Metadata API Developer Guide

Getting Started
Understanding Metadata API
Quick Start
Prerequisites
Step 1: Generate or Obtain the Web Service WSDLs for Your Organization
Step 2: Import the WSDL Files Into Your Development Platform
Step 3: Walk Through the Java Sample Code
Using Metadata API
Reference
Appendices
Glossary
PDF

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Prerequisites

Make sure that you complete these prerequisites before you start using Metadata API.
  • Create a development environment.

    It is strongly recommended that you use a sandbox, which is an exact replica of your production organization. Enterprise, Unlimited, and Performance Editions come with free developer sandboxes. For more information, see http://www.salesforce.com/platform/cloud-infrastructure/sandbox.jsp.

    Alternatively, you can use a Developer Edition org, which provides access to all of the features available with Enterprise Edition, but is limited by the number of users and the amount of storage space. A Developer Edition org isn’t a copy of your production org, but it provides an environment where you can build and test your solutions without affecting your organization’s data. Developer Edition accounts are available for free at http://developer.salesforce.com/signup.

  • Identify a user that has the API Enabled permission and the Modify Metadata Through Metadata API Functions permission or Modify All Data permission. These permissions are required to access Metadata API calls.

    If a user requires access to metadata but not to data, enable the Modify Metadata Through Metadata API Functions permission. Otherwise, enable the Modify All Data permission.

    Note

  • Install a SOAP client. Metadata API works with current SOAP development environments, including, but not limited to, Visual Studio® .NET and the Web Service Connector (WSC).

    In this document, we provide Java examples based on WSC and JDK 6 (Java Platform Standard Edition Development Kit 6). To run the samples, first download the latest force-wsc JAR file and its dependencies from mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.force.api/force-wsc/. Dependencies are listed on the page when you select a version.

    Development platforms vary in their SOAP implementations. Implementation differences in certain development platforms can prevent access to some or all features in Metadata API.

    Note