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ejstemblerejstembler 

Is it possible to make a list matching app?

Is it possible to create a Salesforce app which can upload external data (csv etc.), match some of the fields to internal data (customer list) and display the joined results?

 

I am a software developer with no prior knowledge or experience with Salesforce.  Outside of Salesforce, one way I could achieve this would be to just do a simple SQL join on two tables.  I have no idea if I could achieve the same result in Salesform using any of the available SDK stuff.

 

If this is possible, can someone point me in the right direction.  Maybe recommend some documentation I could look into fruther? Or even point out some code samples?

 

Thanks!

Shivanath DevnarayananShivanath Devnarayanan

I'm not sure if this what you're looking for, But the first 3 things that come to my mind to solve these are 

 

1) if youjust need to overwrite/ add values to the picklist of the field via an external program you could do it using the DataLoader for salesforce.com. It accepts csv etc.

More on Dataloader:  http://bit.ly/J3dxLS

 

2) if you need to do it programatically and the values stored are on your external application accessible by Webservice : then you could use Apex Webservices which would pull the data using the API and use custom apex logic to insert the values to the Picklist. But I'm not sure you want to do this until its  necessary and this is the longer route, if your problem is looking for a pretty simple and manual solution you should try the other options first.

 

More on Webservices

 

3) Since you mentioned SQL : there is a way you could manage/Manipulate the data on salesforce using normal SQL queries, this is done using a popular tool : DBAmp, I've used it and found that it does a really good job. what ever data manipulation like backfilling legacy data, Taking backups etc.. This is really good at all those and the best part is you have the flexibility of SQL in Salesforce. This doesnt come free, and I would not recommend this just to solve your above problem.

 

More on DBAmp

 

 

I may be able to give you a more appropriate solution if you can share the exact probelm at hand and how you want it to behave.

 

Hope i helped ......

 

Shivanath Devinaraynan

ejstemblerejstembler

Thanks for the information, I found it very helpful!

 

Just to clarify on my side...  I have a client whom has a list of customers in Salesforce.com.  They want to match some of their customers to our sample data (also people-based) and display a combination of data fields from the matched records.  In SQL I would import their list into a table and join it to our table based on a few common columns, and display the output. Our client mentioned that Salesforce has an AppExchange and suggested that we build an app to do the record matching...

Shivanath DevnarayananShivanath Devnarayanan

Correct me if I'm Wrong,

 

from what I understood, Your Client has customer records (not users, May be Contacts) in Salesforce, 
You have your own database outside of salesforce which also gives similar details , you want to combine these records based on certain conditions and show a report of it or maybe show the record itself

 

Assuming the above

1) You could create the fields needed/ Not available on salesforce but is there in your DB and then import your records using dataloader and specify conditions : this can be done if you are aiming at a Proof of concept or just a one time operation

 

2) But, If this is going to happen a lot of times in the future and you manipulate data often, I would advise you to go for the DBAmp Or the Web Services Approach, 
But purchasing DBAmp would not make sense if you're just trying to prove your concept or if its a short term thing.

 

3) App Exchange might have this deal too, Merging of imported data into records etc, But you'll have to be thorough enough to get a exact match.

 

If you need more help on the implementation part , Do get back to me, and we'll figure out the best approach.

 

and if the previous post helped your question do mark it solved so others may also benefit.

 

 

forceAMPforceAMP

DBAmp has a full function 30-day trial that you could use to build a proof of concept.  And usually if you need longer for a POC we are happy to extend the trial.