Connecting and Testing Salesforce in a Sandbox Environment

Why build a Sandbox integration?

Before connecting Salesforce to VanillaSoft, you may prefer to test the connection in a sandbox environment to ensure the integrations you create will work the way you intend and predict. A Salesforce Sandbox is an isolated environment where you can test new applications, workflow implementations, security analysis, and develop custom programming. This allows users to thoroughly test and experiment with these changes without impacting their live production environment or data.

How to Create a Sandbox in Salesforce

Sandbox creation, cloning, and refreshing are all handled from within your Salesforce instance. Not every edition of Salesforce has access to a sandbox. You can find more information about sandboxes from Salesforce's Create, Clone, or Refresh a Sandbox article.

How to Create a Sandbox in VanillaSoft

VanillaSoft does not have a sandbox environment but can connect with Salesforce sandbox environments. It is strongly recommended that you create a test project with test customer data for your sandbox testing. This will ensure that no real production data inside VanillaSoft "and" Salesforce is compromised during the testing. VanillaSoft allows you to clone existing projects and contact data for testing purposes. The principles are the same as a traditional sandbox. For more information on cloning project, check out our How to Copy Project Settings to Create a New Project article. 

How to Connect Sandboxes

Inside VanillaSoft

1. Sign into VanillaSoft
2. Go to Admin, click on your cloned project and go to Integration » Salesforce Integrations
3. Enter your Salesforce username from your sandbox environment
4. Enter your Salesforce password from your sandbox environment
5. Enter your Salesforce Security Token from your sandbox environment — [How to Set or Reset your Salesforce Security Token]
6. Select Sandbox as the Target/Endpoint
7. Click "Test Account"
8. If validation passes, click Save
9. If you are intending to test sending data from Salesforce to VanillaSoft, you must click Allow Salesforce App to Send data to VanillaSoft via App Integrations in the "Salesforce App Options" section then click Save

Inside Salesforce

If you are going to send data from Salesforce to VanillaSoft:

1. Sign into your Salesforce Sandbox.
2. Go to the AppExchange and download and install the VanillaSoft Unite for Salesforce App into your Salesforce Sandbox.

Start Testing

Now that you're connected, you can start building your integrations by following the linked guide.

• Create VanillaSoft to Salesforce Real Time Integration - based on VanillaSoft Result Codes
  • Result a call inside VanillaSoft to trigger the Salesforce Integration you created.
  • Inside Salesforce, validate that the appropriate action was executed and mapped fields were updated in Salesforce.
• Create and Trigger a Salesforce to VanillaSoft Real Time Integration
  • Change a contact, lead or opportunity inside Salesforce that will trigger the sending of data from Salesforce to VanillaSoft.
  • Inside VanillaSoft, validate that the appropriate action was executed and mapped fields were updated in VanillaSoft.
• Create and Execute a Salesforce to VanillaSoft Batch Integration
  • View your Batch Integration inside Salesforce, choose a Campaign and execute the batch action.
  • Inside VanillaSoft, validate that the appropriate leads were created or updated and mapped fields were updated properly.

Implementing Live

One your testing is complete, the integrations can be re-created in your production Salesforce environment, and in your live VanillaSoft project.

The integrations must be manually re-created in each case. An integration would need to be established using a production Salesforce user account. All settings and mappings can then be configured in the same way as the sandbox environment. When you’re ready, you can set the integration to "Active" in your production VanillaSoft project.

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