C# Salesforce Connector In this article you will learn, how to integrate Salesforce data to C# without coding in few clicks (Live / Bi-directional connection to Salesforce). Salesforce Connector can be used to extract/load large amount of data from/in Salesforce.com without any programming. You can use simple Table mode or Query mode with full SOQL query language support (SOQL=Salesforce.com Object Query Language). Using Salesforce API Connector you will be able to connect, read and write data from within C#. Let's take a look at the steps below to see how exactly to accomplish that. Download  Help File  Buy  Driver mentioned in this article is part of ODBC PowerPack which is a collection of high-performance Drivers for various API data source (i.e. REST API, JSON, XML, CSV, Amazon S3 and many more). Using familiar SQL query language you can make live connection and read/write data from API sources or JSON / XML / CSV Files inside SQL Server (T-SQL) or your favorite Reporting (i.e. Power BI, Tableau, Qlik, SSRS, MicroStrategy, Excel, MS Access), ETL Tools (i.e. Informatica, Talend, Pentaho, SSIS). You can also call our drivers from programming languages such as JAVA, C#, Python, PowerShell etc. If you are new with ODBC and ZappySys ODBC PowerPack then check below links to get started. ODBC PowerPack - System Requirements and Installation Getting Started - Using ODBC PowerPack ODBC API Driver Help File

See also Connect Salesforce in SSIS Connect Salesforce in SQL Server Connect Salesforce in Power BI Connect Salesforce in SSRS Connect Salesforce in Informatica Connect Salesforce in MS Access Connect Salesforce in MS Excel Connect Salesforce in SSAS Connect Salesforce in Python Connect Salesforce in JAVA Connect Salesforce in Tableau Connect Salesforce in SAP Crystal Reports Connect Salesforce in ODBC

Create ODBC Data Source (DSN) based on ZappySys Salesforce Driver

To get data from Salesforce using C# we first need to create a DSN - Data Source - which will access data from Salesforce, which later will be able to get using C#. Perform these steps:

1. Install ZappySys ODBC PowerPack.

2. Open ODBC Data Sources (x64):
   

3. Create a User Data Source (User DSN) based on ZappySys Salesforce Driver:

   

   You should create System DSN if client application is launched under Windows System Account, e.g. as a Windows Service.
   Launch ODBC Data Sources 32-bit version in case your client application is a 32-bit (x86) application (required only for System DSN).

4. Now, we need SalesForce Connection. Lets create it.

5. Now, When you see DSN Config Editor with zappysys logo first thing you need to do is change default DSN Name at the top and Click on Preview Tab, Select Table from Tables Dropdown or you can enter or modify a SOQL query and click on Preview Data.
   This example shows how to write simple SOQL query (Salesforce Object Query Language). It uses WHERE clause. For more SOQL Queries click here.
   SOQL is similar to database SQL query language but much simpler and many features you use in database query may not be supported in SOQL (Such as JOIN clause not supported). But you can use following Queries for Insert, Update, Delete and Upsert(Update or Insert record if not found).

   SELECT * FROM Account WHERE Name like '%Oil%'
   

6. Click OK to finish creating the data source

Read data in C# from the DSN

1. Create a fresh new Console project and use this code to get the data:
   

   "SalesforceDSN"

   

2. Hit F5 to run the code and read the data:
   

3. Here is program's code in text format:

   
   using System;
   using System.Data.Odbc;
   
   namespace ConsoleApp {
       class Program {
           static void Main() {
               var dsn = "SalesforceDSN";
               using (var conn = new OdbcConnection(String.Format("DSN={0}", dsn)))
               {
                   conn.Open();
                   var cmd = new OdbcCommand("SELECT * FROM Products", conn);
                   var rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
                   while (rdr.Read())
                   {
                       for (int i = 0; i < rdr.FieldCount; i++)
                       {
                               Console.Write("{0}\t", rdr[i]);
                       }
                       Console.WriteLine();
                   }
               }
               Console.ReadKey();
           }
       }
   }
   
   

4. If you want to avoid to be dependent on a DSN name and creating multiple DSNs for each platform (x86, x64), then you can use a fully qualified connection string. Simply go to your DSN and copy the Connection String . Then in your C# code use Connection String when initializing OdbcConnection object, for example:

   using (var conn = new OdbcConnection("DRIVER={ZappySys API Driver};ServiceUrl=https://services.odata.org/V3/Northwind/Northwind.svc;Provider=OData;AuthName=Http;"))
    {
        // ...
    }
   

   How to overcome long ConnectionString Issue?

