Salesforce SDK Patterns

Overview

Production-ready patterns for jsforce (Node.js) and simple-salesforce (Python) — singleton connections, typed queries, error handling, and token refresh.

Prerequisites

• Completed

  salesforce-install-auth

  setup
• Familiarity with async/await and TypeScript generics
• Understanding of Salesforce sObject model

Instructions

Step 1: Singleton Connection with Auto-Refresh

// src/salesforce/connection.ts
import jsforce from 'jsforce';

let conn: jsforce.Connection | null = null;

export async function getConnection(): Promise<jsforce.Connection> {
  if (conn?.accessToken) {
    // Test if token is still valid
    try {
      await conn.identity();
      return conn;
    } catch {
      conn = null; // Token expired, reconnect
    }
  }

  conn = new jsforce.Connection({
    loginUrl: process.env.SF_LOGIN_URL || 'https://login.salesforce.com',
    version: '59.0', // Pin API version for stability
  });

  await conn.login(
    process.env.SF_USERNAME!,
    process.env.SF_PASSWORD! + process.env.SF_SECURITY_TOKEN!
  );

  return conn;
}

Step 2: Typed sObject Interfaces

// src/salesforce/types.ts

/** Standard Salesforce sObject base fields */
interface SObjectBase {
  Id: string;
  CreatedDate: string;
  LastModifiedDate: string;
  SystemModstamp: string;
  IsDeleted: boolean;
}

export interface Account extends SObjectBase {
  Name: string;
  Industry?: string;
  AnnualRevenue?: number;
  NumberOfEmployees?: number;
  Website?: string;
  Phone?: string;
  BillingCity?: string;
  BillingState?: string;
  OwnerId: string;
}

export interface Contact extends SObjectBase {
  FirstName?: string;
  LastName: string;
  Email?: string;
  Phone?: string;
  AccountId?: string;
  Title?: string;
  Department?: string;
}

export interface Opportunity extends SObjectBase {
  Name: string;
  Amount?: number;
  StageName: string;
  CloseDate: string;
  AccountId?: string;
  Probability?: number;
  ForecastCategory?: string;
}

export interface Lead extends SObjectBase {
  FirstName?: string;
  LastName: string;
  Company: string;
  Email?: string;
  Status: string;
  IsConverted: boolean;
}

Step 3: Type-Safe Query Builder

// src/salesforce/queries.ts
import { getConnection } from './connection';
import type { Account, Contact, Opportunity } from './types';

export async function queryAccounts(
  filters?: { industry?: string; minRevenue?: number }
): Promise<Account[]> {
  const conn = await getConnection();

  let soql = `
    SELECT Id, Name, Industry, AnnualRevenue, NumberOfEmployees,
           Website, Phone, BillingCity, BillingState, OwnerId
    FROM Account
  `;

  const conditions: string[] = [];
  if (filters?.industry) {
    conditions.push(`Industry = '${filters.industry.replace(/'/g, "\\'")}'`);
  }
  if (filters?.minRevenue) {
    conditions.push(`AnnualRevenue >= ${filters.minRevenue}`);
  }

  if (conditions.length > 0) {
    soql += ` WHERE ${conditions.join(' AND ')}`;
  }

  soql += ' ORDER BY Name ASC LIMIT 200';

  const result = await conn.query<Account>(soql);
  return result.records;
}

export async function queryContactsByAccount(
  accountId: string
): Promise<Contact[]> {
  const conn = await getConnection();
  const result = await conn.query<Contact>(
    `SELECT Id, FirstName, LastName, Email, Phone, Title, Department
     FROM Contact
     WHERE AccountId = '${accountId}'
     ORDER BY LastName ASC`
  );
  return result.records;
}

export async function queryOpenOpportunities(): Promise<Opportunity[]> {
  const conn = await getConnection();
  const result = await conn.query<Opportunity>(
    `SELECT Id, Name, Amount, StageName, CloseDate, AccountId, Probability
     FROM Opportunity
     WHERE IsClosed = false AND CloseDate >= TODAY
     ORDER BY CloseDate ASC`
  );
  return result.records;
}

Step 4: Error Handling Wrapper

// src/salesforce/errors.ts
export class SalesforceError extends Error {
  constructor(
    message: string,
    public readonly errorCode: string,
    public readonly statusCode?: number,
    public readonly fields?: string[]
  ) {
    super(message);
    this.name = 'SalesforceError';
  }
}

export async function safeSfCall<T>(
  operation: () => Promise<T>,
  context?: string
): Promise<T> {
  try {
    return await operation();
  } catch (err: any) {
    const errorCode = err.errorCode || err.name || 'UNKNOWN_ERROR';
    const fields = err.fields || [];

    // Map Salesforce error codes to actionable messages
    const messages: Record<string, string> = {
      'INVALID_FIELD': `Invalid field name in query. Fields: ${fields.join(', ')}`,
      'MALFORMED_QUERY': 'SOQL syntax error — check field names and WHERE clause',
      'INVALID_TYPE': 'sObject type does not exist — use API names like Account, not Accounts',
      'INSUFFICIENT_ACCESS_OR_READONLY': 'User lacks permission for this operation',
      'ENTITY_IS_DELETED': 'Record has been deleted — check Recycle Bin',
      'DUPLICATE_VALUE': 'Duplicate external ID or unique field value',
      'FIELD_INTEGRITY_EXCEPTION': 'Field validation rule failed',
      'STRING_TOO_LONG': 'Field value exceeds max length',
      'REQUEST_LIMIT_EXCEEDED': 'Daily API limit exhausted — check org limits',
    };

    throw new SalesforceError(
      messages[errorCode] || err.message || 'Unknown Salesforce error',
      errorCode,
      err.statusCode,
      fields
    );
  }
}

Step 5: Retry Logic for Transient Errors

const RETRYABLE_ERRORS = [
  'REQUEST_LIMIT_EXCEEDED',
  'SERVER_UNAVAILABLE',
  'UNABLE_TO_LOCK_ROW',
];

export async function withRetry<T>(
  operation: () => Promise<T>,
  maxRetries = 3,
  baseDelayMs = 1000
): Promise<T> {
  for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= maxRetries; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await operation();
    } catch (err: any) {
      const errorCode = err.errorCode || err.name;
      if (attempt === maxRetries || !RETRYABLE_ERRORS.includes(errorCode)) {
        throw err;
      }
      const delay = baseDelayMs * Math.pow(2, attempt - 1);
      console.warn(`Retryable error ${errorCode}, attempt ${attempt}/${maxRetries}, waiting ${delay}ms`);
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delay));
    }
  }
  throw new Error('Unreachable');
}

Output

• Type-safe jsforce connection singleton with auto-refresh
• Typed sObject interfaces for Account, Contact, Opportunity, Lead
• SOQL query builders with parameterized filters
• Error handling mapped to Salesforce error codes
• Retry logic for transient failures

Error Handling

safeSfCall()

withRetry()

UNABLE_TO_LOCK_ROW

Resources

• jsforce API Reference
• Salesforce Error Codes
• SOQL Reference

Next Steps

Apply patterns in

salesforce-core-workflow-a