Salesforce, Python, SQL, & other ways to put your data where you need it

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My goal is to help you work faster.

I must speak and teach until I hear 10 people say, "That thing you taught me? I used it! And it saved me time!"

(Ahem ... although maybe blogging slower than I'd hoped. Ugh, coders' repetitive stress injury.)

So check out the tutorials. Play with code. Tell me about your triumphs.

Setting up VSCode to edit Salesforce metadata

10 Apr 2019 🔖 salesforce tutorials xml flow vscode 💬 EN

A colleague wanted to edit the XML behind Salesforce flows so she could quickly copy/paste entire flows, copy/paste variables within a flow, etc.

That part is easy, but I needed to walk her through setting up her computer to talk to Salesforce about an org’s configuration “metadata.”

Here’re the instructions I sent her for Windows.

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Logging into Salesforce's Pardot API (w/ Python)

04 Apr 2019 🔖 python pardot salesforce tutorials api 💬 EN

Logging into Pardot’s API is a lot easier than logging into MarketingCloud’s API was.

I used Python, but most of the steps have nothing to do with code.
Any language that can do HTTPS POST requests will do.

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Intro to XML and JSON #5: XML/CSV Conversions

03 Apr 2019 🔖 xml json tutorials csv excel 💬 EN

Now that you can read XML and write it by hand, let’s talk about converting between XML and CSV.

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Intro to XML and JSON #4: XML Values

03 Apr 2019 🔖 xml json tutorials 💬 EN

In the previous article in this series, we used XML to define a “shirt” item (or, as one would say in XML, “element”) with some keys like “color” and “fabric” and “washable.”

Let’s learn how to fill in some values for those keys.

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Intro to XML and JSON #3: XML Items & Keys

03 Apr 2019 🔖 xml json tutorials csv excel 💬 EN

We’ve seen XML from a “30,000-foot view.”

We understand what kind of data XML can help us with.

Let’s learn how to write XML!

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Intro to XML and JSON #2: Data's Shape

25 Mar 2019 🔖 xml json tutorials csv excel api integration architecture 💬 EN

I mentioned that XML & JSON are for lists of lists, while CSVs are for tables. Let’s explore that concept.

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Intro to XML and JSON

16 Mar 2019 🔖 xml json tutorials csv excel salesforce api python integration architecture 💬 EN

XML, JSON, & CSV.

All 3 are incredibly common “plain-text” file formats for transferring data between computers, particularly over the internet (e.g. over an “API“). But what’s the difference, and when should you use each one?

(Programmers, Salesforce business analysts, and database integration architects: you’ll want to know this!)

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Salesforce REST APIs: A High-Level Primer

14 Mar 2019 🔖 salesforce api tutorials architecture integration security beginner 💬 EN

Have you ever been told that you might need a “REST API” to integrate outside data with Salesforce?

If you’re confused, you’re in good company, because it means different things in different contexts!

Read on for a “30,000-foot view” of all 3 variations on the phrase “REST API” in Salesforce.

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Python pour Salesforce: compte -> campagne

07 Mar 2019 🔖 python tutoriels salesforce 💬 FR

Aujourd’hui, on complique une tâche Salesforce très simple en Excel pour voir comment achever le même but avec Python.

La tâche, c’est de constituer une campagne à partir d’une liste des contacts associés à un compte.

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Setting up Python on Windows with Anaconda

05 Mar 2019 🔖 python tutorials windows salesforce beginner 💬 EN

I keep warning students not to use real, corporate CSV files in Python with online “IDEs” like Repl.it or CodeBunk, and to install Python on your local machine instead.

Finally, I’ve written a tutorial to walk you through it!

These screenshots document the simplest approach I know of for installing Python on a Windows machine.

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