Salesforce REST API Update and Delete Record

So far we have looked at how to create and read records from Salesforce using the REST API, so the final two basic operations we need are Update and Delete.

Update

The code for doing an update is almost identical to the code for doing an insert with just two small differences.
First we need to specify the ID of the record we want to update in the URI just like we did for a read:

var uri = instanceURL + "/services/data/v20.0/sobjects/Account/0017000000hX4Iz";

Second we will use PATCH for the HTTP method instead of POST. Not that PATCH isn’t a standard HTTP method, but fortunately the .NET WebRequest class allows for arbitrary methods.
Just like with an insert you put the JSON or XML encoded object into the body of the request. You can put all the fields in the body or just the ones you want to update.  If you decide to use XML for the body don’t forget to change the ContentType from JSON to XML:

req.ContentType = "application/xml";

The only other difference with an update is the response. Unlike the other function we have looked at so far, the content of the response will be empty if the update succeeds.


Delete

Delete is probably the simplest operation. We use the same URI as an update, one that contains the id of the record we want to delete, and set the HTTP method to DELETE. Nothing needs to be put in the body of the request for a delete. Just like an update, if the delete is successful the response will be empty.

Salesforce REST API Read Record

In my last post I showed how to create a new record in Salesforce using the REST API, now lets look at reading a record.
To access a record you need to add the record’s id to the end of the object URI that I showed in the last post. For example to access a specific account record you would use:
http://na1.salesforce.com/services/data/v20.0/sobjects/Account/001D000000INjVe
The id’s aren’t shown directly when you edit a record in SFDC, but you can find the record id in the URL when you are editing a record. You can also get an id from the response when you create a record as we saw last time.
The code to perform the read will look something like this:

public string ReadData()
{
var uri = instanceURL + "/services/data/v20.0/sobjects/Account/0017000000hX4Iz";

var req = (System.Net.HttpWebRequest)System.Net.WebRequest.Create(uri);
req.Headers.Add("Authorization: OAuth " + accessToken);
req.Headers.Add("X-PrettyPrint:1");
req.ContentType = "application/json";
req.Method = "GET";

WebResponse resp;

try
{
resp = req.GetResponse();
}
catch (WebException ex)
{
resp = ex.Response;
}

var sr = new System.IO.StreamReader(resp.GetResponseStream());
return sr.ReadToEnd().Trim();
}

This is pretty much the same code we used for the insert but it uses an HTTP GET instead of POST,  and there is no body needed for the request. You will also notice a new header, X-PrettyPrint:1. This will make SFDC return the response in a more readable format with appropriate line breaks and indentation. This header can be used in any of the REST API commands.

The response will contain the JSON formatted Account object. Remember, as always, you can add .xml to the end the URI to have the response returned in XML instead of JSON.

By default this command will return all the fields in the record. You can specify only the fields you want to return like this:

http://na1.salesforce.com/services/data/v20.0/sobjects/Account/001D000000INjVe?fields=AccountNumber,Name

We have added a query string called fields to the URI which lists the fields you want to return.