REST API:Field Type Reference

This table shows how to format input data for the various Field Display Types in platform objects when using the REST API.

Field Display Types	Description
Auto Number	n/a (read only)
Checkbox	Specify 1 for Yes/True, 0 for No/False
Currency	Specify a value in Database Format, with no currency symbol and no separators other than the decimal point.
Date	A date in UTC Format. The field definition determines how the value is stored.
Date time	A date and time in UTC Format. The field definition determines how the value is stored.
Dependent Picklist	Specify one of the picklist values. An error is thrown if the list (determined by the parent-field dependency) doesn't include that value.
Email Address	A string containing text in email-address format. For example: friend@somewhere.com
External Lookup	n/a
File Field	To upload a file, do a Multipart REST request
Formula	n/a
Geolocation	A string containing a latitude and longitude, separated by a comma and a space. Ex: 37.403930662906106, -121.97971165820213
Global Picklist	Specify a picklist value.
Image Field	To upload an image, do a Multipart REST request
1:N Lookup	Applies to a Lookup field in a One-to-Many relationship Specify a record ID from the target object.
M:N Lookup	Applies to a Lookup field in a Many-to-Many relationship Specify a comma separated list of record IDs from the target object.
Multiple Checkboxes	A comma-separated list of checkbox values.
Multi Object Lookup	The format is objectName:recordID. For example: cases:12345678 The JSON format of Multi Object Lookup value is @type:objectName and content:recordID. For example: "related_to": { "@type": "cases", "content": "1513449967" }
Multi Select Picklist & Multi Select Global Picklist	A comma-separated list of picklist values.
Number	An integer from -2,147,483,646 to 2,147,483,647. Must be in Database Format, with no group separators (commas).
Number with decimals	A number in Database Format, with a decimal point (and no other separators). The number of decimal places is specified in the field definition.
Percentage	A decimal value in the range 0 to 1, in Database Format. The number of decimal places is specified in the field definition.
Phone/Fax	If a string of digits is entered without formatting, that is the way it appears when editing, but the numbers are automatically formatted when the field is displayed: 7 digits ("1234567") displays as "123-4567". 10 digits "1234567890" displays as "(123) 456-7890". 11 digits ("12345678901") displays 1-234-567-8901 Note: If the field has more than 11 digits, they are displayed as entered. In that case, it's helpful to provide the desired formatting. Free-format text is displayed exactly as entered. For example: 123.456.7890 1-800-COMPANY +44 7123 456 789
Picklist	Specify one of the picklist values.
Radio Buttons	Specify one of the radio button values.
Rich Text Area	A string containing text and HTML tags Linebreaks can be encoded using \n (newline) to make the code readable <wbr> and </wbr> tags are not supported, as they are problematic when switching between edit and display modes. (To prevent issues, those tags are removed before the content is displayed.)
Text Area	A multi-line string containing alphanumerics (A-Z, a-z, 0-9) and special characters: / @ . - $ % . Linebreaks can be encoded using \n (newline)
Text Field	A string containing alphanumerics (A-Z, a-z, 0-9) and special characters: / @ . - $ %
Time	A time in UTC Format. The field definition determines how the value is stored.
URL	A string containing a web address. For example: http://yourCompany.com