Today we released SOQL Studio 2023.1 and made it available for download on our site. This first major release of 2023 focuses on new and updated features, security and fixes. As with all of our releases, this one continues our commitment to providing regular enhancements and updates, which includes customer requests, fixes to SOQL Studio and staying current with Salesforce releases.
In this post, I’ll discuss some of the more significant items included in the release, but first here’s the complete list of the enhancements and fixes included:
Enhancements
- Created a comprehensive sobject Properties Viewer that consolidates object and field properties into a full-fledged tab like the SOQL Editor
- Added 40 new sobject and field properties including LastModifiedBy, LastModifiedDate, IsHistoryTracked, IsIndexed, Description
- Improved property grouping
- Added descriptions to properties that were missing one
- Updated Print Preview and Printing to render in Light Theme regardless of UI setting
- Updated SOQL document iconography
- Upgraded to API v57 (Spring ’23)
Security
- Upgraded OAuth to use web server flow with Proof Key for Code Exchange (PKCE, pronounced “pixy”) in place of the user-agent flow, per Salesforce recommendations
- Increased encryption strength for stored passwords
Bug Fixes
- Corrected an issue where, under certain circumstances, a Tooling query that includes a child relationship could fail with a null reference exception
- Corrected additional issues with Tooling queries that include child queries
- Fixed an issue that caused the application to crash when a certain sequence of events occurs
- Fixed an issue that caused an export to Excel to fail and appear in the UI as if it did not start
- Fixed an issue that caused two files to open when double-clicking on a file in the Recent Files menu
Discussion
The main focus of this release is the schema. SOQL Studio has included the Properties tool window since its inception. The Properties tool window is linked to the Organizations tool window so that it shows the properties for the Organization, Sobject, or Field that is currently selected. This works well for quick lookups, and we haven’t changed it. However, it’s not ideal when performing more detailed analysis. To that end, we are introducing the Properties Viewer:
The Properties Viewer is a comprehensive view of the sobject and its fields presented in a tab just like the SOQL Editor. Because it’s tab-based, you can have multiple Properties Viewers open at the same time. Navigation is simple, just click on a category to view the schema detail corresponding to that category. Within the Fields category, you can click in an individual field to drill down into detail on that field. Use the slide show above to view a sample of each panel in the Properties Viewer.
To complement the Properties Viewer, we added 40 schema properties at the Sobject and Field level that were previously unavailable in SOQL Studio. Properties like Created By, Created Date, Last Modified By, Last Modified Date, Is Field History Tracked, and Is Indexed are some of the more important ones. And we put them front-and-center. All 40 new properties are available in the Properties tool window, though some are not available in the Properties Viewer.
The Properties Tool Window received some upgrades as well. In addition to adding the new properties, we regrouped and rearranged them to better organize how properties are presented. We also added descriptions to properties that didn’t have one.
Security Enhancements
Salesforce issued a recommendation that for increased security applications move away from the OAuth 2.0 User-Agent flow in favor of the more secure OAuth 2.0 web server flow with Proof Key for Code Exchange (PKCE). In fact, Salesforce implemented a way for Orgs to block applications from connecting using the User-Agent flow. We have upgraded SOQL Studio to use the more secure Web Server flow with Proof Key for Code Exchange (PKCE), per Salesforce’s guidance.
We also took the opportunity to upgrade the strength of the encryption used to store passwords saved with an Org definition.
More Information
To learn more about SOQL Studio, visit our website. If you’ve never tried SOQL Studio, or tried an older version, we encourage you to start a 30-day free trial of SOQL Studio 2023.1 today!
Free Upgrade
Current customers with an active maintenance contract are entitled to a free upgrade. Login to your account, go to Downloads & Licenses and click the “Request Upgrade” button. You’ll be emailed a new license for version 2023.1 and you can download the new package right from there.
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