How to set up sFiles on a sub-object

Using the setup wizard, sFiles can be easily set up on standard or custom objects. You can also add the sFiles browser on a sub-object such as Contact that displays its parent Account's folder. In this guide, we will show you how to set up sFiles on a sub-object.

Dec 9, 2024
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How-to-set-up-sFiles-on-a-subobject

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Introduction

This how-to guide will walk you through how to show an object record's parent
SharePoint folders using sFiles.

If you are looking for instructions for setting up sFiles for a nested folder structure, please follow the link below:

How to mimic a Salesforce object structure in SharePoint

Steps

First run the object setup wizard for the parent object. For example, if the parent object is Account, follow the object wizard to set up sFiles on Account. In order to access the setup wizard, navigate to Salesforce Setup and navigate to Installed Packages. Click the Configure link next to the sFiles package. In the Wizard window, select Object Setup Wizard. Follow the steps in the flow.
Once the parent object is configured with SharePoint, we will need to configure the child object to work with the parent. The first step is to create a new formula field on the child object, pointing to the parent object's SharePoint Id field. In order to do this, navigate to Salesforce Setup and click Object Manager and find the standard or custom object you would like to use as the child object. (In Classic, navigate to Customize and select a standard object or Create to navigate to a custom object).
Under Fields & Relationships, click New.
Select Formula as the Data Type, and click Next. Fill in the label (in our example we have labeled it Contact SharePoint Id) and select Text as the Formula Return Type and click Next.
Select the Advanced Formula tab and click the button Insert Field.
Drill down from your object to the parent object. Select the SharePoint Folder Id field and click Insert.
Select Treat blank fields as blank in the Blank Field Handling and click Next.
Set the custom Field visibility and ensure that all users who need access to sFiles can view the field. Click Next.
sFiles does not require the field to be on the page layout but if you need to view the Id for reference feel free to add it to your page layout and click Save.
Now that we have a formula field that looks at the object's parent SharePoint Id field, we will need to tell sFiles to point to that field. In order to do this, we will need to create a new Custom Metadata Type record for the object with the Root_Folder_Id__c field pointing to the new formula field.
In Salesforce Setup, search Custom Metadata. Navigate to Custom Metadata Types.
Click the Manage Records link next to SharePoint Object Settings.
Click the parent object record. In this example, this would be Account. Copy the Root Folder Id on the parent object and save it for reference later. The Id should look something like:
01X47ABCDE6ABCDEF6JFE2VQ4AIKPDUUE4
Copy the Permissions field as well, but remove SetupRecord, AutoSetup, and SetupSubfolders permissions. The permissions list should look something like the following based on your permissions preference:
```
CreateFolders,RenameFolders,DeleteFolders,UploadFiles,RenameFiles,DownloadFiles,DeleteFiles,OpenSharePoint
```
Return to the list of all Custom Metadata Types and click Manage Records that is next to SharePoint Object Settings.
Click New.
For both the Label and SharePoint Object Settings Name enter the child's Object API Name. (for standard object like Contact, this would be Contact. For a custom object this would be the object name followed by __c. Example: Custom_Object__c. For a custom object in a managed package, it would also contain the package's namespace. someAppNamespace__Custom_Object__c)
1. NOTE: The SharePoint Object Settings Name field cannot contain two consecutive underscores. For custom objects (with names ending in __c), you should remove the __c suffix from this field.
  1. Example:
    - Label: Custom_Object__c
    - SharePoint Object Settings Name: Custom_Object
In the Salesforce Object dropdown, select the child object.
For the SharePoint Folder Id Field, select the formula field we created above.
For Root Folder Id, paste the Root Folder Id copied earlier from the parent object's setting.
For Permissions, paste the Permissions copied and altered earlier from the parent object's setting (See screenshot below for example).
Click Save.
Whew, that's quite a lot! We now have just one more step left: Add the Lightning component sFiles Enterprise or sFiles Standard to your child object page layout (in this example "Contact") in the App Builder. This is done by simply dragging your licensed sFiles component up into the App Builder as shown below.