sqlforce

Java, SQL, Jython, & Backups for Salesforce

Java, SQL, Jython, Backups & Salesforce

This site contains source and distributions for several tools based on the JavaForce library.

What are you interest in doing?

Project Audience Description JavaForce Java Programmer Core java library for communicating with Salesforce. SQLForce Salesforce Admin Command line interpreter with ANSI SELECT/DELETE/MODIFY//INSERT commands that work with Salesforce. The SQLForceForJython is a superset of this project. NOTE: The latest release (always free) can be found at CAPSTORM. SQLForceForJython Salesforce Admin Jython module with ANSI SELECT/DELETE/MODIFY/INSERT commands that work Salesforce. NOTE: The latest release (always free) can be found at CAPSTORM. The CAPSTORM version supports the latest Salesforce protocol. CopyForce Salesforce Admin Copy a Salesforce instance to a local RDBMS, SQL Server, Oracle, and H2 are supported. NOTE: Work on this project has been migrated to CAPSTORM. The CAPSTORM version is faster and supports the latest Salesforce protocol.

All of these tools are part of the SQLForce project.

Origins of SQLForce

SQLForce was initially created for several reasons:

  • We needed ANSI SELECT, SELECT DISTINCT, SELECT/UNION, DELETE, MODIFY, and INSERT commands that just worked.
  • SOQL and Salesforce's record limits made it just too hard to modify a lot of records.
  • We needed to change all occurences of "United States of America" to "USA" and wanted to use a SQL UPDATE statement.

Overtime, the base java libraries have been used to various other tools including a rich Jython module. We have used the tools, especially the Jython module, for production tasks since early 2009. The first time you write a script like:

UPDATE Contact SET MailingCountry="USA" WHERE MailingCountry IN ("United States", "US")

you will be hooked. For any Salesforce administrator, SQLForce simply saves a lot of time.

Later we started worrying about what would happen if a Salesforce user deleted a lot of data and emptied their recycle bin. CopyForce was born. CopyForce copies all or part
of a Salesforce instance to a local RDBMS.

The java libraries use the partner wsdl and are typically upgraded within a few weeks after Salesforce upgrades.

SQLForce as a Toddler

Once we starting using jython to manipulate Salesforce, we saw a huge potential risk.

  • A disgruntled employee could download SQLForce and and destroy a lot of our Salesforce data in just a few minutes.
    What would you do if a employee downloaded SQLForce and ran something like:

    UPDATE Contact SET firstName='Bill', lastName='Clinton', email='bill@arkansas.com'

    In a couple minutes this one line command would corrupt every contact record accessible by the user.
    CopyForce was developed to provide insurance against such an event. Now we have local full and incremental backups! As a bonus, we have found CopyForce to be an excellent tool for copying parts of Salesforce to a variety RDBMS.

    •

    Project Information

    Labels:
    force salesforce sql soql python jython backup restore