   If you copy ConnectionString from UI and if you have long RefreshToken=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...xxx, very long more than 1000 chars. It can cause the issue.

   To overcome from a such issue you can supply RefreshToken via file actually. You just need to cut the RefreshToken and paste it in some text file and save it and pass that file path instead of the RefreshToken.

   using (var conn = new OdbcConnection("Driver={ZappySys API Driver};RefreshToken=xxxxxx...xxx;ServiceUrl=xxx...;"))
    {
        // ...
    }
   

   You can use that file path in the ConnectionString, remove the RefreshToken=xxxxxx...xxx; attribute from the ConnectionString and you can pass RefreshTokenFile=c:\my_refresh_token.txt;

   using (var conn = new OdbcConnection("Driver={ZappySys API Driver};RefreshTokenFile={{YourRefreshTokenFilePath}};ServiceUrl=...;"))
     {
        // ...
     }
   

Create Custom Store Procedure in ZappySys Driver

You can create procedures to encapsulate custom logic and then only pass handful parameters rather than long SQL to execute your API call.

Steps to create Custom Store Procedure in ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here

1. Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Procedure:
   

2. Enter the desired Procedure name and click on OK:
   

3. Select the created Store Procedure and write the your desired store procedure and Save it and it will create the custom store procedure in the ZappySys Driver:
   Here is an example stored procedure for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here
   

   CREATE PROCEDURE [usp_get_orders]
       @fromdate = '<<yyyy-MM-dd,FUN_TODAY>>'
    AS
       SELECT * FROM Orders where OrderDate >= '<@fromdate>';
   

   
   

4. That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your Store Procedure using Exec Command. In this example it will extract the orders from the date 1996-01-01:
   

   Exec usp_get_orders '1996-01-01';

   
   

Create Custom Virtual Table in ZappySys Driver

ZappySys API Drivers support flexible Query language so you can override Default Properties you configured on Data Source such as URL, Body. This way you don't have to create multiple Data Sources if you like to read data from multiple EndPoints. However not every application support supplying custom SQL to driver so you can only select Table from list returned from driver.

Many applications like MS Access, Informatica Designer wont give you option to specify custom SQL when you import Objects. In such case Virtual Table is very useful. You can create many Virtual Tables on the same Data Source (e.g. If you have 50 URLs with slight variations you can create virtual tables with just URL as Parameter setting.

1. Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Table:
   

2. Enter the desired Table name and click on OK:
   

3. And it will open the New Query Window Click on Cancel to close that window and go to Custom Objects Tab.

4. Select the created table, Select Text Type AS SQL and write the your desired SQL Query and Save it and it will create the custom table in the ZappySys Driver:
   Here is an example SQL query for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders also. Read more about placeholders here
   

   SELECT
     "ShipCountry",
     "OrderID",
     "CustomerID",
     "EmployeeID",
     "OrderDate",
     "RequiredDate",
     "ShippedDate",
     "ShipVia",
     "Freight",
     "ShipName",
     "ShipAddress",
     "ShipCity",
     "ShipRegion",
     "ShipPostalCode"
   FROM "Orders"
   Where "ShipCountry"='USA'

   
   

5. That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your custom virtual table query. In this example it will extract the orders for the USA Shipping Country only:
   

   SELECT * FROM "vt__usa_orders_only"

   
   

Conclusion

In this article we discussed how to connect to Salesforce in C# and integrate data without any coding. Click here to Download Salesforce Connector for C# and try yourself see how easy it is. If you still have any question(s) then ask here or simply click on live chat icon below and ask our expert (see bottom-right corner of this page).

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