Create a Salesforce base connection using the Flow Service API

A base connection represents the authenticated connection between a source and Adobe Experience Platform.

This tutorial walks you through the steps to create a base connection for Salesforce using the Flow Service API.

Getting started

This guide requires a working understanding of the following components of Adobe Experience Platform:

Sources: Experience Platform allows data to be ingested from various sources while providing you with the ability to structure, label, and enhance incoming data using Platform services.
Sandboxes: Experience Platform provides virtual sandboxes which partition a single Platform instance into separate virtual environments to help develop and evolve digital experience applications.

The following sections provide additional information that you will need to know in order to successfully connect Platform to a Salesforce account using the Flow Service API.

Gather required credentials

In order for Flow Service to connect to Salesforce, you must provide values for the following connection properties:

Credential	Description
`environmentUrl`	The URL of the Salesforce source instance.
`username`	The username for the Salesforce user account.
`password`	The password for the Salesforce user account.
`securityToken`	The security token for the Salesforce user account.
`connectionSpec.id`	The connection specification returns a source’s connector properties, including authentication specifications related to creating the base and source connections. The connection specification ID for AdWords is: `cfc0fee1-7dc0-40ef-b73e-d8b134c436f5`.

For more information on getting started, visit this Salesforce document.

Using Platform APIs

For information on how to successfully make calls to Platform APIs, see the guide on getting started with Platform APIs.

Create a base connection

A base connection retains information between your source and Platform, including your source’s authentication credentials, the current state of the connection, and your unique base connection ID. The base connection ID allows you to explore and navigate files from within your source and identify the specific items that you want to ingest, including information regarding their data types and formats.

To create a base connection ID, make a POST request to the /connections endpoint while providing your Salesforce authentication credentials as part of the request parameters.

API format

POST /connections

Request

The following request creates a base connection for Salesforce:

curl -X POST \
    'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/flowservice/connections' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}' \
    -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
    -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {ORG_ID}' \
    -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}' \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -d '{
        "name": "Salesforce Connection",
        "description": "Connection for Salesforce account",
        "auth": {
            "specName": "Basic Authentication",
            "params": {
                "username": "{USERNAME}",
                "password": "{PASSWORD}",
                "securityToken": "{SECURITY_TOKEN}"
            }
        },
        "connectionSpec": {
            "id": "cfc0fee1-7dc0-40ef-b73e-d8b134c436f5",
            "version": "1.0"
        }
    }'

Property	Description
`auth.params.username`	The username associated with your Salesforce account.
`auth.params.password`	The password associated with your Salesforce account.
`auth.params.securityToken`	The security token associated with your Salesforce account.
`connectionSpec.id`	The Salesforce connection specification ID: `cfc0fee1-7dc0-40ef-b73e-d8b134c436f5`.

Response

A successful response returns the newly created connection, including its unique identifier (id). This ID is required to explore your CRM system in the next step.

{
    "id": "4cb0c374-d3bb-4557-b139-5712880adc55",
    "etag": "\"1700df7b-0000-0200-0000-5e3b424f0000\""
}

Next steps

By following this tutorial, you have created a Salesforce base connection using the Flow Service API. You can use this base connection ID in the following tutorials: