Pre-populate forms w/ info from SFDC

[Kristi_Annes3]

Hello,

Has anyone implemented anything that enables a Company Name form field to populate possible matches as a user types?

So if a user is filling out a form and is typing in their company name, as they type the word  "Northwest..." for example, a drop down would appear with all confirmed Account names in our SFDC instance (such as Northwest Phsyicians Group, Northwestern University Medical Center, etc...).

This would be a huge benefit and way to keep our database clean.

[SanfordWhiteman]

While this could be built using the standard SFDC API license, it's a dangerous concept because it means you're letting someone quench your API calls just by typing a few letters in a form. Even though SFDC is comparatively generous (vs. Marketo) w/daily API limits I would very wary of this approach.

Far better would be replicating your SFDC database (for example, using Relational Junction) to another database. Then serve that db up to the world to the tune of billions of hits per day (plus your own rate limiting).

[Ben_Griffith1]

Yes, and you can do it without using the SFDC API.  We have done similar things using force.com sites, a Salesforce feature for public web pages / APIs.