersionId;
7            return versionId;
8        }
9    }
10    
11    public static boolean requirePassword(ContentDistribution cd) {
12        return cd.PreferencesPasswordRequired;
13    }
14}

Apex has a per organization limit of 10 concurrent requests that last longer than 5 seconds. A trigger that uploads files can easily hit this limit.

Important

Object Reference for Salesforce and Force.com