I haven't gotten any subscription messages from the forum since Tuesday afternoon.  Is this my own problem ... or is it happening to others as well?

Thx.  Scot

I'm trying to implement the sample Google Maps S-Control, and not having much luck.

I'm about ready to abandon the idea, but thought I'd check for some assistance first.

I'm referring to the sample s-Control which does not require your own server, and is described at:
    http://salesforce.breezecentral.com/buildgmaps/

I've followed the proscribed steps of:
   > Adding two custom fields to Account, Contact, and Lead
   > Building the sControl from the sample code
   > Creating a Web tab
   > Configuring the browser to allow "Access data sources across domains"

When I open the page, I get:

   > Pop-up message:
"The Google Maps API key used on this web site was registered for a different web site. You can generate a new key for this web site at http://www.google.com/apis/maps"

   > Errors displaying the page:
"Line 721, char 2, Error: 'GIcon' is undefined, Code 0
URL: https://ssl.salesforce.com/servlet/servlet.Integration?lid=01N00000000007b&enc-UTF-8
Line 736, char 1, Error: 'GMap' is undefined, Code 0
URL: https://salesforce.com/servlet/servlet.Integration?lid=01N00000000007b&enc-UTF-8

   > The dialogs (e.g. picking criteria and searching) don'e function.

I tried the api page mentioned in the message but, if I'm reading this right, it appears that I'd need to apply for an api key for one of the salesforce.com urls?

Any thoughts gratefully accepted.

Scot

Message Edited by Scot on 07-27-2005 05:53 PM

I have an scontrol built with vbscript and the Office Toolkit. As I expected, it works fine with IE, but not with Netscape or Firefox.

I'd like to convert it to javascript to allow it to work from Netscape and Firefox.
However, I cannot find a way to make the Toolkit (since it's a DLL) work within Netscape.

Has anyone found a way to use the Toolkit with Netscape and Firefox?

Scot

I have noted a change in the behavior of the PriceBookEntry object. Before I modify my routines that do this ... is it a bug or an undocumented feature?  and is it expected to change back?

The last time I added instances to PriceBookEntry (through the connector, and thus the Office Edition Toolkit), the behaviors matched that documented for PriceBookEntry in the API documentation.

In particular,

UnitPrice

double

Unit price for this PricebookEntry object. You can specify a UnitPrice only if UseStandardPrice is set to False.

So, my code had a value for UnitPrice for the standard pricebook entries, but was empty for other pricebooks, where the UseStandardPrice was set to TRUE. I am virtually certain that I did this not because the documentation said to, but because it failed if I ignored it.

Today, when I ran the same update, the inserts failed, with a report that UnitPrice was a required field. Funny. I added UnitPrice, even for those records where it was not allowed, and everything worked.

Any idea what gives?

Scot

Saved workbooks using the Excel Connector are likely to fail since the new release.

If you are working interactively with the connector, you should see no problems, since the Describe command will automatically provide the new labels.

On the other hand, if you have saved Excel sheets, many will fail when you next attempt a "Query Object Data" to refresh them because their column headings no longer match those in salesforce.com.

If your sheet is heavily customized,
(For example, I have many which use a subset of fields but include formulas to make calcuations)
      you'll have a more difficult job.

I have found it easiest to:
     1) Do a new describe of the object on a new Excel sheet
     2) Display both the new and old sheets
     3) Drag and drop the new headings on top of the old ones.

This approach leaves the column orders the same as before, does not disturb calculations, and changes the headings to the new ones.
The bad news is that it can take 10-20 minutes for each sheet.

Nonetheless, you also have a large number of customers using this tool, many of whom have saved sheets and will have this problem.

If we had a list of the changes, it would be possible to fix these sheets by updating only the changed headings - or even, to build a macro which would automate the changes. 

Thanks,

Scot

Anyone know without testing ....

Do the objects returned from a retrieve come back in the same order as the keys given to it, or are they random?

