Salesforce to Salesforce Integration using OAuth 2.0 and Named Credentials

Hello Everyone,

After investing lot of time, I was able to Integrate with my own sandbox( you can say one Salesforce Instance to Other Salesforce instance)

I had a scenario where i had to call a rest method created and Exposed in my own sandbox. So I started digging on this as you guys are now.

In order to perform OAuth with salesforce you need to perform 3 important steps.

1.       Create Connected App

2.       Create Auth. Provider

3.       Create Named Credentials

Once you are authorized, you just need to write 5- 6 lines of code to invoke your REST method.

So let’s gets started.

As you know Salesforce uses OAuth 2.0 now. So our job is to set up OAuth.

Importantly, OAuth requires 4 important details and they are,

Client ID, Secrete Key, User Name and Password.

So how do we get them?

Client ID and Secrete Key (AKA Client Secrete) can be obtained from Creating a Connected app. But what about User Name and Password??

User Name and Password can be obtained using Named credentials. Let's see how.

Creating Connected App:

Setup èApps èScroll Down to Connected App section and Click New.

Fill the details. Refer Screenshots.

Pic 1

Pic 2

Run As User: Chose your Org’s system Admin (preferably) / the person whom you want to run the Exposed REST method.When you try to invoke REST method salesforce will run the class with this user.

Scopes: Full Access (full)

Any field you don’t see in the screen shot, you can leave them blank.

We will come back to CallBack URL in a while. Just update Dummy value as “https://login.salesforce.com " for now and Click Save.

You will now see some page like this.

Pic 3

Now you got your Client Key and Secret. Well done. Let’s hit the road and find a way to use Username and Password.

As I said Named Credentials are the way to do it.

In order to create Named Credentials, we need something called Authentication Provider.

This Auth Provider will act as junction between Named Credentials and Connected App.

Creating the Auth Provider:

Setup è Auth.Providers è Click New

Chose Provider Type as Salesforce (Since we are integrating with Salesforce to Salesforce).

Name and URL Suffix: Give any suitable name as per your convenience.

Consumer Key: Created in Previous step (Creating a Connect App) Refer the screenshot.

Consumer Secret: Same as above.

Execute Registration As: Give the Same user which you gave in above step (Run As User in Connected App Section)

Once you click save you will see something like this.

Pic 4

Now you have got Call Back URL. (Do you remember we gave dummy value somewhere before this step?) Now it’s time to copy the call back URL and go back to connected app and edit and Update the Call Back URL .

Pic 5

As I mentioned Auth provider acts as junction between named Credentials and Connected App. Lets see how.

In any REST web call we need to pass User Name, Password, and Client ID and secrete in the request header for authentication.

Client Secret and Key are generated in Connected App and You Updated the Connected App with Call Back URL generated in Auth Provider. So now you see how Connected App and Auth Provider are linked. 

In Short Call Back URL generated in Auth provider is used in Connected App.

Now time to see how Auth Provider is linked with Named Credentials.

Creating Named Credentials: 

Setup è Named Credentials è Click New

Setup as below.

Pic 6

Look Closely. You need to choose the Auth Provider which you created in previous step .With this Named Credentials and Auth provider are tied together . This is how Auth provider acts as Junction between Named Cred and Connected App.

Note: 

Start Authentication Flow on Save should be checked and put the scope as full.

If you see the pic, the Authentication Status is “Pending” Now

URL : This is the URL of your Salesforce Instance. ( It may be na2 or na** based upon what is assigned to your org. In my case I had created my own domain so looks little different in the pic.)

When you click save it will ask you for the username and password of your salesforce org. once you provide the Valid Username and Password, somehow salesforce will save this in the backend.

After you provide the valid username and Password you will get something like this.

Pic 7

Allow It and You are Done. Authentication Status will be changed to Authenticated as “ Authenticated as yourUserName” .

Pic 8

Now you just need to refer in you controller.

HttpRequest req = new HttpRequest();
            req.setEndpoint('callout:eBloger_NamedCred/services/apexrest/YourMethodNameWhichIsExposed?param1='+userToBeUpdated.ID+'&param2='+accountIDtobeUpdated);
            req.setMethod('GET');
            Http http = new Http();
            HTTPResponse res = http.send(req);
            System.debug(res.getBody());

NOTE: Parma1 and Param2 and something my httpGet method is expecting as a parameter. Otherwise it can be vomited or modified according to your scenario.

Now it is time for me and you to go explore what Refresh Token full means and things which you are not clear from this article.

Even I am new-Bee to this integration stuff and trying to help who is in my position J