Understanding Query Results

Query results are returned as nested objects. The primary or “driving” object of the main SELECT statement in a SOQL query contains query results of subqueries.

For example, you can construct a query using either parent-to-child or child-to-parent syntax:

Child-to-parent:

1SELECT Id, FirstName, LastName, AccountId, Account.Name
2FROM Contact
3WHERE Account.Name LIKE 'Acme%'

This query returns one query result (assuming there were not too many returned records), with a row for every contact that met the WHERE clause criteria.

1"records": [
2    {
3      "attributes": {
4        "type": "Contact",
5        "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Contact/003R000000A1BCDFXX"
6      },
7      "Id": "003R000000A1BCDFXX",
8      "FirstName": "Jane",
9      "LastName": "Doe",
10      "AccountId": "001R000000Z1Y0xYAA",
11      "Account": {
12        "attributes": {
13          "type": "Account",
14          "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Account/001R000000Z1Y0xYAA"
15        },
16        "Name": "Acme Corp (West)"
17      }
18    },
19    {
20      "attributes": {
21        "type": "Contact",
22        "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Contact/003R000000A2CDEBZZ"
23      },
24      "Id": "003R000000A2CDEBZZ",
25      "FirstName": "John",
26      "LastName": "Smith",
27      "AccountId": "001R000000Z1Y0zYBB",
28      "Account": {
29        "attributes": {
30          "type": "Account",
31          "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Account/001R000000Z1Y0zYBB"
32        },
33        "Name": "Acme Global Solutions"
34      }
35    }
36  ]

Parent-to-child:

1SELECT Id, Name,
2  (
3    SELECT Id, FirstName, LastName
4    FROM Contacts
5  )
6FROM Account
7  WHERE Name like 'Acme%'

This query returns a set of accounts, and within each account, a query result set of Contact fields containing the contact information from the subquery.

1"records": [
2    {
3      "attributes": {
4        "type": "Account",
5        "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Account/001R000000Z1Y0xYAA"
6      },
7      "Id": "001R000000Z1Y0xYAA",
8      "Name": "Acme Corp (West)",
9      "Contacts": {
10        "totalSize": 2,
11        "done": true,
12        "records": [
13          {
14            "attributes": { "type": "Contact", "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Contact/003R000000A1BCDFXX" },
15            "Id": "003R000000A1BCDFXX",
16            "FirstName": "Jane",
17            "LastName": "Doe"
18          },
19          {
20            "attributes": { "type": "Contact", "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Contact/003R000000A3EFGHYY" },
21            "Id": "003R000000A3EFGHYY",
22            "FirstName": "David",
23            "LastName": "Jones"
24          }
25        ]
26      }
27    },
28    {
29      "attributes": {
30        "type": "Account",
31        "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Account/001R000000Z1Y0zYBB"
32      },
33      "Id": "001R000000Z1Y0zYBB",
34      "Name": "Acme Global Solutions",
35      "Contacts": {
36        "totalSize": 1,
37        "done": true,
38        "records": [
39          {
40            "attributes": { "type": "Contact", "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Contact/003R000000A2CDEBZZ" },
41            "Id": "003R000000A2CDEBZZ",
42            "FirstName": "John",
43            "LastName": "Smith"
44          }
45        ]
46      }
47    }
48  ]

The following sample illustrates how to process subquery results:

1private void querySample() {
2  QueryResult qr = null;
3  try {
4    qr = connection.query("SELECT a.Id, a.Name, " +
5      "(SELECT c.Id, c.FirstName, " +
6      "c.LastName FROM a.Contacts c) FROM Account a");
7    boolean done = false;
8    if (qr.getSize() > 0) {
9      while (!done) {
10        for (int i = 0; i < qr.getRecords().length; i++) {
11        Account acct = (Account) qr.getRecords()[i];
12        String name = acct.getName();
13        System.out.println("Account " + (i + 1) + ": " + name);
14        printContacts(acct.getContacts());
15        }
16        if (qr.isDone()) {
17          done = true;
18        } else {
19          qr = connection.queryMore(qr.getQueryLocator());
20        }
21      }
22    } else {
23      System.out.println("No records found.");
24    }
25    System.out.println("\nQuery succesfully executed.");
26  } catch (ConnectionException ce) {
27    System.out.println("\nFailed to execute query successfully, error message " +
28    "was: \n" + ce.getMessage());
29  }
30}
31
32private void printContacts(QueryResult qr) throws ConnectionException {
33  boolean done = false;
34  if (qr.getSize() > 0) {
35    while (!done) {
36    for (int i = 0; i < qr.getRecords().length; i++) {
37      Contact contact = (Contact) qr.getRecords()[i];
38      String fName = contact.getFirstName();
39      String lName = contact.getLastName();
40      System.out.println("Child contact " + (i + 1) + ": " + lName
41      + ", " + fName);
42    }
43    if (qr.isDone()) {
44      done = true;
45    } else {
46      qr = connection.queryMore(qr.getQueryLocator());
47    }
48    }
49  } else {
50    System.out.println("No child contacts found.");
51  }
52}