Salesforce Forms for WordPress

Knowledge Base → Add-Ons → CRMs → Salesforce Forms

Integrate Formidable Forms with your Salesforce account with the WordPress Salesforce integration plugin. Add the data submitted from your WordPress forms as Contacts or Leads in your Salesforce account.

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You can send data to any custom object in Salesforce. Custom objects allow you to save extra data to Salesforce that is collected in your form, but isn't standard on the Salesforce side. These serve as custom database tables that allow you to store information unique to your organization. This includes accounts, announcement, assets, campaigns, cases, groups, contacts, contracts, email messages, events, ideas, leads, notes, orders, products, tasks, goals, and more.

Download and Install

You must have API access on your Salesforce account in order to use this integration.

If you haven't already done so, install and activate Formidable Forms Pro.
In your WordPress admin, go to Formidable → Add-Ons and click the Install button for the WordPress Salesforce integration plugin.

Setup Formidable for Salesforce Forms

The Client ID and Client Secret key must be saved in your WordPress dashboard under Formidable → Global Settings → Salesforce. This allows Formidable to communicate with Salesforce. To get these values, follow the steps below.

Get Client ID and Client Secret key

Create a connected app

To get client ID and Client Secret you will need to create a connected app in your Salesforce account.

Go to Setup → Apps → App Manager → Manage Connected Apps in your Salesforce dashboard and click the New Connected App button.

Add Connected App Name, API Name, and Contact Email.
Check the 'Enable OAuth Settings' box and add https://login.salesforce.com/services/oauth2/success in the Callback Url box.
If you are using the Salesforce sandbox, use https://test.salesforce.com/services/oauth2/success instead.
In the 'Selected OAuth Scopes' section, select 'Full Access' and 'Perform requests on your behalf at any time (refresh_token, offline_access)'.
Click the Save button.

Salesforce connected app

Save keys in global settings

After you save your new connected app, you'll be taken to the page with details about it. This page includes the 'Consumer key' and a link to Click to reveal the Consumer Secret key.
Salesforce client key

Go to the WordPress dashboard on the Formidable → Global Settings → Salesforce tab.
Paste your Consumer Key and Consumer Secret key on this page and click the Update Options button.
Click the Authorize button.
When you click the 'Authorize' button a pop will open. Login with your Salesforce credentials and give access to app. The url will now include ?code= in the url. Copy this code from the url and close the popup.
Go back to the Formidable → Global Settings → Salesforce tab, paste this code into the 'Auth code' box. Replace the %3D%3D at the end of the code with == and click 'Update options'.
You're all set to create your Salesforce forms. The Deauthorize button should now show on the page to indicate authorization was successful.

Sandbox mode

If you would like to run tests in Sandbox mode, you'll need a Salesforce sandbox account. Sandbox testing can be done at https://test.salesforce.com/.

Setup Salesforce form settings

Now that your WordPress site is connected to your Salesforce account, it's time to create your Salesforce forms.

If you haven't already created a form to collect your customers and leads, create a form now.
Go to edit the form which you will be linking to Salesforce. Go to the Settings → Actions & Notifications tab for this form and click on the Salesforce icon.
This will give you the mapping settings for your Salesforce form. First, choose the type of object you would like to create. This includes contacts, leads, events, and many more.
The Salesforce forms plugin will automatically fetch all the fields depending on your Object selection (Contact/ Leads). Your current form fields will be seen on the left which you can match up with Salesforce fields. Be sure to map a form field to each required Salesforce field.
Save the changes and submit an entry in your form. The object you selected should now have a new item showing in Salesforce.

Update an existing record

If you want to setup your Salesforce form action to update existing records as well as add new records, map the Update existing record by option to a unique field in your form, such as an email field.

Allow duplicate records

If you want to set up your Salesforce form action to allow duplicate records when a new entry has been submitted, you can customize the duplicate rules in your Salesforce settings.

Use the Quick Find box to find Duplicate Rules.
Click the rule name to edit a rule.
For the object with a unique identifier (e.g., email address) to not get blocked, you can create a condition in your duplicate rule with Lead: Email EQUALS ______(leave blank). Leaving the value field blank will flag records for duplicate matching without the unique identifier.

If it’s not working, check if you have more than one active rule for your object. You can either deactivate the existing rule or reorder the rules.

Please refer to the Salesforce docs for information on how to customize the duplicate rules.

Limitations

The Salesforce add-on doesn't currently support two-way sync. The information is 1-way from Formidable to Salesforce.
File URLs can be passed to Salesforce, but the files are not sent.
The Salesforce add-on doesn't currently support updating existing records by the object ID. It can only be updated by the fields associated with the object.

