FieldSrcTrgtRelationship Metadata Reference

Architectural Overview#

FieldSrcTrgtRelationship represents explicit, granular field-to-field relationship links within the Salesforce data transformation architecture. While higher-level metadata types like FieldMappingConfig define entity-level mappings between source and target schemas, FieldSrcTrgtRelationship establishes the granular relational semantics for individual fields.

In high-throughput enterprise pipelines—such as streaming external customer interactions into Data Cloud, executing automated financial ledger reconciliations, or handling master data management (MDM) synchronizations—field transformations require unambiguous specifications. FieldSrcTrgtRelationship specifies source field API identifiers, destination field API identifiers, transformation expressions, and foreign key reference resolution rules.

Maintaining these relationships as version-controlled metadata enables enterprise architects to review and automate data lineage tracking, preventing breaking schema shifts across integration releases.

Directory and File Conventions#

FieldSrcTrgtRelationship metadata files reside within the fieldSrcTrgtRelationships folder:

Key Metadata Fields#

The FieldSrcTrgtRelationship schema defines field-to-field binding parameters:

Declarative XML and Package Manifest Examples#

Below is a declarative XML definition of FieldSrcTrgtRelationship mapping an external ledger transaction identifier to a core Salesforce billing record:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<FieldSrcTrgtRelationship xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <developerName>Txn_Id_To_Billing_Ref</developerName>
    <masterLabel>Transaction ID to Billing Reference</masterLabel>
    <relationshipType>Direct</relationshipType>
    <sourceField>External_Transaction_ID__c</sourceField>
    <targetField>Billing_Reference_Number__c</targetField>
</FieldSrcTrgtRelationship>

Package Manifest (package.xml)#

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Package xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <types>
        <members>Txn_Id_To_Billing_Ref</members>
        <name>FieldSrcTrgtRelationship</name>
    </types>
    <version>68.0</version>
</Package>

CLI Retrieval and Deployment Commands#

Retrieve and deploy FieldSrcTrgtRelationship metadata using the Salesforce CLI:

# Retrieve a specific field relationship definition
sf project retrieve start --metadata FieldSrcTrgtRelationship:Txn_Id_To_Billing_Ref

# Deploy all field source-target relationships
sf project deploy start --metadata FieldSrcTrgtRelationship

# Validate relationship metadata in target environment
sf project deploy start --metadata FieldSrcTrgtRelationship --dry-run

Architect Best Practices and Gotchas#

• Strict Type Validation: Salesforce validates type compatibility at deployment time. Attempting to bind a source Picklist field to a target Boolean field without a transformation formula will trigger deployment errors.
• Deployment Wave Sequencing: Deploy underlying Custom Objects and Custom Fields before deploying FieldSrcTrgtRelationship components. Any missing field reference will abort the deployment transaction.
• Reference Integrity on Lookups: When mapping foreign key reference fields, ensure the external identifiers used in source systems are indexed and configured as External ID fields in the target Salesforce schema.

Frequently asked questions

What is the role of FieldSrcTrgtRelationship metadata in Salesforce?

FieldSrcTrgtRelationship defines explicit relational links between source and target fields in automated data mapping engines and pipelines.

How does FieldSrcTrgtRelationship ensure data integrity during transformations?

It enforces data type compatibility and validates conversion logic between source and target fields prior to executing batch data pipelines.

Where is FieldSrcTrgtRelationship metadata stored in source format?

It is stored in the fieldSrcTrgtRelationships directory using the fieldSrcTrgtRelationship-meta.xml file extension.

How do you deploy FieldSrcTrgtRelationship across environments?

Deploy using sf project deploy start with metadata FieldSrcTrgtRelationship after the target custom fields and objects have been provisioned.