Are you a Salesforce Developer? Are you interested in learning MuleSoft? If so, a book was created by three MuleSoft experts in the MuleSoft community as an invitation for you to join a wonderful Integration and Automation community of experts.
This book is entitled, MuleSoft for Salesforce Developers, A practitioner's guide to deploying MuleSoft APIs and integrations for Salesforce enterprise solutions.
It was published on September 30, 2022, by Packt Publishing and written by Arul Christhuraj
Alphonse, Alexandra Martinez, and Akshata Sawant, who happen to be well-respected in the MuleSoft community.
​Disclaimers: I am a former employee of Salesforce and a former co-worker of two of the authors. I am an Amazon Associate. I earn from qualifying purchases. I have tried to provide you with valuable and unbiased information so you can decide for yourself if this book is something you would like to consume. |
Table of Contents
Summary
This book is a 15-chapter book that serves as an Introduction to MuleSoft and Anypoint Platform
with a target audience of Salesforce Developers. However, this book is perfect for anyone that aspires to become a MuleSoft Developer.
This book introduces MuleSoft, the API life cycle, API Design, API Led Connectivity, Application Networks, Anypoint Studio IDE, Anypoint Platform and Core components, DataWeave, Building, Testing, and Deploying Mule applications, API security, MuleSoft Integrations with Salesforce, and much more.
Book Structure
MuleSoft for Salesforce Developers is organized into three parts, with four to six chapters in each part.
Part | Chapters |
Part 1: Getting Started with MuleSoft |
|
​ | 2. Designing Your API |
​ | 3. Exploring Anypoint Studio |
​ | 4. Introduction to Core Components |
​ | 5. All About Anypoint Platform |
Part 2: A Deep Dive into MuleSoft | 6. Learning DataWeave |
​ | 7. Transforming with DataWeave |
​ | 8. Building Your Mule Application |
​ | 9. Deploying Your Application |
​ | 10. Secure Your API |
​ | 11. Testing Your Application |
Part 3: Integration with Salesforce and Other Connectors | 12. MuleSoft Integration with Salesforce |
​ | 13. MuleSoft Connectors and Use Cases |
​ | 14. Best Practices, Tips, and Tricks |
​ | 15. Certifications and Interview Tips |
Features & Publishing
Colored Images: If you like colored images, Packt Publishing provides a PDF of all the images in each chapter.
Complimentary e-book: If you purchase print or Kindle books, you are entitled to three downloads of the e-book version. Make sure to save your payment information because you will need to submit it to Packt Publishing before you get the download link. The e-book comes with colored images as well. Packt Publishing says the turnaround time is six hours to receive your e-book.
Access to MuleSoft for Salesforce Developers Public GitHub repository: The source code for Chapters 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 are made available on Packt's Mulesoft for Salesforce Developers' GitHub repository. Access to the source code makes it easy for the reader to follow along.
Access to three MuleSoft Experts: This book was written by three MuleSoft experts in the MuleSoft Community.
Free preview: The first chapter of the book is available for free preview.
Impressive Chapters
This book takes on the heavy lift of introducing MuleSoft and its products to aspiring MuleSoft developers, and it does a pretty good job at it. Descriptions of MuleSoft products and integration concepts are clear and concise. The reader gets an understanding of MuleSoft's offerings and how to get started. Overall, careful examination of this book should enable developers to jump right in.
I found all the chapters helpful, but I enjoyed the chapters on security and DataWeave.
Chapter 10: Secure Your API
Data breaches are happening daily, and APIs have become a target. This book does not neglect security and does a good job introducing the need for security, technical concepts regarding API Manager, API Gateways, and policies to help Salesforce developers and Salesforce architects hoping to gain MuleSoft skills address security in their solutions.
Chapters 6 & 7: DataWeave
This book is an excellent reference for those looking for concise written content about DataWeave outside of the documentation. Chapters six and seven of this book are dedicated solely to learning DataWeave. The rich examples presented in this book are available to explore and try on the MuleSoft for Salesforce Developers GitHub repository. Save those two chapters and keep a watch on the GitHub repository as an additional DataWeave reference that you can look up occasionally.
Chapters 14 & 15: Best Practices & Certification Tips
Lastly, the best practices, certification tips, notes, and personal experiences sprinkled throughout the book and chapters 14 and 15 add a personal touch and unlock tips you can only receive from MuleSoft experts in the trenches using the product daily.
Areas for Improvement and Iteration
Since the intended reader is a Salesforce developer, as the name of the book suggests, I would like to see this book stick more to its theme, get in the mind of the Salesforce developer, and address common Salesforce solutions that use MuleSoft integrations. MuleSoft Composer for Salesforce is a popular product many Salesforce developers have embraced and are interested in learning; I would love to see a dedicated chapter for that product in the next edition. Lastly, MuleSoft RPA was mentioned but was not in the scope of this book; however, this is an area that could be discussed in more detail in the second edition.
Who should read this book?
Should Salesforce developers read this book?
I mentioned this book's impressive chapters and areas of improvement and iteration. But the question still remains, should Salesforce developers read this book?
My answer is YES! This book provides a basic overview of MuleSoft and its premiere products. It's a great companion to the training. With the Anypoint Platform Development: Fundamentals and new Build Salesforce Hyperautomation Solutions with MuleSoft course, this would be an excellent supplemental book to reinforce the concepts you learn in those courses.
Should aspiring MuleSoft developers read this book?
I believe the target audience is aspiring MuleSoft Developers, including Salesforce Developers. This book is suitable for beginners but is an excellent reference book for established MuleSoft professionals.
How would I use this book?
If I were an aspiring MuleSoft developer with no experience building Mule applications and APIs or integration developer skills, I would use this book as supplemental material to MuleSoft training and/or Udemy courses. This book provides a breadth of topics but doesn't go as deep as a course would. However, with a course, this book could provide a better understanding of basic familiarity of capabilities using Mulesoft's products.
Where can I purchase the book?
This book is available at Amazon and many other vendors. If you are interested in purchasing from Amazon, you can use this link.
Conclusion
This is a fantastic contribution to the MuleSoft and Salesforce communities. This book is of high quality and will set the path for other books to come after it. I recommend this book as a supplemental reference for anyone wanting to learn MuleSoft and achieve the MuleSoft certified developer level 1 certification. I look forward to seeing the 2nd edition.
Please let me know in the comments section below if you enjoyed this review. If you have a request for a book you would like me to review, please fill out my Tech Book Review Request Form.
About the Authors of MuleSoft for Salesforce Developers
Arul Alphonse is a Senior integration architect at Cognizant. Arul is also a MuleSoft Mentor and is well-known for his Software integration videos on his Tech Lightning YouTube channel and Software Integration courses on Udemy. He has helped to train thousands of students. You can view Arul's impressive accomplishments on his website.
Akshata Sawant is a Senior MuleSoft Developer Advocate at Salesforce who first served as MuleSoft Ambassadress. Akshata is well-known all over the globe for her vast knowledge of MuleSoft, API security, integration concepts, and conference presentations at India Dreamin 2023 and API Days 2022.
Alexandra Martinez is a Senior MuleSoft Developer Advocate at Salesforce, who first served as a MuleSoft Ambassadress in the MuleSoft Community before taking on a role at Salesforce. She is well-known for her popular blog, entitled Prostdev, and matching Youtube channel that provides high-quality Mule and DataWeave developer tutorials. Her blog also provides a platform for guest bloggers to try technical blogging.
With that in mind, you are in excellent hands.
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