Bienvenue! Welcome!
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.
Intro to XML and JSON #7: Recap & Real World Use
26 Apr 2019
That’s a wrap! Let’s recap the battle of “XML vs. JSON,” discuss how they’re used in the real world, and take a final glance at the big picture.
Continue ReadingIntro to XML and JSON #6: JSON
26 Apr 2019
We’ve seen JSON from a “30,000-foot view.”
We understand what kind of data JSON can help us with.
Let’s learn how to write JSON!
Setting up VSCode to edit Salesforce metadata
10 Apr 2019
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.
Logging into Salesforce's Pardot API (w/ Python)
04 Apr 2019
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.
Intro to XML and JSON #5: XML/CSV Conversions
03 Apr 2019
Now that you can read XML and write it by hand, let’s talk about converting between XML and CSV.
Continue ReadingIntro to XML and JSON #4: XML Values
03 Apr 2019
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.
Intro to XML and JSON #3: XML Items & Keys
03 Apr 2019
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!
Intro to XML and JSON #2: Data's Shape
25 Mar 2019
I mentioned that XML & JSON are for lists of lists, while CSVs are for tables. Let’s explore that concept.
Continue ReadingIntro to XML and JSON
16 Mar 2019
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!)
Salesforce REST APIs: A High-Level Primer
14 Mar 2019
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.
