SOAP API Developer Guide

Getting Started
Introducing SOAP API
Quick Start
Step 1: Sign up for Salesforce Developer Edition
Step 2: Generate or Obtain the Web Service WSDL
Step 3: Import the WSDL File Into Your Development Platform
Step 4: Walk Through the Sample Code
Object Basics
API Call Basics
Error Handling
Security and the API
Using the Partner WSDL
Reference
Using the API with Salesforce Features
Glossary
PDF

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Step 4: Walk Through the Sample Code

Once you have imported your WSDL file, you can begin building client applications that use the API. Use the following samples to create a basic client application. Comments embedded in the sample explain each section of code.

Java Sample Code

This section walks through a sample Java client application that uses the WSC SOAP client. The purpose of this sample application is to show the required steps for logging into the login server and to demonstrate the invocation and subsequent handling of several API calls.

To run this sample, you must pass the authentication endpoint URL as an argument for your program. You can obtain this URL from the WSDL file. This sample application performs the following main tasks:

  1. Prompts the user for their Salesforce username and password.
  2. Calls login() to log in to the single login server and, if the login succeeds, retrieves user information and writes it to the console along with session information.
  3. Calls describeGlobal() to retrieve a list of all available objects for the organization’s data. The describeGlobal method determines the objects that are available to the logged in user. This call should not be made more than once per session, since the data returned from the call is not likely to change frequently. The DescribeGlobalResult is echoed to the console.
  4. Calls describeSObjects() to retrieve metadata (field list and object properties) for a specified object. The describeSObject method illustrates the type of metadata information that can be obtained for each object available to the user. The sample client application executes a describeSObjects() call on the object that the user specifies and then echoes the returned metadata information to the console. Object metadata information includes permissions, field types and lengths, and available values for picklist fields and types for referenceTo fields.
  5. Calls query(), passing a simple query string ("SELECT FirstName, LastName FROM Contact"), and iterating through the returned QueryResult.
  6. Calls logout() to the log the user out.

The following sample code uses try/catch blocks to handle exceptions that might be thrown by the API calls.

C# Sample Code

This section walks through a sample C# client application. The purpose of this sample application is to show the required steps for logging in and to demonstrate the invocation and subsequent handling of several API calls.

This sample application performs the following main tasks:

  1. Prompts the user for their Salesforce username and password.
  2. Calls login() to log in to the single login server and, if the login succeeds:
    • Sets the returned sessionId into the session header, which is required for session authentication on subsequent API calls.
    • Resets the Lightning Platform endpoint to the returned serverUrl, which is the target of subsequent API calls.

      All client applications that access the API must complete the tasks in this step before attempting any subsequent API calls.

    • Retrieves user information and writes it to the console along with session information.
  3. Calls describeGlobal() to retrieve a list of all available objects for the organization’s data. The describeGlobal method determines the objects that are available to the logged in user. This call should not be made more than once per session, since the data returned from the call is not likely to change frequently. The DescribeGlobalResult is echoed to the console.
  4. Calls describeSObjects() to retrieve metadata (field list and object properties) for a specified object. The describeSObject method illustrates the type of metadata information that can be obtained for each object available to the user. The sample client application executes a describeSObjects() call on the object that the user specifies and then echoes the returned metadata information to the console. Object metadata information includes permissions, field types and lengths, and available values for picklist fields and types for referenceTo fields.
  5. Calls query(), passing a simple query string ("SELECT FirstName, LastName FROM Contact"), and iterating through the returned QueryResult.
  6. Calls logout() to the log the user out.

The following sample code uses try/catch blocks to handle exceptions that might be thrown by the API calls.

The following code begins the sample C# client application.

The following C# example is the same as the previous C# example, except it uses .NET 3.0 SoapClient services instead of .NET 2.0 SforceService services.