Restforce

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Restforce is a ruby gem for the Salesforce REST api.
It’s meant to be a lighter weight alternative to the databasedotcom gem that offers
greater flexibility and more advanced functionality.

Features include:

  • A clean and modular architecture using Faraday middleware and Hashie::Mash’d responses.
  • Support for interacting with multiple users from different orgs.
  • Support for parent-to-child relationships.
  • Support for aggregate queries.
  • Support for the Streaming API
  • Support for the GetUpdated API
  • Support for blob data types.
  • Support for GZIP compression.
  • Support for custom Apex REST endpoints.
  • Support for dependent picklists.
  • Support for decoding Force.com Canvas signed requests. (NEW!)

Official Website | Documentation | Changelog

Installation

Add this line to your application’s Gemfile:

gem ‘restforce’

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install restforce

As of version 2.0.0, this gem is only compatible with Ruby 1.9.3 and later. To use Ruby 1.9.2 and below, you’ll need to manually specify that you wish to use version 1.5.3.

This gem is versioned using Semantic Versioning, so you can be confident when updating that there will not be breaking changes outside of a major version (following format MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH, so for instance moving from 2.3.0 to 3.0.0 would be allowed to include incompatible API changes). See the changelog for details on what has changed in each version.

Usage

Restforce is designed with flexibility and ease of use in mind. By default, all API calls will
return Hashie::Mash objects,
so you can do things like client.query('select Id, (select Name from Children__r) from Account').Children__r.first.Name.

Initialization

Which authentication method you use really depends on your use case. If you’re
building an application where many users from different orgs are authenticated
through oauth and you need to interact with data in their org on their behalf,
you should use the OAuth token authentication method.

If you’re using the gem to interact with a single org (maybe you’re building some
salesforce integration internally?) then you should use the username/password
authentication method.

It is also important to note that the client object should not be reused across different threads, otherwise you may encounter thread-safety issues.

OAuth token authentication

client = Restforce.new :oauth_token => 'access_token',
  :instance_url  => 'instance url'

Although the above will work, you’ll probably want to take advantage of the (re)authentication middleware by specifying refresh_token, client_id, client_secret, and authentication_callback:

client = Restforce.new :oauth_token => 'access_token',
  :refresh_token           => 'refresh token',
  :instance_url            => 'instance url',
  :client_id               => 'client_id',
  :client_secret           => 'client_secret',
  :authentication_callback => Proc.new {|x| Rails.logger.debug x.to_s}

The middleware will use the refresh_token automatically to acquire a new access_token if the existing access_token is invalid.

authentication_callback is a proc that handles the response from Salesforce when the refresh_token is used to obtain a new access_token. This allows the access_token to be saved for re-use later, otherwise subsequent API calls will continue the cycle of “auth failure/issue new access_token/auth success”.

The proc is passed one argument, a Hashie::Mash of the response from the Salesforce API:

{
    "access_token" => "00Dx0000000BV7z!AR8AQP0jITN80ESEsj5EbaZTFG0RNBaT1cyWk7T5rqoDjoNIWQ2ME_sTZzBjfmOE6zMHq6y8PIW4eWze9JksNEkWUl.Cju7m4",
       "signature" => "SSSbLO/gBhmmyNUvN18ODBDFYHzakxOMgqYtu+hDPsc=",
           "scope" => "refresh_token full",
    "instance_url" => "https://na1.salesforce.com",
              "id" => "https://login.salesforce.com/id/00Dx0000000BV7z/005x00000012Q9P",
      "token_type" => "Bearer",
       "issued_at" => "1278448384422"
}

The id field can be used to uniquely identify the user that the access_token and refresh_token belong to.

Username/Password authentication

If you prefer to use a username and password to authenticate:

client = Restforce.new :username => 'foo',
  :password       => 'bar',
  :security_token => 'security token',
  :client_id      => 'client_id',
  :client_secret  => 'client_secret'

You can also set the username, password, security token, client ID, client
secret and API version in environment variables:

export SALESFORCE_USERNAME="username"
export SALESFORCE_PASSWORD="password"
export SALESFORCE_SECURITY_TOKEN="security token"
export SALESFORCE_CLIENT_ID="client id"
export SALESFORCE_CLIENT_SECRET="client secret"
export SALESFORCE_API_VERSION="37.0"

client = Restforce.new

Proxy Support

You can specify a HTTP proxy using the proxy_uri option, as follows, or by setting the SALESFORCE_PROXY_URI environment variable:

client = Restforce.new :username => 'foo',
  :password       => 'bar',
  :security_token => 'security token',
  :client_id      => 'client_id',
  :client_secret  => 'client_secret',
  :proxy_uri      => 'http://proxy.example.com:123'

You may specify a username and password for the proxy with a URL along the lines of ‘http://user:password@proxy.example.com:123’.

Sandbox Orgs

You can connect to sandbox orgs by specifying a host. The default host is
'login.salesforce.com’:

client = Restforce.new :host => 'test.salesforce.com'

The host can also be set with the environment variable SALESFORCE_HOST.

