The vast amount of data you store and use in Salesforce still might not be enough to facilitate your company’s needs. That is why you’ll likely need to connect to data sources that are outside of your Salesforce organization. Salesforce Connect allows this through the use of Apex Connector Framework. What exactly is this framework and how does it help your organization’s Salesforce goals?
Apex Connector Framework Defined
The Apex Connector Framework is a set of methods and classes within the DataSource namespace that allows you to create custom adapters to connect external data sources to your organization’s Salesforce platform. The framework allows you to connect to data found in external legacy systems without necessarily storing them on your own Salesforce org.
Concepts Surrounding Salesforce Apex Connector Framework
The Apex Connector Framework works through the following important concepts:
- Adaptors Authentication
Authentication credentials are used to support the authentication of external data systems. DataSource.Provider class dictates the type of credentials to be used for the authentication processes.
- Callouts for Custom Adaptors
Apex codes have the ability to make callouts. And Salesforce Connect’s Custom Adapters are able to do the same. For external connections, ensure that you’ve incorporated authentication parameters in your callouts.
- QueryMore
The queryMode method of API queries aren’t automatically supported by Salesforce Connect’s custom adaptors. You’ll need to use the queryMode method within the SOAP API during the implementation so that the custom adaptor functions with the queryMode method.
You may break up large result sets into several smaller batches and use the queryMode method in SOAP API to iterate them. One batch size typically includes 500 records. However, you may opt to adjust this value in your query calls.
- External IDs
External objects may be viewed through adapters made from an Apex Connector framework. The values of these external object’s External ID standard field are declared by DataSource.com columns from the Apex codes.
- Paging
Note that Salesforce Connect doesn’t support any kind of paging within the system. Enabling paging requires implementation of either client-driven or server-driven paging.
Salesforce breaks down large sets of data records and displays them on a batch basis in the user interface. You may page through these batches provided that you implement either client-driven or server-driven paging.
To sum it all up, Salesforce Connect uses Apex Connector Framework to build customized adaptors that will connect internal Salesforce data to external data sources using code. Various concepts are also used to implement the Apex Connector Framework in order to successfully connect data across platforms.