Parse CSV in Salesforce

Introduction

In this post, you will see a snippet to parse CSV files using apex code. With  this code, you can easily read data from CSV files and dump data in the salesforce database

Read CSV file using apex

You can use the following CSV file to parse using apex.

Body

public List<List<String>> parseCSV(String contents,Boolean skipHeaders)
{
List<List<String>> allFields = new List<List<String>>();
// replace instances where a double quote begins a field containing a comma
// in this case you get a double quote followed by a doubled double quote
// do this for beginning and end of a field

contents = contents.replaceAll(‘,”””‘,’,”DBLQT’).replaceall(‘”””,’,’DBLQT”,’);

// now replace all remaining double quotes – we do this so that we can reconstruct
// fields with commas inside assuming they begin and end with a double quote

contents = contents.replaceAll(‘””‘,’DBLQT’);

// we are not attempting to handle fields with a newline inside of them
// so, split on newline to get the spreadsheet rows

List<String> lines = new List<String>();

try
{
lines = contents.split(‘\n’);
}
catch (System.ListException e)
{
System.debug(‘Limits exceeded?’ + e.getMessage());
}

Integer num = 0;

for(String line : lines)
{

// check for blank CSV lines (only commas)

if (line.replaceAll(‘,’,”).trim().length() == 0) break;
List<String> fields = line.split(‘,’);

List<String> cleanFields = new List<String>();

String compositeField;

Boolean makeCompositeField = false;

for(String field : fields)
{

if (field.startsWith(‘”‘) && field.endsWith(‘”‘))
{
cleanFields.add(field.replaceAll(‘DBLQT’,'”‘));
} else if (field.startsWith(‘”‘))
{
makeCompositeField = true;
compositeField = field;
}
else if (field.endsWith(‘”‘))
{
compositeField += ‘,’ + field;
cleanFields.add(compositeField.replaceAll(‘DBLQT’,'”‘));
makeCompositeField = false;

}
else if (makeCompositeField)
{
compositeField +=  ‘,’ + field;
}
else
{
cleanFields.add(field.replaceAll(‘DBLQT’,'”‘));
}
}
allFields.add(cleanFields);

}

if (skipHeaders) allFields.remove(0);

return allFields;
}

/* Method to parse List<List<String>> to sObject */
public list<sObject> csvTosObject(List<List<String>> parsedCSV, string objectType)
{
Schema.sObjectType objectDef = Schema.getGlobalDescribe().get(objectType).getDescribe().getSObjectType();
System.debug(‘Object Definition –> ‘ + objectDef);

list<sObject> objects = new list<sObject>();
list<string> headers = new list<string>();

for(list<string> row : parsedCSV)
{
for(string col : row)
{
headers.add(col);
}
break;
}
System.debug(‘Headers –> ‘ + headers);
integer rowNumber = 0;
for(list<string> row : parsedCSV)
{
if(rowNumber == 0)
{
rowNumber++;
continue;
}
else
{
sObject thisObj = objectDef.newSobject();
integer colIndex = 0;
for(string col : row)
{
string headerName = headers[colIndex].trim();
system.debug(‘========================= Column Name ‘ + headerName);
if(headerName.length() > 0)
{
try
{
 if(col.contains(‘/’))
 {
 Date tempDate;
 String[] tempStr = col.split(‘/’);
 Integer d = Integer.valueOf(tempStr[0]);
 Integer m = Integer.valueOf(tempStr[1]);
 Integer y = Integer.valueOf(tempStr[2]);
 tempDate = Date.newInstance(y,m,d);
 thisObj.put(headerName,tempDate);
 }
 else
 {
 thisObj.put(headerName,col.trim());
 }
}
catch(exception e)
{
system.debug(‘============== Invalid field specified in header ‘ + headerName);
}
colIndex++;
}
}
objects.add(thisObj);
rowNumber++;
}
}
System.debug(‘Object Data –> ‘ + objects);
return objects;
}
}

Conclusion

This approach solves the issue to read file from any integration like from any FTP server, or for any inbound integration by exposing the end point of salesforce to capture CSV and push data to salesforce.