SOQL Relationship Query Guide

Complete reference for querying related records in Salesforce.

Relationship Types

1. Parent-to-Child (Subquery)

Returns parent records with nested child records.

SELECT Id, Name,
    (SELECT Id, FirstName, LastName FROM Contacts)
FROM Account
WHERE Industry = 'Technology'

Key Points:

Maximum 20 subqueries per query
Use relationship name (plural): Contacts, Opportunities, Cases
For custom objects: Child_Object__r

2. Child-to-Parent (Dot Notation)

Access parent fields from child record.

SELECT Id, Name,
    Account.Name,
    Account.Industry,
    Account.Owner.Name
FROM Contact
WHERE Account.Type = 'Customer'

Key Points:

Maximum 5 levels deep
Standard: Account.Name
Custom: Parent__r.Name

3. Polymorphic (TYPEOF)

Handle fields that reference multiple object types.

SELECT Id, Subject,
    TYPEOF Who
        WHEN Contact THEN FirstName, LastName
        WHEN Lead THEN Company
    END,
    TYPEOF What
        WHEN Account THEN Name, Industry
        WHEN Opportunity THEN Amount
    END
FROM Task

Common Polymorphic Fields:

WhoId → Contact, Lead
WhatId → Account, Opportunity, Case, etc.
OwnerId → User, Queue

Relationship Names

Child Object	Parent Field	Relationship Name
Contact	AccountId	Account.Contacts
Opportunity	AccountId	Account.Opportunities
Case	AccountId	Account.Cases
Task	WhatId	Account.Tasks
Contact	ReportsToId	Contact.ReportsTo

Limits

Limit	Value
Child-to-Parent depth	5 levels
Subqueries per query	20
Rows per subquery	200 (without LIMIT)

Best Practices

Use indexed fields in WHERE clauses
Add LIMIT to subqueries
Filter early - push conditions into subqueries
Avoid N+1 - use relationship queries instead of loops

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