API Retrieving picklist field data [duplicate]

Question

So how would one go about retrieving the options from a multi picklist?

I have a custom picklist field which has several options to choose from. Just to be clear, I'm talking about the options of that field, not the values chooses by a user.

Choose fav. car brand:

• audi
• bmw
• vw
• mercedes

The brands (bmw, vw, etc.) are the options I'm talking about.

I'm using PHP so the answer im looking for should be a SOQL syntax.

Answer 1

Hi you cannot retrieve the values of the picklist by simply using SOQL query. Instead you have to make a call on sobject describe using your php server. eg- I just made request on my SF org for account object

https://***yourInstance***.salesforce.com/services/data/v20.0/sobjects/Account/describe/ -H "Authorization: Bearer token"

and got the raw response in which I have all fields information in json format which you need to parse and get picklist values.

Below is the sample response just to explain where you can see Account Rating is the picklist with three picklist values - Hot, Warm and cold.

{
  "activateable" : false,
  "childRelationships" : [ {
    "cascadeDelete" : false,
    "childSObject" : "Account",
    "deprecatedAndHidden" : false,
    "field" : "ParentId",
    "relationshipName" : "ChildAccounts"
  }
  "feedEnabled" : true,
  "fields" : [ {
    "autoNumber" : false,
    "byteLength" : 18,
    "calculated" : false,
    "calculatedFormula" : null,
    "caseSensitive" : false,
    "controllerName" : null,
    "createable" : false,
    "custom" : false,
    "defaultValue" : null,
    "defaultValueFormula" : null,
    "defaultedOnCreate" : true,
    "dependentPicklist" : false,
    "deprecatedAndHidden" : false,
    "digits" : 0,
    "externalId" : false,
    "filterable" : true,
    "groupable" : true,
    "htmlFormatted" : false,
    "idLookup" : true,
    "inlineHelpText" : null,
    "label" : "Account ID",
    "length" : 18,
    "name" : "Id",
    "nameField" : false,
    "namePointing" : false,
    "nillable" : false,
    "picklistValues" : [ ],
    "precision" : 0,
    "referenceTo" : [ ],
    "relationshipName" : null,
    "relationshipOrder" : null,
    "restrictedPicklist" : false,
    "scale" : 0,
    "soapType" : "tns:ID",
    "sortable" : true,
    "type" : "id",
    "unique" : false,
    "updateable" : false,
    "writeRequiresMasterRead" : false
  }, {
    "autoNumber" : false,
    "byteLength" : 120,
    "calculated" : false,
    "calculatedFormula" : null,
    "caseSensitive" : false,
    "controllerName" : null,
    "createable" : true,
    "custom" : false,
    "defaultValue" : null,
    "defaultValueFormula" : null,
    "defaultedOnCreate" : false,
    "dependentPicklist" : false,
    "deprecatedAndHidden" : false,
    "digits" : 0,
    "externalId" : false,
    "filterable" : true,
    "groupable" : true,
    "htmlFormatted" : false,
    "idLookup" : false,
    "inlineHelpText" : null,
    "label" : "Account Rating",
    "length" : 40,
    "name" : "Rating",
    "nameField" : false,
    "namePointing" : false,
    "nillable" : true,


"picklistValues" : [ {
          "active" : true,
          "defaultValue" : false,
          "label" : "Hot",
          "validFor" : null,
          "value" : "Hot"
        }, {
          "active" : true,
          "defaultValue" : false,
          "label" : "Warm",
          "validFor" : null,
          "value" : "Warm"
        }, {
          "active" : true,
          "defaultValue" : false,
          "label" : "Cold",
          "validFor" : null,
          "value" : "Cold"
        } ],

    "precision" : 0,
    "referenceTo" : [ ],
    "relationshipName" : null,
    "relationshipOrder" : null,
    "restrictedPicklist" : false,
    "scale" : 0,
    "soapType" : "xsd:string",
    "sortable" : true,
    "type" : "picklist",
    "unique" : false,
    "updateable" : true,
    "writeRequiresMasterRead" : false
  } ],
  "replicateable" : true,
  "retrieveable" : true,
  "searchLayoutable" : null,
  "searchable" : true,
  "triggerable" : true,
  "undeletable" : true,
  "updateable" : true,
  "urls" : {
    "rowTemplate" : "/services/data/v20.0/sobjects/Account/{ID}",
    "uiDetailTemplate" : "https://rishilightning-dev-ed.my.salesforce.com/{ID}",
    "uiEditTemplate" : "https://rishilightning-dev-ed.my.salesforce.com/{ID}/e",
    "describe" : "/services/data/v20.0/sobjects/Account/describe",
    "uiNewRecord" : "https://rishilightning-dev-ed.my.salesforce.com/001/e",
    "sobject" : "/services/data/v20.0/sobjects/Account"
  }
}