Top 25 Salesforce SOQL Interview Questions and Answers (Part 1)

Contents

Introduction 1. What is SOQL?2. What are the key differences between SOQL and SQL?3. How do you write a basic SOQL query?4. What is the purpose of the LIMIT clause in SOQL?5. How do you filter records in SOQL?6. What is the ORDER BY clause in SOQL?7. How do you query related objects in SOQL?8. What is the difference between 'AND' and 'OR' in SOQL?9. How do you query for null values in SOQL?10. What is the 'LIKE' operator in SOQL?11. What is a 'parent-to-child' relationship query?12. What is a 'child-to-parent' relationship query?13. How do you query for records created in the last 7 days?14. What is the 'GROUP BY' clause in SOQL?15. What is the 'HAVING' clause in SOQL?16. How do you query for records updated today?17. What is the 'IN' operator in SOQL?18. How do you query for records using a date range?19. What is the 'FOR UPDATE' clause in SOQL?20. How do you query for records using a custom field?21. What is the 'OFFSET' clause in SOQL?22. How do you query for records using a polymorphic field?23. What is the 'WITH SECURITY_ENFORCED' clause in SOQL?24. How do you query for records using a semi-join?25. What is the 'ALL ROWS' clause in SOQL?Conclusion

Introduction

Salesforce SOQL (Salesforce Object Query Language) is a powerful tool for querying data in Salesforce. Whether you’re preparing for a Salesforce developer, administrator, or consultant interview, mastering SOQL is essential.

In this blog post, we’ll cover the top 25 Salesforce SOQL interview questions to help you build a strong foundation.
These questions range from basic concepts to intermediate topics, ensuring you’re well-prepared for your next interview.

Make sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 for the complete set of questions! 🚀

1. What is SOQL?

Answer:
SOQL (Salesforce Object Query Language) is a query language used to retrieve data from Salesforce objects.
It is similar to SQL but is specifically designed for querying Salesforce data.

2. What are the key differences between SOQL and SQL?

Answer:

- SOQL is used only for querying data, while SQL can be used for querying, updating, and deleting data.
- SOQL does not support JOIN statements like SQL; instead, it uses relationships (e.g., parent-to-child or child-to-parent).
- SOQL has a limit of 50,000 rows returned per query.

3. How do you write a basic SOQL query?

Answer:
A basic SOQL query looks like this:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account

This retrieves the Id and Name fields from the Account object.

4. What is the purpose of the LIMIT clause in SOQL?

Answer:
The LIMIT clause restricts the number of records returned by a query. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account LIMIT 10

This query returns only 10 records.

5. How do you filter records in SOQL?

Answer:
Use the WHERE clause to filter records. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE Industry = 'Technology'

6. What is the ORDER BY clause in SOQL?

Answer:
The ORDER BY clause sorts the query results. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account ORDER BY Name ASC

This sorts the results in ascending order by the Name field.

Answer:
Use relationship queries. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name, (SELECT Id, Name FROM Contacts) FROM Account

This retrieves Account records along with their related Contact records.

8. What is the difference between 'AND' and 'OR' in SOQL?

Answer:

- AND is used to combine multiple conditions where all conditions must be true.
- OR is used to combine multiple conditions where at least one condition must be true.

9. How do you query for null values in SOQL?

Answer:
Use = null or != null. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE Industry = null

10. What is the 'LIKE' operator in SOQL?

Answer:
The LIKE operator is used for pattern matching. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE Name LIKE 'Acme%'

This retrieves records where the Name starts with “Acme”.

11. What is a 'parent-to-child' relationship query?

Answer:
A parent-to-child query retrieves records from a parent object along with related records from a child object. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name, (SELECT Id, Name FROM Contacts) FROM Account

12. What is a 'child-to-parent' relationship query?

Answer:
A child-to-parent query retrieves records from a child object along with related fields from a parent object. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name, Account.Name FROM Contact

13. How do you query for records created in the last 7 days?

Answer:
Use the LAST_N_DAYS keyword. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE CreatedDate = LAST_N_DAYS:7

14. What is the 'GROUP BY' clause in SOQL?

Answer:
The GROUP BY clause groups query results based on specified fields. For example:

				
					SELECT Industry, COUNT(Id) FROM Account GROUP BY Industry

15. What is the 'HAVING' clause in SOQL?

Answer:
The HAVING clause filters grouped results. For example:

				
					SELECT Industry, COUNT(Id) FROM Account GROUP BY Industry HAVING COUNT(Id) > 5

16. How do you query for records updated today?

Answer:
Use the TODAY keyword. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE LastModifiedDate = TODAY

17. What is the 'IN' operator in SOQL?

Answer:
The IN operator filters records based on a list of values. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE Industry IN ('Technology', 'Finance')

18. How do you query for records using a date range?

Answer:
Use the >= and <= operators. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE CreatedDate >= 2023-01-01 AND CreatedDate <= 2023-12-31

19. What is the 'FOR UPDATE' clause in SOQL?

Answer:
The FOR UPDATE clause locks records during a transaction to prevent other users from updating them. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE Industry = 'Technology' FOR UPDATE

20. How do you query for records using a custom field?

Answer:
Use the API name of the custom field. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name, Custom_Field__c FROM Account

21. What is the 'OFFSET' clause in SOQL?

Answer:
The OFFSET clause skips a specified number of records in the query results. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account LIMIT 10 OFFSET 5

22. How do you query for records using a polymorphic field?

Answer:
Use the TYPEOF keyword. For example:

				
					SELECT TYPEOF What WHEN Account THEN Name WHEN Opportunity THEN Amount END FROM Event

23. What is the 'WITH SECURITY_ENFORCED' clause in SOQL?

Answer:
The WITH SECURITY_ENFORCED clause ensures that field-level security (FLS) and object permissions are enforced for the query.

24. How do you query for records using a semi-join?

Answer:
Use a subquery in the WHERE clause. For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE Id IN (SELECT AccountId FROM Contact WHERE LastName = 'Smith')

25. What is the 'ALL ROWS' clause in SOQL?

Answer:
The ALL ROWS clause retrieves all records, including deleted records (in the Recycle Bin).
For example:

				
					SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE IsDeleted = true ALL ROWS

You’ve just explored the first set of 25 SOQL interview questions to aid in your preparation. As part of our 100 SOQL interview questions series, we’ve divided them into four parts.

Don’t forget to check out Parts 2, 3, and 4 for more SOQL interview questions!

Conclusion

By now, you should have a solid understanding of the basics and intermediate concepts of SOQL.
These 25 questions cover everything from writing simple queries to filtering records and working with relationships.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll dive deeper into advanced SOQL concepts and best practices. Happy learning, and good luck with your Salesforce interview preparation!