copying-and-recreating-sf-object-with-metadata.R

library(RForcecom)
library(XML)
library(RCurl)

username <- "YOURS"
password <- "YOURS"
instanceURL <- "YOURS"
apiVersion <- "34.0"
session <- rforcecom.login(username, password, instanceURL, apiVersion)

# define metadata endpoint
rforcecom.api.getMetadataEndpoint <- function(apiVersion){
  return(paste("services/Soap/m/", apiVersion, sep=""))
}
#helper function that converts a list of metadata to XML
metadataListToXML <- function(root, sublist, metatype=NULL){
  for(i in 1:length(sublist)){
    if (!is.null(metatype)){
      this <- newXMLNode("Metadata", attrs = c(`xsi:type`=metatype), parent=root, suppressNamespaceWarning=T)
    } else {
      this <- newXMLNode(names(sublist)[i], parent=root)
    }
    if (typeof(sublist[[i]]) == "list"){
      listToXML(this, sublist[[i]], metatype=NULL)
    }
    else{
      xmlValue(this) <- sublist[[i]]
    }
  }
  return(root)
}

#let's read just the Account object's metadata
object_names <- c('Account')
object_list <- as.list(object_names)
names(object_list) <- rep('fullNames', length(object_list))

#create XML for readMetadata call
root=newXMLNode("readMetadata", 
                namespaceDefinitions=c('http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata'))
root2=newXMLNode("metadataType", "CustomObject", parent=root)
metadataListToXML(root=root, sublist=object_list, metatype=NULL)

#build soapBody
soapBody <- paste0('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <env:Envelope xmlns:env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
      <env:Header>
        <SessionHeader xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
          <sessionId>', 
            session['sessionID'],
          '</sessionId>
        </SessionHeader>
      </env:Header>
      <env:Body>',
        as(root, 'character'),
      '</env:Body>
    </env:Envelope>')

# perform request
# HTTP POST
h <- basicHeaderGatherer()
t <- basicTextGatherer()
httpHeader <- c("SOAPAction"="readMetadata", 'Content-Type'="text/xml")
curlPerform(url=paste0(session['instanceURL'], rforcecom.api.getMetadataEndpoint(apiVersion)), 
            postfields=soapBody, httpheader=httpHeader, headerfunction = h$update, writefunction = t$update, ssl.verifypeer=F)
x.root <- xmlRoot(xmlInternalTreeParse(t$value(), asText=T))
result_body <- xmlToList(x.root)[['Body']][['readMetadataResponse']]

#result_body should contain a list the metadata for the Account object 

# now rename the object metatdata Custom_Account__c to create a new Account object copy
result_body$result$records$fullName <- 'Custom_Account__c'

# we need to change a few metadata configurations that are prevented during creation
d <- result_body$result$records
# remove default actionOverrides
d[which(names(d) %in% c("actionOverrides"))] <- NULL
# remove lingering attribute tag
d$.attrs <- NULL
# specify a plural label
d$pluralLabel <- 'Custom_Accounts'
# specify a name field
d$nameField <- list(displayFormat='AN-{0000}', 
                              label='Custom_Account__c Name', 
                              type='AutoNumber')
# set the deployment status
d$deploymentStatus <- 'Deployed' 
# make a description to identify this easily in the UI setup tab
d$description <- 'created by the Metadata API'

#construct XML
root=newXMLNode("createMetadata", namespaceDefinitions=c('http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata'))
if(typeof(d[[1]]) != "list"){
  d <- list(d)
}
metadataListToXML(root=root, sublist=d, metatype='CustomObject')
#construct SOAP
soapBody <- paste0('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
                   <env:Envelope xmlns:env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                      <env:Header>
                        <SessionHeader xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
                          <sessionId>', 
                            session['sessionID'],
                          '</sessionId>
                        </SessionHeader>
                      </env:Header>
                      <env:Body>',
                        as(root, 'character'),
                      '</env:Body>
                   </env:Envelope>')
# HTTP POST
h <- basicHeaderGatherer()
t <- basicTextGatherer()
httpHeader <- c("SOAPAction"="createMetadata", 'Content-Type'="text/xml")
curlPerform(url=paste0(session['instanceURL'], rforcecom.api.getMetadataEndpoint(apiVersion)), 
            postfields=soapBody, httpheader=httpHeader, headerfunction = h$update, writefunction = t$update, ssl.verifypeer=F)
x.root <- xmlRoot(xmlTreeParse(t$value(), asText=T))
result_body <- xmlToList(x.root)[['Body']][['createMetadataResponse']]



# result body look like this
# <soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
#   <soapenv:Body>
#     <createMetadataResponse>
#       <result>
#         <fullName>Custom_Account__c</fullName>
#         <success>true</success>
#       </result>
#     </createMetadataResponse>
#   </soapenv:Body>
# </soapenv:Envelope>

I am working through the code; this is great. I have worked with JSON in R in the past, but XML is new to me, so I am slowly wrapping my head around this. I am excited for what's possible. What do you think the best place to start is?