Global configuration

You can set any of the options passed into Restforce.new globally:

Restforce.configure do |config|
  config.client_id     = 'foo'
  config.client_secret = 'bar'
end

API versions

By default, the gem defaults to using version 26.0 (Winter ‘13) of the Salesforce API.
Some more recent API endpoints will not be available without moving to a more recent
version - if you’re trying to use a method that is unavailable with your API version,
Restforce will raise an APIVersionError.

You can change the api_version setting from the default either on a per-client basis:

client = Restforce.new api_version: "32.0" # ...

or, you may set it globally for Restforce as a whole:

Restforce.configure do |config|
  config.api_version = "32.0"
  # ...
end

Bang! methods

All the CRUD methods (create, update, upsert, destroy) have equivalent methods with
a ! at the end (create!, update!, upsert!, destroy!), which can be used if you need
to do some custom error handling. The bang methods will raise exceptions, while the
non-bang methods will return false in the event that an exception is raised. This
works similarly to ActiveRecord.

query

accounts = client.query("select Id, Something__c from Account where Id = 'someid'")
# => #

account = accounts.first
# => #

account.sobject_type
# => 'Account'

account.Id
# => "someid"

account.Name = 'Foobar'
account.save
# => true

account.destroy
# => true

query_all

accounts = client.query_all("select Id, Something__c from Account where isDeleted = true")
# => #

query_all allows you to include results from your query that Salesforce hides in the default “query” method. These include soft-deleted records and archived records (e.g. Task and Event records which are usually archived automatically after they are a year old).

Only available in version 29.0 and later of the Salesforce API.

explain

explain takes the same parameters as query and returns a query plan in JSON format.
For the nitty-gritty details on the response meanings visit the
Salesforce Query Explain page.

accounts = client.explain("select Id, Something__c from Account where Id = 'someid'")
# => #

Only available in version 30.0 and later of the Salesforce API.

find

client.find('Account', '001D000000INjVe')
# => #

client.find('Account', '1234', 'Some_External_Id_Field__c')
# => #

select

select allows the fetching of a specific list of fields from a single object. It requires an external_id lookup, but is often much faster than an arbitrary query.

# Select the `Id` column from a record with `Some_External_Id_Field__c` set to '001D000000INjVe'
client.select('Account', '001D000000INjVe', ["Id"], 'Some_External_Id_Field__c')
# => {"attributes" : {"type" : "Account","url" : "/services/data/v20.0/sobjects/Account/Some_External_Id_Field__c/001D000000INjVe"}, "Id" : "003F000000BGIn3"}

search

# Find all occurrences of 'bar'
client.search('FIND {bar}')
# => #

# Find accounts matching the term 'genepoint' and return the `Name` field
client.search('FIND {genepoint} RETURNING Account (Name)').map(&:Name)
# => ['GenePoint']

create

# Add a new account
client.create('Account', Name: 'Foobar Inc.')
# => '0016000000MRatd'

update

# Update the Account with `Id` '0016000000MRatd'
client.update('Account', Id: '0016000000MRatd', Name: 'Whizbang Corp')
# => true

upsert

# Update the record with external `External__c` external ID set to '12'
client.upsert('Account', 'External__c', External__c: 12, Name: 'Foobar')

destroy

# Delete the Account with `Id` '0016000000MRatd'
client.destroy('Account', '0016000000MRatd')
# => true

describe

# Get the global describe for all sobjects
client.describe
# => { ... }

# Get the describe for the Account object
client.describe('Account')
# => { ... }

describe_layouts

# Get layouts for an sobject type
client.describe_layouts('Account')
# => { ... }

# Get the details for a specific layout by its ID
client.describe_layouts('Account', '012E0000000RHEp')
# => { ... }

Only available in version 28.0 and later of the Salesforce API.

picklist_values

# Fetch picklist value for Account's `Type` field
client.picklist_values('Account', 'Type')
# => [#]

# Given a custom object named Automobile__c with picklist fields
# `Model__c` and `Make__c`, where options for `Model__c` depends on the value of
# `Make__c`.
client.picklist_values('Automobile__c', 'Model__c', :valid_for => 'Honda')
# => [#, ... ]

user_info

# Get info about the logged-in user
client.user_info
# => #

limits

limits returns the API limits for the currently connected organization. This includes information such as Daily API calls and Daily Bulk API calls. More information can be found on the
Salesforce Limits page.

# Get the current limit info
limits = client.limits
# => #

limits["DailyApiRequests"]
# => {"Max"=>15000, "Remaining"=>14746}

Only available in version 29.0 and later of the Salesforce API.

get_updated

Retrieves the list of individual record IDs that have been updated (added or changed) within the given timespan for the specified object

# Get the ids of all accounts which have been updated in the last day
client.get_updated('Account', Time.local(2015,8,18), Time.local(2015,8,19))
# => { ... }

get_deleted

Retrieves the list of IDs and time of deletion for records that have been deleted within the given timespan for the specified object

# Get the list of accounts which have been deleted in the last day
client.get_deleted('Account', Time.local(2015,8,18), Time.local(2015,8,19))
# => { ... }

authenticate!

