Summary

With its integration features, the Force.com platform is open for interoperability with other applications and systems running on Force.com, elsewhere on the Internet, and behind your corporate firewall. The capability to call the platform bidirectionally using Web standards helps to break down the functional silos of Force.com and other applications.

Chapter 11, “Advanced Integration,” covers additional integration features, such as the ability to securely embed other applications within the user interface, build custom developer tools, and provide external applications with a real-time stream of updated data. Before jumping in, take a minute to review the following points from this chapter:

You can call out to SOAP and REST Web services from Apex using its built-in support for HTTP, XML, and JSON, as well as the WSDL to Apex tool.

OAuth is a Web standard for authentication, configured in Force.com using Connected Apps.

With code annotations and tools to map Apex to SOAP and REST, your Apex code can become Web services, ready for incorporation into programs running outside of Force.com.