February 27, 2009
SOQL with Dataloader
How do you execute SOQL? Compared to SQL, where we have our beloved interfaces depending on the RDBMS, SOQL is a lot more tricky to even find an environment to execute it. A good refrence for SOQL is here, but so far have had much more limited sucess actually executing the SOQL.
DataLoader
In my developer account, I go to Setup > Administrative Setup > Data Management > DataLoader. The actual URL is here if : https://na6.salesforce.com/dwnld/DataLoader/ApexDataLoader.exe - but that may vary per SFDC account.
Step 1: (pdf) RTFM!
Step 2. Start DataLoader, log in with your API enabled account.
Step3. Go to Export section to run the SOQL.
What I learned here, only after reading the manual, is that:
“The Data Loader does not support nested queries or querying child objects. For example, queries similar to the following return an error:
SELECT Amount, Id, Name, (SELECT Quantity, ListPrice,
PriceBookEntry.UnitPrice, PricebookEntry.Name,
PricebookEntry.product2.Family FROM OpportunityLineItems)
FROM Opportunity “
Data Loader does support querying parents. For example, you can query the ID of account records that are the parents of contact records:
"SELECT Id, Account.Id, CreatedById from Contact”
The net effect, is most of the examples the SOQL reference don't work. So still trying to find the perfect environment for testing SOQL.