describeGlobal()

Retrieves a list of available objects for your organization’s data.

Syntax

DescribeGlobalResult = connection.describeGlobal();

Usage

Use describeGlobal() to obtain a list of available objects for your organization. You can then iterate through this list and use describeSObjects() to obtain metadata about individual objects.

Your client application must be logged in with sufficient access rights to retrieve metadata about your organization’s data. For more information, see Factors that Affect Data Access.

Sample Code—Java

This sample shows how to perform a global describe. It then retrieves the sObjects from the global describe result and writes their names to the console.

public void describeGlobalSample() {
    try {
        // Make the describeGlobal() call
        DescribeGlobalResult describeGlobalResult = 
            connection.describeGlobal();
        
        // Get the sObjects from the describe global result
        DescribeGlobalSObjectResult[] sobjectResults = 
            describeGlobalResult.getSobjects();
        
        // Write the name of each sObject to the console
        for (int i = 0; i < sobjectResults.length; i++) {
          System.out.println(sobjectResults[i].getName());
        }
    } catch (ConnectionException ce) {
        ce.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Sample Code—C#

This sample shows how to perform a global describe. It then retrieves the sObjects from the global describe result and writes their names to the console.

public void describeGlobalSample()
{
    try
    {               
        // Make the describeGlobal() call 
        DescribeGlobalResult dgr = binding.describeGlobal();

        // Get the sObjects from the describe global result
        DescribeGlobalSObjectResult[] sObjResults = dgr.sobjects;

        // Write the name of each sObject to the console
        for (int i = 0; i < sObjResults.Length; i++)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(sObjResults[i].name);
        }
    }
    catch (SoapException e)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("An unexpected error has occurred: " +
            e.Message + "\n" + e.StackTrace);
    }
}

Arguments

None.

Response

DescribeGlobalResult

Fault

UnexpectedErrorFault