Explore the process of building a REST API in Apex, especially useful when dealing with more tailored requirements beyond basic DML operations on the sObject.
When a third-party developer intends to transmit data to Salesforce and execute specific business logic on the Salesforce side, particularly involving DML operations on any object, there are two approaches to consider.
Initially, the developer can utilize the standard out-of-the-box REST API provided by Salesforce or create a custom REST API tailored to the business requirements.
If you are curious about utilizing the built-in REST API offered by Salesforce, you can refer to the details outlined in this blog post.
Alternatively, when the business requirements are more customized, we turn to the creation of a custom REST API using Apex. Allow me to guide you through this latter use case.
@RestResource(urlMapping='/Account/*')
global public with sharing class AccountsRESTController{
// get method will be invoked when a get request is received
@HttpGet
global static void doGet() {
// instantiate rest request so that we can extraxt the recrord
// from the endpoint
RestRequest req = RestContext.request;
// grab the record id (which is going to be 18 digits id) from the
// last forward slash ("/")
String accountId = req.requestURI.substring(req.requestURI.lastIndexOf('/')+1);
Account result = [SELECT Id, Name, Phone, Website FROM Account WHERE Id = :accountId];
return result;
}
// post method will be invoked when a http post request is received
@HttpPost
global static account doPost(String name, String phone, String website) {
Account account = new Account();
account.Name = name;
account.phone = phone;
account.website = website;
insert account;
return account;
}
// put method will be invoked when a http put request is received
@HttpPut
global static Account doPut(String name) {
RestRequest req = RestContext.request;
String accountId = req.requestURI.substring(req.requestURI.lastIndexOf('/')+1);
Account result = [SELECT Id, Name, Phone, Website FROM Account WHERE Id = :accountId];
// put method is going to perform an update operation. by architecture
// it will take all the fields, though we are updating only a
// single field
Account account = new Account();
account.Id = accountId;
account.Name = name; // only modifying the account name
account.phone = result.phone;
account.website = result.website;
update account;
return account;
}
// patch method will be invoked when a http patch request is received
@HttpPut
global static Account doPatch(String name, String phone, String website) {
RestRequest req = RestContext.request;
String accountId = req.requestURI.substring(req.requestURI.lastIndexOf('/')+1);
// patch method is also going to perform an update operation.
// by architecture it will take only the fields that has to be
// modified or updated
Account account = new Account();
account.Id = accountId;
account.Rating = 'Hot';
update account;
return account;
}
// delete method will be invoked when a http delete request is received
@HttpDelete
global static void doDelete() {
RestRequest req = RestContext.request;
String accountId = req.requestURI.substring(req.requestURI.lastIndexOf('/')+1);
Account account = [SELECT Id FROM Account WHERE Id = :accountId];
delete account;
}
}
For a simple usecase like mentioned above we don’t have to go for Apex REST API we can go ahead with out of the box endpoints that salesforce provides. We will be reaching out to this option only when there a bit more customization required.
In case you want to test it, then you need to make a callout from apps like the postman or insomnia and check the response.
The next question will be, what’s going to be the endpoint?
It’s going to look something like this https://instance.salesforce.com/services/apexrest/Account/001XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Replace the instance (mentioned in the above URL with your org-specific instance) and make sure a valid account record is passed in the endpoint.