Jsforce in Lightning Component controller

Question

Can we use JsForce in Lightning component?

I need to Describe SObject i.e., retrieve Field data types for an object in lightning component helper. Would like to check if I can use JsForce instead of Apex method call which can pull information using Schema.DescribeSobjectResult.

Answer 1

Lightning Component: Add required scripts to component. scripts should be in static resources.

<ltng:require scripts="{!$Resource.ABC + '/lib/jsforce.min.js'}"/> 

Controller: Authorize connection using Session_Id obtained from @AuraEnabled Apex Method or Attribute passed all the way from Visual force Page.

var getSessionIdAction = component.get("c.getSessionID"); //getSessionID - Apex method

    getSessionIdAction.setCallback(this, function(response) {
        var state = response.getState();
        if(state === 'SUCCESS'){
            var conn = new jsforce.Connection({ accessToken: response.getReturnValue() });
            conn.sobject("Account").describe(function(err, meta) {
              if (err) { 
                 return console.error(err); 
              }
              console.log('Label : ' + meta.label);
              console.log('Num of Fields : ' + meta.fields.length);
              meta.fields.forEach(function(field) {
                console.log(field.name + ' - '  + field.label + ' - ' + field.type);
              });
            });
        }
    });
    $A.enqueueAction(getSessionIdAction);

JsForce works pretty well in lightning component but Its not recommended for the case here due to costly API Calls. Hence I am going to use a simple @AuraEnabled Apex method which returns DescribeFieldResult for an object.

Answer 2

JSforce not supported Lightning "Unfortunately lightning component does not allow to invoke API endpoint from component JavaScript. " https://github.com/jsforce/jsforce/issues/269