1. API Design, Development
and Enterprise Apps
RENAISSANCE 2014
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
JANUARY 31, 2014
1.31.2014 - WWW.QUBOP.COM

2. Hello!
Evan Kirchhoff
COO, Qubop Inc.
evan@qubop.com
twitter: @theevank
www.qubop.com
twitter: @qubopinc
1.31.2014 - WWW.QUBOP.COM

3. ≠

4. OUTLINE
What is Salesforce?
Salesforce for native iOS developers
API design for enterprise apps
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5. IN A GOOD MOBILE APP,
API DESIGN IS DERIVED
FROM UI DESIGN
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6. IN MOBILE, YOUR UI
DESIGN DETERMINES
YOUR BUSINESS MODEL*
* SLIGHTLY CONTROVERSIAL TO CLIENTS
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7. What is Salesforce?
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8. =
?!
Mobile Back-end as a Service (MBaaS)
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9. The “Big 4” Salesforce elements
from a mobile app developer’s point of view
(BASED ON MARKETING TERMS THAT YOUR CLIENTS WILL KNOW)
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10. Our job is to “flatten” the platform
into a minimal set of APIs
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11. The Salesforce architecture & APIs
=
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Default apps running
on a general-purpose
database platform
with common APIs

12. The Salesforce architecture & APIs
=
=
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Different APIs
Different APIs

13. Example: the Sales Cloud technology stack
Lead Objects &
Opportunity Objects
DATABASE TABLES
SOQL
QUERY LANGUAGE
Apex
SERVER MIDDLEWARE CODE
VisualForce / HTML5
WEB UI AND PRESENTATION
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14. The Salesforce developer community is
primarily a web development community
...and extremely seperate from the
iOS developer community
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15. Salesforce for iOS
Developers
1.31.2014 - WWW.QUBOP.COM

16. Typical Salesforce “sales pipeline” model
SALES OPPORTUNITY
SALES LEAD
PROSPECTING (10%)
QUALIFICATION (20%)
PROPOSAL (50%)
NEGOTIATION (80%)
WON! or CLOSED
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17. Default Salesforce web paradigm
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18. Does Salesforce 1 (Nov 2013) affect
the world of native iOS developers?
(NOT THAT MUCH, SO FAR)
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19. The “Salesforce 1 app” (hybrid platform)
3RD PARTY WEB-TECHNOLOGY APPS PLUG INTO THE LEFT SIDE MENU
BUILT-IN ACCESS TO STANDARD SALESFORCE DATA TYPES
1.31.2014 - WWW.QUBOP.COM

20. Salesforce platform: what is interesting
to native iOS developers
Native SDK (OAuth, communication stack)
Rapid back end development
Automatic server-side optimization
Lots of free general business logic
Authentication, security, user roles
Valuable clients: $$$
1.31.2014 - WWW.QUBOP.COM

21. Sales Organization Manager (live demo)
NATIVE IPAD APP USING ALL OF THE “BIG 4” SALESFORCE ELEMENTS
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22. API Design for
Enterprise Apps
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23. Design the app UI first!
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24. The world’s smartest dumb terminal
EVEN IF BUSINESS LOGIC LIVES ON THE SERVER, THE CLIENT IS “THICK” AND MAY CONTAIN SUBSTANTIAL UI LOGIC
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25. Don’t design the UI based on the data structure
THE USER DOESN’T PERCEIVE THE APP THE WAY YOU PERCEIVE THE DATA
X
...AND THE SCREEN IS VERY SMALL
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26. Don’t be satisfied with
the stock APIs
THIS USUALLY MEANS THAT YOU’LL NEED TO WRITE MIDDLEWARE
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27. Sales Organization Manager:
our custom API calls from iOS
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28. Example: Opportunities Heatmap UI
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29. Example: Opportunities Heatmap UI
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32. (1) iOS connection to custom Apex endpoint

33. (2) Apex class written specifically to feed this heatmap UI
(MASHES UP LEAD AND OPPORTUNITY OBJECT DATA)
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34. (3) JSON response from Apex, converted to NSDictionary in iOS
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35. (4) Finally: render the circles and columns in iOS
“AMOUNT” = NUMBER OF DEALS IN THE COLUMN (DETERMINES CIRCLE RADIUS)
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36. Where should your code live?
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37. Business logic
vs. presentation logic?
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Data vs.
documents?

38. Example: Documents + server-based email = API
GOAL: THE SALESPERSON WANTS TO ATTACH COLLATERAL FROM SALESFORCE TO EMAIL
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39. Standard solution: use the iPhone native email client
SALESFORCE
DOCUMENT
STORAGE
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40. Better solution: create an API to send email +
attachments from the server
SALESFORCE
DOCUMENT
STORAGE
ALLOWS FOR QUEUEING LOGIC, LOW BANDWIDTH, OFFLINE CASE HANDLING
1.31.2014 - WWW.QUBOP.COM

41. Thanks!
Evan Kirchhoff
COO, Qubop Inc.
evan@qubop.com
twitter: @theevank
www.qubop.com
twitter: @qubopinc
1.31.2014 - WWW.QUBOP.COM