Fermin Perdomo
Full Stack Developer
From Salesforce to Laravel: A Guide to Successful Lead Management Integration
Lead management is an essential part of any business, and it's important to have a system that allows you to manage leads effectively. Many companies use Salesforce as a popular customer relationship management (CRM) software to manage their information. However, if you're using Laravel for your web development, you may wonder how to integrate Salesforce's lead management into your Laravel application.
This blog post will examine how to integrate lead management from Salesforce to Laravel successfully.
1. Create a Salesforce Developer Account
The first step in integrating Salesforce's lead management into your Laravel application is to create a Salesforce Developer account. This account will give you access to the Salesforce API, essential for integrating with Laravel.
To create a Salesforce Developer account, visit the website and sign up for a free account. Once you've made your account, you must create a new connected app in Salesforce. This app will give your Laravel application access to the Salesforce API.
2. Install the Salesforce SDK for Laravel
You must install the Salesforce SDK for PHP to integrate Salesforce's lead management into your Laravel application. This SDK provides tools and libraries that allow you to interact with the Salesforce API from your Laravel application.
To install the Salesforce SDK for PHP, you can use Composer, a dependency manager for PHP. In your Laravel application's root directory, run the following command:
composer require omniphx/forrest
This command will install the Salesforce SDK for PHP in your Laravel application.
The package will automatically register the service provider and Forrest alias for Laravel >=5.5. For earlier versions, add the service provider and alias to your config/app.php file:
// Omniphx\Forrest\Providers\Laravel\ForrestServiceProvider::class
'Forrest' => Omniphx\Forrest\Providers\Laravel\Facades\Forrest::class
3. Configuration
You will need a configuration file to add your credentials. Publish a config file using the artisan command:
php artisan vendor:publish
This will publish a config/forrest.php file that can switch between authentication types and other settings.
After adding the config file, update your .env to include the following values (details for getting a consumer key and secret are outlined below):
SF_CONSUMER_KEY=YOUR_SF_CONSUMER_KEY
SF_CONSUMER_SECRET=YOUR_SF_CONSUMER_SECRET
SF_CALLBACK_URI=YOUR_SF_CALLBACK_URI
SF_LOGIN_URL=https://login.salesforce.com
# For sandbox: SF_LOGIN_URL=https://test.salesforce.com
SF_USERNAME=YOUR_SF_USERNAME
SF_PASSWORD=YOUR_SF_PASSWORD
4. Setup
Creating authentication routes
In this case, we will use the Web Server authentication flow
Route::get('/authenticate', function()
{
return Forrest::authenticate();
});
Route::get('/callback', function()
{
Forrest::callback();
return Redirect::to('/');
});
5. Basic usage
After authentication, your app will store an encrypted authentication token which can be used to make API requests.
Query a record:
Forrest::query('SELECT Id FROM Account');
Sample result:
(
[totalSize] => 2
[done] => 1
[records] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[attributes] => Array
(
[type] => Account
[url] => /services/data/v48.0/sobjects/Account/0013I000004zuIXQAY
)
[Id] => 0013I000004zuIXQAY
)
[1] => Array
(
[attributes] => Array
(
[type] => Account
[url] => /services/data/v48.0/sobjects/Account/0013I000004zuIcQAI
)
[Id] => 0013I000004zuIcQAI
)
)
)
If you are querying more than 2000 records, your response will include the following:
(
[nextRecordsUrl] => /services/data/v20.0/query/01gD0000002HU6KIAW-2000
)
Call Forrest::next($nextRecordsUrl) to return the next 2000 records.
Here's an example of how to retrieve all leads from Salesforce:
$leads = Forrest::query('SELECT Id, FirstName, LastName, Email FROM Lead')->records;
foreach ($leads as $lead) {
// Do something with the lead data
}
6. Create Leads in Salesforce
In addition to retrieving leads from Salesforce, you can also create new leads in Salesforce using the API. Here's an example of how to create a new lead in Salesforce
$newLead = [
'FirstName' => 'John',
'LastName' => 'Doe',
'Email' => '[email protected]',
'Company' => 'Example Company'
];
$response = Forrest::create('Lead', [
'method' => 'post',
'body' => $newLead
]);
if ($response->success) {
echo 'New lead created with ID: ' . $response->id;
} else {
echo 'Error creating lead: ' . $response->errors[0]->message;
}
7. Update a Salesforce lead
Update a record with the PUT method; if the external Id doesn't exist, it will insert a new one.
$externalId = 'XYZ1234';
Forrest::sobjects('Lead/External_Id__c/' . $externalId, [
'method' => 'put',
'body' => [
'Name' => 'Dunder Mifflin',
'Phone' => '555-555-5555'
]
]);
Conclusion
In this blog post, we've explored how to integrate lead management from Salesforce to Laravel successfully. Following these steps, you can leverage Salesforce's powerful lead management capabilities in your Laravel application. With access to the Salesforce API, you can retrieve, create, and update leads in Salesforce, providing a seamless experience for your team and customers.