Using cURL to Test Salesforce REST APIs

Testing Salesforce APIs using cURL

What is a cURL

cURL stands for Client URL, is a command line tool and library for transferring data with URLs. cURL supports HTTPS and performs SSL certificate verification by default when a secure protocol is specified such as HTTPS. To know more about curl.

cURL is pre-installed on many Linux and Mac systems. Windows users can download curl here.

 

First, we need to collect the Base URL of your org and the Session id of the user.  

To get the base URL of the Salesforce org

Run the following piece of code in the Anonymous window. To know more about IDs and URL Tricks.

[system.debug('Base Url is: '+system.Url.getSalesforceBaseUrl());]

for my org, the base URL is: https://swdcworld-dev-ed.my.salesforce.com 

To get the session id of the current user 

Run the following piece of code in the Anonymous window.

[system.debug('Session Id is: '+system.UserInfo.getSessionId().subString(15));]

 Session id for a user looks like this:  !ARcAQK3kpFqq2_Dp34t3S2YqFLL1WoOI5u.ijjIoZrNiz0TNFdst2LPZ8Y64dffa3DYr5yi5zbd1PKzggPOTzfqwerGtRpS4

Now open the Windows PowerShell program. 

Get the salesforce version Using curl

Now let's test a simple request to get the salesforce version, for this, we don't need a session id.

[curl https://baseUrl/services/data/]

Here change baseUrl with your org base URL. 

[curl https://swdcworld-dev-ed.my.salesforce.com/services/data/]

Response: 

Get Basic Account object Information Using curl:

[curl https://baseUrl/services/data/v52.0/sobjects/Account/ -H "Authorization: Bearer access_token" -H "X-PrettyPrint:1"]

Here Replace baseUrl with your base url

        Replace access_token wth your access token.

        X-PrettyPrint: Is for response to show in easy to readable format.

        -H : Means Request Header, for list of supported options for curl. 

Here is Actual Request:

[curl https://swdcworld-dev-ed.my.salesforce.com/services/data/v52.0/sobjects/Account/ -H 'Authorization: Bearer !ARcAQK3kpFqq2_Dp34t3S2YqFLL1WoOI5u.ijjIoZrNiz0TNFdst2LPZ8Y64dffa3DYr5yi5zbd1PKzggPOTzfqVnxdlKpS4' -H 'X-PrettyPrint:1']

Response:

Execute a SOQL Query Using Curl

[curl https://baseUrl/services/data/v52.0/query?q=SELECT+name+from+Account+Limit+10 -H "Authorization: Bearer access_token" -H "X-PrettyPrint:1"]

Sample Request:

[curl https://swdcworld-dev-ed.my.salesforce.com/services/data/v52.0/query?q=SELECT+name+from+Account+Limit+10 -H 'Authorization: Bearer !ARcAQK3kpFqq2_Dp34t3S2YqFLL1WoOI5u.ijjIoZrNiz0TNFdst2LPZ8Y64dffa3DYr5yi5zbd1PKzggPOTzfqVnxdlKpS4' -H 'X-PrettyPrint:1']

 Response: