Integration Basics in Salesforce - Here is All You Need to Know

Have you ever wondered why there are so many applications and software out there and how they interact with each other since there’s a sea of applications in today’s time? Then your guess is right the method we use to interact with those applications is Integration.

So, let’s first know what integration is.

Salesforce integration is the process of integrating your Salesforce CRM with other systems and applications, such as ERP, Marketing Automation, HCM, etc.

Now let us know what are the methods by which it works?

These methods are also known as the fundamentals of integration.

So, the process begins from one end carry all the way to the second system and the whole process goes like this only, note here system refers to two entities in which we are making integration. So, the fundamentals or terminology to learn are:

Callout
Request
API
Authorization
Response
Endpoint
Web services

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Now let's know about the web services

Here are two types of web services available:

REST Webservice
SOAP Webservices

Just to have an idea know that most of the time we use REST API compared to SOAP API as it is comparatively faster and supports all types of devices however SOAP is more secure. For further information on them, you can have a look at the blog by the link below - https://stormpath.com/blog/rest-vs-soap

Now let’s study callout.

Callout means making a call to an external Web service or sending an HTTP request from Apex code and then receiving the response.

Now let’s know about the API

API is one of several web interfaces that you can use to access your Salesforce data without using the Salesforce user interface.

Now let’s know about web services

A developer of an external application can integrate with an Apex class containing web service methods by generating a WSDL for the class. To generate a WSDL from an Apex class detail page.

Now let’s have a look at the difference between both of the above

The callout makes a call to an external web service or sends an HTTP request from Apex code, and then receives the response. Apex callouts come in two flavours. Web service callouts to SOAP web services use XML, and typically require a WSDL document for code generation.

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Now go for Endpoint

An endpoint is typically a uniform resource locator (URL) that provides the location of a resource on the server.

Now let’s know about the authorization of the Salesforce

For Authorize Endpoint URL, the host's name can include a sandbox or company-specific custom domain login URL. The URL must end in.salesforce.com, and the path must end in /services/oauth2/authorize. For example, https://login.salesforce.com/services/oauth2/authorize.

By this, you might get some idea about it. For more stay tuned, we’ll catch up sooner.