Performs an authentication and returns the response. In general, calling this
directly shouldn’t be required, since the client will handle authentication for
you automatically. This should only be used if you want to force
an authentication before using the streaming api, or you want to get some
information about the user.

response = client.authenticate!
# => #

# Get the user information
info = client.get(response.id).body
info.user_id
# => '005E0000001eM4LIAU'

File Uploads

Using the new Blob Data api feature (500mb limit):

client.create 'Document', FolderId: '00lE0000000FJ6H',
  Description: 'Document test',
  Name: 'My image',
  Body: Restforce::UploadIO.new(File.expand_path('image.jpg', __FILE__), 'image/jpeg')

Using base64 encoded data (37.5mb limit):

client.create 'Document', FolderId: '00lE0000000FJ6H',
  Description: 'Document test',
  Name: 'My image',
  Body: Base64::encode64(File.read('image.jpg'))

See also: Inserting or updating blob data

Downloading Attachments and Documents

Restforce also makes it incredibly easy to download Attachments or Documents:

Attachments
attachment = client.query('select Id, Name, Body from Attachment').first
File.open(attachment.Name, 'wb') { |f| f.write(attachment.Body) }
Documents
document = client.query('select Id, Name, Body from Document').first
File.open(document.Name, 'wb') { |f| f.write(document.Body) }

Custom Apex REST endpoints

You can use Restforce to interact with your custom REST endpoints, by using
.get, .put, .patch, .post, and .delete.

For example, if you had the following Apex REST endpoint on Salesforce:

@RestResource(urlMapping='/FieldCase/*')
global class RESTCaseController {
  @HttpGet
  global static List getOpenCases() {
    String companyName = RestContext.request.params.get('company');
    Account company = [ Select ID, Name, Email__c, BillingState from Account where Name = :companyName];

    List cases = [SELECT Id, Subject, Status, OwnerId, Owner.Name from Case WHERE AccountId = :company.Id];
    return cases;
  }
}

Then you could query the cases using Restforce:

client.get '/services/apexrest/FieldCase', :company => 'GenePoint'
# => #

Streaming

Restforce supports the Streaming API, and makes implementing
pub/sub with Salesforce a trivial task:

# Restforce uses faye as the underlying implementation for CometD.
require 'faye'

# Initialize a client with your username/password/oauth token/etc.
client = Restforce.new :username => 'foo',
  :password       => 'bar',
  :security_token => 'security token'
  :client_id      => 'client_id',
  :client_secret  => 'client_secret'

# Create a PushTopic for subscribing to Account changes.
client.create! 'PushTopic', {
  ApiVersion: '23.0',
  Name: 'AllAccounts',
  Description: 'All account records',
  NotifyForOperations: 'All',
  NotifyForFields: 'All',
  Query: "select Id from Account"
}

EM.run {
  # Subscribe to the PushTopic.
  client.subscribe 'AllAccounts' do |message|
    puts message.inspect
  end
}

Boom, you’re now receiving push notifications when Accounts are
created/updated.

See also: Force.com Streaming API docs

Note: Restforce’s streaming implementation is known to be compatible with version 0.8.9 of the faye gem.

Caching

The gem supports easy caching of GET requests (e.g. queries):

# rails example:
client = Restforce.new cache: Rails.cache

# or
Restforce.configure do |config|
  config.cache = Rails.cache
end

If you enable caching, you can disable caching on a per-request basis by using
.without_caching:

client.without_caching do
  client.query('select Id from Account')
end

Logging/Debugging/Instrumenting

You can easily inspect what Restforce is sending/receiving by enabling logging, either
globally (as below) or on a per-client basis.

Restforce.log = true

# Restforce will log to STDOUT with the `:debug` log level by default, or you can
# optionally set your own logger and log level
Restforce.configure do |config|
  config.logger = Logger.new("/tmp/log/restforce.log")
  config.log_level = :info
end

client = Restforce.new.query('select Id, Name from Account')

Another awesome feature about restforce is that, because it is based on
Faraday, you can insert your own middleware. For example, if you were using
Restforce in a rails app, you can setup custom reporting to
Librato using ActiveSupport::Notifications:

client = Restforce.new do |builder|
  builder.insert_after Restforce::Middleware::InstanceURL,
    FaradayMiddleware::Instrumentation, name: 'request.salesforce'
end

# config/initializers/notifications.rb
ActiveSupport::Notifications.subscribe('request.salesforce') do |*args|
  event = ActiveSupport::Notifications::Event.new(*args)
  Librato.increment 'api.salesforce.request.total'
  Librato.timing 'api.salesforce.request.time', event.duration
end

Force.com Canvas

You can use Restforce to decode signed requests from Salesforce. See the example app.

Tooling API

To use the Tooling API,
call Restforce.tooling instead of Restforce.new:

client = Restforce.tooling(...)

Links

If you need a full Active Record experience, may be you can use
ActiveForce that wraps
Restforce and adds Associations, Query Building (like AREL), Validations and
Callbacks.

Contributing

We welcome all contributions - they help us make Restforce the best gem possible.

See our CONTRIBUTING.md file for help with getting set up to work on the project locally.

  1. Fork it
  2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
  3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Added some feature')
  4. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
  5. Create your Pull Request