What is SOQL and how to use it in Salesforce Apex?
SOQL (Salesforce Object Query Language) is a query language used in Salesforce to retrieve data from Salesforce objects, similar to SQL for relational databases. It allows developers to query records from standard and custom objects, including their fields and related records, in a structured and efficient way. SOQL is primarily used in Apex (Salesforce’s programming language) to fetch data for processing or display. This post will explain SOQL for Salesforce Developers. Key characteristics of SOQL: Read-only : SOQL is used to retrieve data, not to modify it (use DML for updates, inserts, etc.). Object-oriented : Queries target Salesforce objects (standard like Account, Contact, or custom objects). Supports relationships : SOQL can traverse parent-to-child or child-to-parent relationships using dot notation. Governor limits : SOQL queries are subject to Salesforce governor limits (e.g., 50,000 records returned per transaction). Using SOQL in Apex SOQL queries can be embedded i...