Scot

I've come to a number of conclusions on the use of VBScript with the COM Toolkit. I'd like to share them here in the dual hopes that:
    1) If anyone has a better answer or a contradiction, I'll find out, and
    2) If not, these may help others who follow ...

I'll post each conclusion as a child of this note.

If you have feedback on one of the conclusions, please comment on it.
If you have an additional conclusion, please feel free to add it. If you add new ones as comments to this comment, then we may get a set of useful threads eventually .

Scot

Using the COM toolkit, the following statement:

    set oppresult = binding.retrieve("*","Opportunity","00600000006yrtO",False)

works fine for me when called within Excel 2003 VBA, but fails when called in vbscript with the message:

   "An error occured while building the GetUpdated or GetDeleted request, check your date parameters"

In the failing case, the code includes:

   Set binding = CreateObject("SForceOfficeToolkit.SForceSession") 
   MeSession = binding.Login(UserName2, PassWord2, False)
   If Not MeSession then return

   oppID = "00600000006yrtO"
   Dim oppResult
   oppResult = binding.Retrieve("*","Opportunity",oppid,false)

I have also tried using a list of fields in place of the asterisk; this also works in VBA, fails in vbscript.

Any hints?

  The Office Edition beta was updated sometime within the last month to a version which supports the 4.0 API . 

To get the new DLL registered properly, I recommend that you uninstall the previous version of Office Edition and then install the new one from the Setup menu in salesforce.com.

The new Office Edition Excel Add-in reports itself as version 1.3.1.8.
The new Toolkit DLL installs in a sub-directory of 2.0 (vs. the original 1.0).

While we may discover some glitches in the future, the sforce Excel Connector appears to function transparently with the new version.  It now provides access to new objects (such as the AccountContactRole) and it allows updates to Multi-value picklist values. 

I want to build an SControl out of JavaScript, using the COM Toolkit to implement it.

I'm struggling ... probably not too surprisingly ... learning SControl's functions, expanding my novice level knowledge of JavaScript, searching for how to interface JavaScript to the Toolkit DLL, and working without documentation of the COM toolkit.

Thus ... if anyone has one or more portions of this working, I'd be forever grateful for a helping hand.

My goal, for what it is worth, seems simple: from an opportunity, run script which performs inter-field data integrity checks, informs the user of any problems, and updates a status flag in the opportunity.

Thanks,

Scot

I'm using batch update from Excel through the beta Toolkit, though I suspect that this may be an issue for any API usage...

It appears that when I issue a batch update (20 instances) which should trigger a workflow rule for each one, only the first is triggered. I've worked around the problem by updating one record at a time.

Specifics:
The workflow rule was on Opportunities, and the purpose of my update was specifically to trigger the rule for an already conforming record by alterning a field to make the test false, and then altering it back again. I tried several fields in the rule; all produced the same result.

My rule was:
    Has Items = 1
    Alert on Close <> No
    Stage contains Close
    Account: Area <> North America
    Account Division = ADT,Both

The instances initially tested TRUE. I altered the "Alert on Close" to "No" for a batch, and then altered them back to "Yes". The first rule performed for the first opportunity in the batch, but not for subsequent ones.

Scot

Is there any way to get the Office Toolkit to function with the 4.0 API?

I have 8,000 contacts on which I would like to use the Multi-select picklist.  Conversion of the current text field - which happens to exactly mimic the format of the multi-select display format of value; value; value - will apparently discard all current values. I can extract them, convert, and re-input them, EXCEPT ...

It appears the the toolkit cannot update multi-select picklists ... probably because it is using the 3.0 API?

Until I can get a method of updating these, it looks like I cannot use the new feature.

Scot

My developer edition account has begun to sport a logo at the top stating "Subscribe Now! 23 days remaining". This is a little unnerving (I don't want the account to disappear) ... but clicking on it produces an internal server error. Any idea what this is or who I should contact about it?

