Integration - Salesforce Connect
When to Use Salesforce Connect?
- Real-time access of data existing in another system without importing the data.
- Data shouldn't be stored in Salesforce but synchronized in real-time.
- Creation or modification of external data from Salesforce.
Actions Supported
- Reports
- Record Feed (No Field History Tracking)
- Flow & Process Builder (No Approval process)
- Quick Actions (No Task Creation)
External Objects
External Object (__x) represents virtualized objects using the OData protocol and can be linked with:
- External Lookup Relationship
- Standard/Custom ⟶ External Object
- External Object ⟶ External Object
- Indirect Lookup Relationship (External object as the child)
- External Object ⟶ Standard/Custom Object
High Data Volume Considerations
Some features are no longer available due to high data volume:
- Access via Lightning Experience
- Access via Salesforce Mobile App
- Record Feeds
- Writable external objects
- Salesforce console
- Reports and Dashboards
- Salesforce ID assignment
Sharing
Controlling the sharing of External Objects is currently not possible. There are a few ways to provide visibility control:
- Use LWC with Apex Controller to provide access to the user (Visibility controlled in Apex).
- Sharing/visibility controlled on the server side (User context parameter provided when configuring the Named Credential).
- Restriction Rules (Max 5 / Objects) (More details).
Salesforce Connect Adapters
Adapters available for Salesforce Connect:
| Adapter | Description | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-org | Uses the Lightning Platform REST API to access data in other Salesforce orgs. | Connect data between your Salesforce orgs. |
| OData (2.0, 4.0 & 4.01) | Uses Open Data Protocol to access data outside Salesforce. | Integrate external data sources into your org supporting the ODATA protocol. |
| Custom adapter via Apex | Develop your own adapter with the Apex Connector Framework. | Retrieve data via callouts from a REST API. |
| Salesforce Connect Adapter for Amazon DynamoDB | Connects Amazon DynamoDB data sources to Salesforce through external objects. | Integrate AWS data natively with Salesforce. |
| Salesforce Connect Adapter for Amazon Athena | Utilizes Amazon Athena’s capability to run queries against data directly in Amazon S3. | Integrate AWS data natively with Salesforce and run interactive on-demand queries. |
| Salesforce Connect Adapter for GraphQL | Uses GraphQL APIs to integrate applications. | Access data from external sources exposing capabilities via GraphQL. |
Salesforce Connect Adapters Included per Add-On License
| Adapter | Number of Connections | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-org | 5 | |
| Others | 1 |
Limitations & Allocations for Salesforce Connect
| Description | Unlimited, Enterprise & Performance | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum external objects per org. | 200 | [Hard Limit] |
| Maximum new rows retrieved by SOSL and Salesforce searches per hour. | 100k | High-data-volume external data sources excluded. |
| Maximum new rows retrieved or created per hour. | 100k | High-data-volume external data sources, rows retrieved as search results only, and other already retrieved rows excluded. |
| Maximum page size for server-driven paging. | 2k rows |
Callout Limits for Salesforce Connect Adapters
| Description | Unlimited, Enterprise & Performance | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-org adapter | No callout limits | API Usage limit applies on the provider org. |
| OData 2.0 and 4.0 | 20k/hour | Add-on available to increase limits. |
| OData 4.01 | No callout limits | |
| Custom Adapter | Callout and Apex Execution limits apply | Built-in Apex using the Apex Connector Framework. |
| Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Athena | No callout limits | |
| GraphQL | No callout limits |
External Change Data Capture
It's possible to enable External Change Data Capture to track changes outside of Salesforce (5-30 minutes delay) and interact with an Apex or Flow event triggered.