API_DISABLED_FOR_ORG - Workaround for simple read only requests

Question

We use the "Group Edition" and get "API_DISABLED_FOR_ORG: API is not enabled for this Organization or Partner" using SOAP.

We are trying to search if a user exist as a contact in Salesforce based on email. All we need is a confirmation, true/false.

We found this documentation https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.packagingGuide.meta/packagingGuide/dev_packages_api_access.htm

From my understanding of that, what we wanna do should be possible. Is that so? If so, how? If not, what do we need to do to get this to work?

Cheers

Answer 1

The guide you are reading is for developers who write managed packages (normally intended for the AppExchange). To gain API permissions in Group or Professional Edition you'd need to develop a package and have it pass Salesforce's Security Review (which last time I asked costs $2700). And Salesforce doesn't look very kindly on trying to use ISV development as an end-run around the limitations of your own Salesforce license - since they would prefer to just have the revenues from an upgrade to Enterprise Edition.

The only viable way you'd be able to query such info from Group Edition is if you find some AppExchange package that has already passed Security Review and works in Group Edition and can help support this use case.