How to Setup External Objects in Salesforce?

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In Salesforce, External objects are similar to custom objects, and these external objects allow us to access and interact with data stored outside of the Salesforce organization.

This means the external data can be viewed and managed within the organization as native Salesforce data.

In this Salesforce tutorial, I will explain external objects in Salesforce and how to set up external objects in Salesforce.

What are External Objects in Salesforce?

In Salesforce, External objects are available for API versions 32.0 and later. External objects are similar to custom objects, but the data of external objects is stored outside our Salesforce org. Each org can have up to 200 external objects.

Suppose the data you want to access is stored in the external system. Instead of importing this data into Salesforce, you can use external objects to access it in real-time through web service callouts.

These external objects are mapped to the data stored in the external system, enabling integration without importing data into Salesforce. By defining external data sources, organizations can utilize real-time data from systems such as databases, ERP systems, or content management platforms directly within Salesforce. This ensures that users have access to the updated information.

Set up External Objects in Salesforce

To set external objects in Salesforce, we must define external data sources. Then, we need to validate the data source and create an external Salesforce object with the embedded data source.

Create External Data Sources in Salesforce

To create an external data source in Salesforce, navigate to the setup page and follow the steps below.

  1. On the setup, go to Quick Find and search, then select External Data Sources.
  1. In the setup of External Data Sources, click on the New External Data Source button.
    • Enter the external data source name, and its Name will be auto-filled. Select the type of external source. In this example, I have selected the type “Salesforce Connect: OData 2.0“.
Salesforce External data sources
  1. In the URL, enter the URL link of the external data source. I have used the URL “https://orderdb.herokuapp.com/orders.sv“.
    • After this, leave the other fields with their default values and click Save.
    • In the next window, click on the Validate and Sync button.