PHP Toolkit 20.0 (Enterprise) Upsert/Update Custom Object - deserializer not found

Question

I'm using PHP Toolkit 20.0 (Enterprise) and the latest WSDL. Partner also fails for me.

I can successfully create (using PHP Toolkit create) objects of this type. All my attempts to Update or Upsert these fields are failing.

I'm a reasonably experienced developer....but a reasonably inexperienced SOAP/SFDC developer.

My current failure:

org.xml.sax.SAXException: 
  Deserializing parameter 'sObjects':  
    could not find deserializer for type {urn:enterprise.soap.sforce.com}Serial_Number__c

I'm baffled. Any help on what I'm missing is very welcomed. Thanks!

Here's the tl;dr version:

I created a custom object called 'Serial_Number__c' that contains custom fields:

Name                   /* a serial number text string */
Account__c             /* a Master-Detail AccountId
                          to associate the serial number
                          with a standard Account */
Serial_ID__c           /* the ID for serial number record.
                          Format:  S-{YYYY}-{0000000000} auto increment */
Warranty_Expire__c     /* a Date (apparently in text string format)
                          Default empty     */
Warranty_Extended__c   /* a Checkbox (apparently boolean one or zero)
                          Default Unchecked */

Here is the code (tl;dr version):

$sObject = new stdClass();
$sObject->Account__c         = '00146000003Sb9GAAS'; // Account__c is a SFDC Account.Id
$sObject->Name               = '54545454545';
$sObject->Serial_ID__c       = 'S-2017-0000000002';
$sObject->Warranty_Expire__c = '2017-03-09';

$upsertResponse = $soap_client->upsert('Serial_ID__c', array($sObject), 'Serial_Number__c');

array sent to upsert:

Array
(
  [0] => stdClass Object
    (
      [Account__c] => 00146000003Sb9GAAS
      [Name] => 54545454545
      [Serial_ID__c] => S-2017-0000000002
      [Warranty_Expire__c] => 2017-03-09
    )
 )

SOAP REQUEST:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<SOAP-ENV:Envelope 
  xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" 
  xmlns:ns1="urn:enterprise.soap.sforce.com" 
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <SOAP-ENV:Header>
    <ns1:SessionHeader>
      <ns1:sessionId>...removed just because.  No problem with connectivity...</ns1:sessionId>
    </ns1:SessionHeader>
  </SOAP-ENV:Header>
  <SOAP-ENV:Body>
    <ns1:upsert>
      <ns1:externalIDFieldName>Serial_ID__c</ns1:externalIDFieldName>
      <ns1:sObjects xsi:type="ns1:Serial_Number__c">
      <Account__c>00146000003Sb9GAAS</Account__c>
      <Name>54545454545</Name>
      <Serial_ID__c>S-2017-0000000002</Serial_ID__c>
      <Warranty_Expire__c>2017-03-09</Warranty_Expire__c></ns1:sObjects>
    </ns1:upsert>
  </SOAP-ENV:Body>
</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

RESPONSE:

org.xml.sax.SAXException: 
  Deserializing parameter 'sObjects':  
    could not find deserializer for type {urn:enterprise.soap.sforce.com}Serial_Number__c

Added information:

I don't understand SOAP Namespaces very well.

Here is the section of XML that describes my custom object:

<complexType name="Serial_Number__c">
    <complexContent>
        <extension base="ens:sObject">
            <sequence>
            <element name="Account__c" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:ID"/>
            <element name="Account__r" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="ens:Account"/>
            <element name="ActivityHistories" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="AttachedContentDocuments" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="Attachments" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="CombinedAttachments" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="ContentDocumentLinks" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="CreatedBy" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="ens:User"/>
            <element name="CreatedById" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:ID"/>
            <element name="CreatedDate" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="xsd:dateTime"/>
            <element name="DuplicateRecordItems" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="Emails" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="Events" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="FeedSubscriptionsForEntity" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="Feeds" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="Histories" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="IsDeleted" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="xsd:boolean"/>
            <element name="LastActivityDate" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="xsd:date"/>
            <element name="LastModifiedBy" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="ens:User"/>
            <element name="LastModifiedById" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:ID"/>
            <element name="LastModifiedDate" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="xsd:dateTime"/>
            <element name="LastReferencedDate" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="xsd:dateTime"/>
            <element name="LastViewedDate" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="xsd:dateTime"/>
            <element name="LookedUpFromActivities" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="Name" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="xsd:string"/>
            <element name="Notes" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="NotesAndAttachments" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="OpenActivities" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="ProcessInstances" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="ProcessSteps" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="RecordAssociatedGroups" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="Serial_ID__c" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="xsd:string"/>
            <element name="SystemModstamp" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="xsd:dateTime"/>
            <element name="Tasks" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="TopicAssignments" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="tns:QueryResult"/>
            <element name="UserRecordAccess" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="ens:UserRecordAccess"/>
            <element name="Warranty_Expire__c" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="xsd:date"/>
            <element name="Warranty_Extended__c" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" type="xsd:boolean"/>
            </sequence>
        </extension>
    </complexContent>
</complexType>

Answer 1

I think there is a namespace issue in the XML message.

<ns1:upsert>
  <ns1:externalIDFieldName>Serial_ID__c</ns1:externalIDFieldName>
  <ns1:sObjects xsi:type="ns1:Serial_Number__c">
    <Account__c>00146000003Sb9GAAS</Account__c>
    <Name>54545454545</Name>
    <Serial_ID__c>S-2017-0000000002</Serial_ID__c>
    <Warranty_Expire__c>2017-03-09</Warranty_Expire__c>
  </ns1:sObjects>
</ns1:upsert>

Note the xsi:type="ns1:Serial_Number__c". That is saying the Serial_Number__c type is defined in the same namespace as sObjects, upsert, etc.

• xmlns:ns1="urn:enterprise.soap.sforce.com"

That doesn't sound right. Usually the sObjects themselves are split off from the types that drive the API. You would typically see something like:

• xmlns:urn1="urn:sobject.enterprise.soap.sforce.com"

And then expect that namespace to be used for Serial_Number__c. E.g.

<ns1:upsert>
  <ns1:externalIDFieldName>Serial_ID__c</ns1:externalIDFieldName>
  <ns1:sObjects xsi:type="urn1:Serial_Number__c">
    <Account__c>00146000003Sb9GAAS</Account__c>
    <Name>54545454545</Name>
    <Serial_ID__c>S-2017-0000000002</Serial_ID__c>
    <Warranty_Expire__c>2017-03-09</Warranty_Expire__c>
  </ns1:sObjects>
</ns1:upsert>

I've never really tried to use PHP so I'm not sure how that translates into the toolkit usage. Worst case, create an issue in the Force.com-Toolkit-for-PHP github project.

Answer 2

Nope. Too early morning. It works okay for update, but not for upsert.

While this is still a helpful update....it's not the solution.

I discovered this morning something I didn't know...that of course makes perfect sense.

When I read through the Custom Object documentation I either overlooked the fact (which seems really obvious in retrospect) that a custom object has it's own ID field. I thought I had to create my own ID (Serial_ID__c).

After playing around more with the Partner version of the API I observed errors that said I didn't have an ID in my objects...so this morning I did a describeSObject and discovered the ID field that I didn't realize was in there.

After adding the real ID to the object, I no longer see the error I was seeing.

There are other things I need to resolve, but this particular issue appears to be resolved.