Thanks,
Scot

I am not sure whether this is a problem of the COM Toolkit, my usage, or the API in general, but I'm finding it impossible to add new PriceBookEntry instances.

I am currently working on isolating the offending code so I can give a reproducable problem here, but would like to describe the symptoms, in the hope that someone has run into a similar problem and can give me a hint towards a solution.

I am using generic Excel code which uses the CreateObject function to build an object, assigns values into the field(n).value's, and then uses DoCreate to process it. This code has worked fine, unchanged, for at least 20 other object types, but is failing for PriceBookEntry.....

The failure occurs when assigning a value to, it appears, ANY of the fields in the object. I've tested it with Product2ID, Pricebook2ID, and the currency value. The result of the assignment statement, of the form:
        .....  fldobject.value="value"
is:

    "Runtime error '-2147467529 (8004005)'
    "The current field definition for Product2ID does not allow you to set a value"

As expected for the Product2ID,
              fldobject.createable = TRUE  and
              fldobject.updateable = FALSE

Any help or suggestions appreciated.

The documentation for the 3.0 API includes the object "Role". While such an object existed in earlier versions, it does not in 3.0.  It is now named "UserRole".

Unfortunately took me an hour to discover the problem today. Sigh.

The documentation needs an update - and hopefully this comment will be found by the next person searching for an answer to the problem ...

Scot

General topic:
As one of the pilot users of the VB toolkit, I have had a few questions I'd like to ask of the community of fellow pilot users.  I was leary of using this forum for such questions, but didn't have an easily accessible alternative.

One question is critical enough for me now, however, that I'll break that silence. I'm amenable to alternative forums, or to the request that we take such discussions offline.

My specific question:
Have any of you figured out a way to update a field to a null value using the toolkit?

My specific problem is updating a custom date field to the default empty - or null - value. The generic API document indicates that you set a null value by adding the field name to an array in the object called "fieldsToNull". So far, I've been unable to find a way to accomplish this through the Toolkit objects. Attempts to set the field value to a null string result in an error, and setting them to the value "empty" results in a date of January 0, 1900.

Thanks ... Scot

I need to build a WIL which opens an Excel spread-sheet and passes it values from the opportunity record. The excel sheet could be on salesforce or, possibly, already on the user's PC.  At a minimum, I need to start a macro within the sheet and feed it the Opportunity ID.

I suspect that the solution will require significant expertise in both Excel and WIL's; I have a fair amount of both, but have been unable to come up with a solution yet.

Has anyone done this?  Or something analagous?

If not - can you provide any suggestions?

The robust method for getting sf.com information into an Excel spread-sheet automatically will be -- when it is available -- the use of the API through the COM toolkit.  For simpler usage, however, it would be nice to automate the Office Edition report refreshes in an Excel Macro.

While not documented, it can be done ...
To do this:

a) Establish a reference to sfdc.xla in your project:
     a1. open vba
     a2. select the VBAProject for your workbook
     a3. open the menu tools/references, find and check "SFDCExcelAddin"

b) Build your macro, calling appropriate entries. An example, which refreshes all the reports in a workbook:

  Sub MyRefresh()
     If Not (SalesForceDotCom.g_LoggedOn) Then SFDCExcelAddin.CommandBarRelated.login
     SFDCExcelAddin.CommandBarRelated.RefreshAll
     SFDCExcelAddin.CommandBarRelated.Logoff
  End Sub

You can explore the entries using "View/Object Browser"; select "SFDCExcelAddin" from the pull-down menu at the top left; click on classes and members, and look for information at the bottom.

Updated Aug 2005: to match the newer version of Office Edition. The objects changed; the old version used references to  "SalesForceDotCom", and did not have the "CommandBarRelated" qualification.

Message Edited by Scot on 08-04-2005 09:48 AM

Unless I'm missing something, I can't find contracts yet. Any word on when it is coming?

Thanks,
Scot

I want to create a new case thru the sforce Api and I need to know how to insert multiple values on picklist field.

Somebody could help me.