Integrate Salesforce with External Services using SnapLogic

SnapLogic is an integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) that allows users to create data integration flows with no code. When paired with the CData JDBC Drivers, users get access to live data from more than 250+ SaaS, Big Data and NoSQL sources, including Salesforce, in their SnapLogic workflows.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Salesforce data. When platforms issue complex SQL queries to Salesforce, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Salesforce and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying lets you work with Salesforce data using native data types.

Getting Started

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Connect to Salesforce in SnapLogic

To connect to Salesforce data in SnapLogic, download and install the CData Salesforce JDBC Driver. Follow the installation dialog. When the installation is complete, the JAR file can be found in the installation directory (C:/Program Files/CData/CData JDBC Driver for Salesforce/lib by default).

Upload the Salesforce JDBC Driver

After installation, upload the JDBC JAR file to a location in SnapLogic (for example, projects/Jerod Johnson) from the Manager tab.

👁 Uploaded JDBC Driver (Salesforce & QuickBooks Online are shown)

Configure the Connection

Once the JDBC Driver is uploaded, we can create the connection to Salesforce.

1. Navigate to the Designer tab
2. Expand "JDBC" from Snaps and drag a "Generic JDBC - Select" snap onto the designer 👁 Adding a Generic JDBC snap onto the designer
   
3. Click Add Account (or select an existing one) and click "Continue"
4. In the next form, configure the JDBC connection properties:
   • Under JDBC JARs, add the JAR file we previously uploaded
   • Set JDBC Driver Class to cdata.jdbc.salesforce.SalesforceDriver

   • Set JDBC URL to a JDBC connection string for the Salesforce JDBC Driver, for example:

     jdbc:salesforce:InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;MFACode=YourMFACodeRTK=XXXXXX;

     NOTE: RTK is a trial or full key. Contact our Support team for more information. 👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
     

     Built-In Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Salesforce JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.salesforce.jar

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

     There are several authentication methods available for connecting to Salesforce: OAuth, Login (or basic), and SSO. The Login method requires you to have the username, password, and security token of the user.

     OAuth Authentication (default)

     The default authentication mechanism (and the one preferred by Salesforce) is OAuth. To use OAuth with CData's embedded OAuth application, leave the connection properties blank. If you have configured your own custom OAuth application with Salesforce (see the Help documentation for more information), set OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL to the properties for you application. Set InitiateOAuth to the desired OAuth flow ("GETANDREFRESH" will have the connector manage the entire OAuth flow).

     Login (or Basic) Authentication

     If you do not wish do not wish to use OAuth authentication, you can use Login (or basic) authentication. Set AuthScheme to Basic, and set the User, Password, and SecurityToken properties. You can configure your security token in Salesforce.

     SSO (single sign-on) Authentication

     SSO (single sign-on) can be used by setting the SSOProperties, SSOLoginUrl, and SSOExchangeURL connection properties, which allow you to authenticate to an identity provider. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the Help documentation for more information.

     Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

     If your Salesforce org has MFA enforcement enabled, set MFACode to the time-based one-time passcode (TOTP) generated by your authenticator app (such as Salesforce Authenticator or Google Authenticator). MFACode applies to both OAuth and Login authentication flows.

     👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
     
5. After entering the connection properties, click "Validate" and "Apply"

Read Salesforce Data

In the form that opens after validating and applying the connection, configure your query.

• Set Schema name to "Salesforce"
• Set Table name to a table for Salesforce using the schema name, for example: "Salesforce"."Account" (use the drop-down to see the full list of available tables)
• Add Output fields for each item you wish to work with from the table

👁 Configuring a Select snap (Salesforce is shown)

Save the Generic JDBC - Select snap.

With connection and query configured, click the end of the snap to preview the data (highlighted below).

👁 Click the end of the snap to preview the data.

Once you confirm the results are what you expect, you can add additional snaps to funnel your Salesforce data to another endpoint.

👁 Previewing data (Salesforce is shown).

Piping Salesforce Data to External Services

For this article, we will load data in a Google Spreadsheet. You can use any of the supported snaps, or even use a Generic JDBC snap with another CData JDBC Driver, to move data into an external service.

1. Start by dropping a "Worksheet Writer" snap onto the end of the "Generic JDBC - Select" snap.
2. Add an account to connect to Google Sheets 👁 Connecting to Google
   
3. Configure the Worksheet Writer snap to write your Salesforce data to a Google Spreadsheet 👁 Writing to a Google Spreadsheet
   

You can now execute the fully configured pipeline to extract data from Salesforce and push it into a Google Spreadsheet.

👁 Data written to Google Spreadsheets (Salesforce is shown)

Piping External Data to Salesforce

As mentioned above, you can also use the JDBC Driver for Salesforce in SnapLogic to write data to Salesforce. Start by adding a Generic JDBC - Insert or Generic JDBC - Update snap to the dashboard.

1. Select the existing "Account" (connection) or create a new one
2. Configure the query:
   • Set Schema name to "Salesforce"
   • Set Table name to a table for Salesforce using the schema name, for example: "Salesforce"."Account" (use the drop-down to see the full list of available tables)
   👁 Configuring a INSERT snap (Salesforce is shown)
   
3. Save the Generic JDBC - Insert/Update snap

At this point, you have configured a snap to write data to Salesforce, inserting new records or updating existing ones.

More Information & Free Trial

Using the CData JDBC Driver for Salesforce you can create a pipeline in SnapLogic for integrating Salesforce data with external services. For more information about connecting to Salesforce, check at our CData JDBC Driver for Salesforce page. Download a free, 30 day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Salesforce and get started today.