What is an external object
Andrew Vasquez
Updated on May 21, 2026
External objects are similar to custom objects, except that they map to data that’s stored outside your Salesforce org
What is a use case for an external object?
Instead of copying the data into your org, you can use external objects to access the data in real time via web service callouts. … External objects are similar to custom objects, except that they map to data located outside your Salesforce org. External object data is always up to date.
What types of relationships can you create on external objects?
- Lookup Relationship Fields on External Objects. …
- External Lookup Relationship Fields on External Objects. …
- Indirect Lookup Relationship Fields on External Objects.
Can you report on external objects?
My employer will be interested in integrating some of our data warehouse information with Salesforce reports. When you run a report, your org performs a request callout for each external object in the report. When you run a report that’s in the joined format, your org performs separate request callouts for each block.How do I deploy an external object in Salesforce?
- From Setup, enter External Objects in the Quick Find box, then select External Objects.
- Click New External Object, or click Edit to modify an existing external object.
- Enter the following: …
- Click Save.
How do I create a external lookup relationship in Salesforce?
To do so, create an external lookup field on the subscriber org’s Contact external object. Link that external lookup field to the subscriber org’s Account external object. Then set up the page layouts for the Account external object to include a related list that displays the related Contact external object records.
How do you create an external object?
To create or modify an external object: From Setup, enter External Objects in the Quick Find box, then select External Objects. Click New External Object, or click Edit to modify an existing external object. A user-friendly name for the external object.
Can we write trigger on external object in Salesforce?
You can also add an Apex trigger that is called when change event notifications are published. Keep these considerations in mind when working with External Change Data Capture. Enable external change data capture for the data source and each external object that you want to monitor.What is Salesforce OData?
OData is an open standard that allows object definitions to be published, queried and updated. The OData specification and metadata describes object relationships, simple and complex types, and a query language.
What is external data source in Salesforce?An external data source specifies how to access an external system. Salesforce Connect uses external data sources to access data that’s stored outside your Salesforce organization. Files Connect uses external data sources to access third-party content systems.
Article first time published onWhat is the difference between look up and external look up relationship?
Difference between Indirect Lookup and External Lookup In simple terms, an indirect lookup relationship utilizes either a standard or custom object as a parent, and an external object as a child. … However, the child record of external lookup relationships could either be an external, custom, or standard object.
What is a junction object?
A junction object is a custom object with two master-detail relationships, and it is the key to making a many-to-many relationship. … Through those many-to-one relationships, you create a many-to-many relationship between the Position and Job Posting Site objects.
Can a child record be a master to some other object?
Administrators can, however, allow child records in master-detail relationships on custom objects to be reparented to different parent records by selecting the Allow reparenting option in the master-detail relationship definition. You can have up to three custom detail levels.
Why we use external objects in Salesforce?
External objects are best used when you have a large amount of data that you can’t or don’t want to store in your Salesforce organization, and you need to use only a small amount of data at any one time.
What are Salesforce external services?
External Services is a feature within Salesforce that leverages declarative tools to connect to an external endpoint, such as a credit service provider, and bring its logic into Salesforce. Go to External Services from force.com setup to set it up. It’s easy to set up with point and clicks.
How much is Salesforce Connect?
The price of Salesforce Connect depends on the data source and starts with a subscription of USD 4000/month. It is available for both the Enterprise and Unlimited editions of Salesforce.
What is internal object?
An internal object is our psychological and emotional impression of a person. It is the representation that we hold onto when the person is not physically there, and it influences how we view the person in real life. Consequently, the internal object greatly impacts our relationship with the person that it represents.
What is a Salesforce big object?
A big object stores and manages massive amounts of data on the Salesforce platform. You can archive data from other objects or bring datasets from outside systems into a big object to get a full view of your customers. From Setup, you can create a custom big object and define its fields and index.
What is external ID in Salesforce?
An external ID is a custom field that has the External ID attribute, meaning that it contains unique record identifiers from a system outside of Salesforce. When you select this option, the Data Import Wizard detects existing records in Salesforce with external IDs that match those values in the import file.
What types of fields can be used as an external ID in Salesforce?
Salesforce allows you mark up to 3 fields as External IDs and these fields must be text, number or email field types. Values in these External ID field must also be unique and you can also determine whether or not value are case sensitive.
What are record types in Salesforce?
Record types in Salesforce allow you to have different business processes, picklist values, and page layouts to different users based on profile. You might create record types to differentiate your regular sales deals from your professional services engagements, offering different picklist values for each.
What is self relationship in Salesforce?
A self-Relationship is a lookup relationship to the same object. It creates a tree diagram of the objects.
What is ETL tool in Salesforce?
Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) tools integrate data from multiple and often disparate applications, such as assimilating data from payroll, purchase and sales applications to a cost accounting system.
What is gzip compression in Salesforce?
Response Compression Salesforce compresses a response only if the request contains an Accept-Encoding: gzip or Accept-Encoding: deflate header. … If compressed, the response contains a Content-Encoding header with the compression algorithm so that your client knows to decompress it.
What is the difference between rest and OData?
REST stands for REpresentational State Transfer which is a resource based architectural style. OData is a web based protocol that defines a set of best practices for building and consuming RESTful web services.
What is Salesforce Connect?
Salesforce Connect provides seamless integration of data across system boundaries by letting your users view, search, and modify data that’s stored outside your Salesforce org. … Instead of copying the data into your org, you can use external objects to access the data in real time via web service callouts.
What are examples of external data?
Examples of traditional external data may include information from statistics departments, third-party market research databases, official press releases, etc. Advanced external: This data is produced from web monitoring of consumers or competitors’ activities.
What are three external data sources?
The Four Types of External Data: Open Data, Paid Data, Shared Data, and Social Media data. Based on a review of current practices, we distinguish four relevant external data types: open data, paid data, shared data, and social media data.
How do I view external data in Salesforce?
- First, go to Setup -> Manage External Data Sources -> Click New External Data Source.
- Here let’s choose the name and type of our data source. …
- The page refreshes and shows you the detail view of your newly created data source.
What is a cross object formula field?
A Cross-object formula is a formula that spans two related objects and references merge fields on those objects. A cross-object formula can reference merge fields from a master (“parent”) object if an object is on the detail side of a master-detail relationship.
What is an indirect lookup relationship?
An indirect lookup relationship links a child external object to a parent standard or custom object. … Specifically, you select a custom unique, external ID field on the parent object to match against the child’s indirect lookup relationship field, whose values are determined by the specified External Column Name.