Dreamforce 2014

1. Build Consumer-Facing Apps with
Heroku Connect
Jeff Douglas
Developer Evangelist Architect
@jeffdonthemic

2. Safe Harbor
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3. Jeff Douglas
Developer Evangelist Architect

4. What is the Heroku Connect?
Native bi-directional data sync service between
Salesforce and Heroku Postgres allowing you
to build salesforce.com-powered apps faster and
easier.

5. Makes Developers Happy!
• Knows how to build customer-facing web and
mobile apps
• Familiar with Heroku, Postgres and add-ons
• Uses standard open source stacks
• Already knows SQL
• Uses familiar tools and workflows
• Doesn’t need a deep understanding of how
Salesforce works
[ForceLogic]

6. Makes Salesforce Users Happy!
• Data is happy, safe & secure in Salesforce
• Ensure data integrity.
• Control & maintain business processes.
• Easier to find development resources.
No need to build an admin
interface for the web app.
Use the standard Salesforce
UI & save $$! Brilliant!

7. How does Heroku Connect work?
• Synchronizes data with standard or custom Salesforce objects
• Uses LastModifiedDate to detect changes to Salesforce objects and database
triggers for Postgres changes
• Only syncs modified columns
• Implements “last writer win”
• Does not support inflight transformations
• Does not automatically detect schema changes

8. Mapping Object & Tables
• Creates database tables & columns during
setup. Uses the same names as
Salesforce, except with all lower-case
letters
• Each database table defines a native,
unique, auto-increment integer primary
key column named ‘id’
• The Salesforce Id field is renamed as ‘sfid’
in the database table
• Supports external ids for master-detail
relationship mapping (see docs)

9. Syncing Data
• Salesforce modes: Read-only & Read/Write
• Utilizes SOAP, Bulk, and other batch
processes to optimize inbound Salesforce
records and minimize API calls.
• Sync modes:
– Polling
• Every 2-60 minutes (10 minutes default)
• Drops to 3 minutes when in UI
– Evented (recommended)
• Uses Streaming API if available for object
• Still polls every 10 minutes
Estimate 300 API calls per day per bidirectional object

10. Logging

11. Operating Heroku Connect

12. Examples in the Wild

13. More Heroku Postgres Awesomeness
Fork databases for faster development
Create follower database for reporting or external access
Share SQL results with Dataclips

14. Demo (Short)

15. Best Practices
• Update mappings when you delete fields from Salesforce.
• Be careful when creating validation rules or required fields as inserts may fail.
• Connect to your org with a user with “View All Data” permissions or a SysAdmin
user if possible.
• Watch your API consumption for hungry tables. Dial-down sync time if possible.
• No record level permissions in Postgres so your app must implement them if
necessary.
• If Heroku Connect stop syncing, try Restarting before reloading the object.
• No support for image or file sync so store them in S3 and sync the URL.
• Write to Postgres and Salesforce when real-time update necessary

16. Questions?