R1D38 SOQL and SOSL Queries in Apex
I’m working through the Apex Basics & Database module on Trailhead.
I learned about using built in sObjects and also about making custom sObjects. Next I learned about how to use DML in order to manipulate records within the system. After getting the basics down we dove into SOQL.
SOQL
SOQL is shot for Salesforce Object Query Language. If you are familiar with SQL you will feel right at home. SOQL makes querying data very simple. One pretty poweful feature is the ability to run inline queries and return the results to a variable. In pretty much every other language you would need to create a cursor and iterate over the results in order to read the values from a database. In SOQL you simply assing the results to an array.# Python Exampleconn = sqlite3.connect(’example.db’) c = conn.cursor() results = c.execute(“SELECT Name, Phone FROM Accounts”)
for row in results: print row
# SOQL Example Accounts[] accts = [SELECT Name, Phone FROM Account];
I think this bit trips up a lot of new programmers so it is great to see how SOQL makes it easy.
One thing worth noting is that you canno use the handy “SELECT *” that is found in SQL.
Unlike other SQL languages, you can’t specify * for all fields. You must specify every field you want to get explicitly. If you try to access a field you haven’t specified in the SELECT clause, you’ll get an error because the field hasn’t been retrieved.The built in developer console in Salesforce makes it very easy to run queries and inspect your objects without writing any additional code.
Cool things about SOQL:
- you can pass in variables directly into a query
- you can use dot notation to get related records in a query
- you can use for loops in queries
SOSL
SOSL is short for Salesforce Object Search Language and it allows you to do robust full text search on records similar to Apache Lucene. The main difference is that it allows you to search accross multiple objects instead of just a single one.FIND 'SearchQuery' [IN SearchGroup] [RETURNING ObjectsAndFields]In order to pass a variable into the search query, you use the colon symbol.
public class MultiSearch {
public static List> searchAll (String searchTerm) {
List> searchList = [FIND :searchTerm IN ALL FIELDS RETURNING Account(Name),Contact(FirstName,LastName)];
return searchList;
}
}
Thank you for reading! Share your thoughts with me on bluesky, mastodon, or via email.
Check out some more stuff to read down below.
Most popular posts this month
- My Custom Miniflux CSS Theme
- SQLite DB Migrations with PRAGMA user_version
- 2024
- Using cgit
- Making cgit Pretty
Recent Favorite Blog Posts
This is a collection of the last 8 posts that I bookmarked.
- Avi Alkalay: Uniqlo T-Shirt Bash Script Easter Egg from Fedora People
- Offline 23 hours a day from Derek Sivers blog
- Pluralistic: California can stop Larry Ellison from buying Warners (28 Feb 2026) from Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
- On Alliances from Smashing Frames
- Acting ethically in an imperfect world from Smashing Frames
- Diffusion of Responsibility from Smashing Frames
- My AI Adoption Journey from Mitchell Hashimoto
- Fedora Magazine: Contribute to Fedora 44 KDE and GNOME Test Days from Fedora People
Articles from blogs I follow around the net
Your Data Is Made Powerful By Context (so stop destroying it already)
In logs as in life, the relationships are the most important part. AI doesn't fix this. It makes it worse.
via charity.wtf March 9, 2026Not in My Back Forty!
Every Transport Project Worth Building Faced Protests. Canada's Alto High-Speed Rail Line is No Exception.
via High Speed March 9, 2026Pluralistic: Billionaires are a danger to themselves and (especially) us (09 Mar 2026)
Today's links Billionaires are a danger to themselves and (especially) us: A billionaire is a machine for producing policy failures at scale. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: Librarians Against DRM; Copyright maximalist MP i…
via Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow March 9, 2026Generated by openring