Salesforce field data types

These are the data types that Salesforce expects to receive when Formidable sends to an object in Salesforce, along with the most frequently used Formidable field type for it.

String

This field requires a simple string of text, typically using a Text or Hidden field from Formidable.

Textarea

This field requires a long text string, with or without line breaks. A paragraph field is typically used in Formidable.

Picklist

This field requires one of an enumerated list of values. For example, the options may be "Web", "Phone Inquiry", and "Other" in a Salesforce LeadSource field. The value sent to this field must be exactly one of the options specified in Salesforce.

Double

This field expects a number, with or without decimal. A number field is typically used.

Phone

This field expects a phone number. A phone number field is typically used.

Email

This field expects a valid email address. An email field is typically used.

Url

This field expects a valid URL. A Website/URL field is typically used.

Currency

This field expects a currency value, formatted as decimal. A number or product field is typically used.

Int

This field expects an integer value, without decimal. A number field is used.

Reference

This field expects to be either left blank, or provided a Lookup ID of the correct object ID. For example, if it is Owner ID, then an associated Owner ID must be sent.

Boolean

This field expects a True/False value, either as "True" or "False", or "1" or"0". A Toggle field is often used.

Datetime

This field expects a date/time combination timestamp. A text or hidden field with a timestamp is typically used.

Date

This field expects a date string, without time. A date field is typically used.

Multipicklist

This field is like a picklist, but expects one or more valid options. A checkbox or dropdown field with multiple select enabled is typically used.

Time

This field expects a timestamp. A time field is typically used.

Troubleshooting

No options in the form action

When a Salesforce form action is added, it should include a dropdown filled with all the possible Salesforce objects. If this dropdown is empty, there is a connection error between your site and Salesforce.

Make sure your Salesforce account type includes API access.
Go to the Formidable -> Global settings page and click save. Do you see an error message about your Salesforce API key? If so, start with correcting the error. 'expired authorization code' is a common error message. In this case, the authorization code needs to be updated.
If the API keys are all correct, and no error messages appear, return to the form action and click the "clear cache" button.
After the cache is cleared, open the form action again. If an error message appears, take action to resolve it. For example, if you see an error message like 'The REST API is not enabled for this Organization', your Salesforce account will need adjustment.
Turn on logging and check for any error messages. For example, if you see an error message like 'cURL error 35: SSL connect error', this usually means that the CURL version on your site needs to be updated. You would need to reach out to your webhost to let them know what the error message says.

Logging

To see messages after any API calls, install the Formidable Logs add-on and follow the instructions on that page.

Owner ID: id value of incorrect type

If you map an incorrect Owner ID in the form action settings, you will get a MALFORMED_ID error. The owner ID does not have to be mapped to a field, and can be left out. If you choose to include the owner ID, it must be the ID of a user on the account. Please refer to the Salesforce docs for information on how to find the user ID.

Required fields are missing

When adding a new Lead to Salesforce, there are a few fields that Salesforce requires in order to create the object. If any of these fields are missing, you will get a REQUIRED_FIELD_MISSING error, along with a list of the required fields that were left blank or not mapped to. These required fields must be sent in order to create the object.

Session expired or invalid

If you get the INVALID_SESSION_ID error code when sending an object to Salesforce, you may have strict IP settings enabled on your Salesforce account. Turn "Lock sessions to the IP address from which they originated" OFF, and select the IP relaxation policy "Relax IP restrictions". If that doesn't solve the issue, try re-entering the Salesforce auth code in the Formidable global settings.

Owner ID: owner cannot be blank

If you map a field to Owner ID but do not enter anything in the field when the form is submitted, you may get a INVALID_CROSS_REFERENCE_KEY error. Instead of mapping to the field and leaving it blank, either do not map to the field and it will populate automatically in Salesforce, or enter the correct cross reference value in the field.

No such column on sobject of type Lead

If you create a custom Salesforce field on a Lead (or other) Salesforce object, and map to that field in Formidable, but later remove that field from Salesforce, you will encounter a INVALID_FIELD error. In this case, go to your Formidable Salesforce form action, click the "Clear Cache" button, and make sure that is no longer mapped to in the form action.

Opportunities are not added

If Opportunities are not added to your Salesforce account, be sure that you have mapped the form fields to the required Salesforce fields. It should include the following: Opportunity, Name, Stage, Close Date, and Owner ID.

Cannot deserialize instance of currency

If you get the error message "Cannot deserialize instance of currency from VALUE_STRING value" when sending an object to Salesforce, you may be passing an incorrect value format. The value used should be in a number field as the amount and not formatted as currency.

Duplicates detected

If you get the DUPLICATES_DETECTED error code when sending an object to Salesforce, you may be sending a duplicate entry for the same object. In this case, you can either choose to allow duplicate records or update an existing record.