1. Salesforce Development
Best Practices

2. Salesforce Development Approach
Agile Always
Salesforce exists as Agile Environment
Pre-built objects, fields, GUI
Tools for configuration/workflow without coding
Perfect for Iterations – “Make work, Make Better”

3. Salesforce Development Approach
Agile Moves Quickly
Fast pace, messy place
Organization helps to keep cleaner
Need to know where to go
Standards guide where logic is located

4. Salesforce Development Tools
Depends on team sizes and personal preferences
Salesforce Direct Online – Should be avoided with exceptions
Salesforce Developer Console
Better alternative to Direct Online
Has performance issues with large files
Good debugging tools, even if other Dev Environments are used
Salesforce Debug option works for Community Users
Eclipse
Favorite to most IT geeks due to familiarity
Sublime Text 3/Mavensmate
My preferred environment

5. Salesforce Development – Source Control
Salesforce Has No Built In Source Control
Yet….
Eclipse with SVN
Publishing tools with File Compare
File history
Sublime Text 3/Mavensmate
Server Compare upon saving
No File History; Can undo all changes on local copy after saving

6. Salesforce Development Areas
Validations
Workflows
Standard
Flow
Process Builder
Triggers
Visual Force Pages
Visual Force Components
Apex Classes

7. Salesforce Development - Validations
Naming Convention
Use <Field Name> or <Business Process> first followed by subject (i.e. Account Number Length Check, Category Choice of Other Requires Text, etc.)
Descriptions – Full length description of the validation
Error Messages
Field – Should be first choice to assist user with correction
Top of Page – Be overly descriptive and use Field Labels when applicable

8. Salesforce Development - Workflows
Process Builder
Preferred over others once GA in Spring ‘15
More organized and easier to follow holistically
Can contain more decision making
Flow
Similar to Process Builder
Best when in need of user interaction with process
Can also replace Apex Trigger, if no coding is preferred
Standard
Start to migrate to Process Builder after Spring ’15 release

9. Salesforce Development - Triggers
Apex Code
Suggested to Use Template for all object Triggers
See Example Next Slide
Contains minimal logic
Calls <Object>TriggerHandler Class to do decision flow
Handles/Prevents Recursion
Calls other procedures for business processing to keep organized (know where to go)

10. Salesforce Development – Example Trigger
trigger ApplicationTrigger on Application__c (before insert, before update, before delete, after insert, after update, after delete, after undelete) { ApplicationTriggerHandler handler = new ApplicationTriggerHandler(Trigger.isExecuting, Trigger.size); /* Before Insert */ if(Trigger.isInsert && Trigger.isBefore){ handler.OnBeforeInsert(Trigger.new); } /* Before Update */ else if(Trigger.isUpdate && Trigger.isBefore){ handler.onBeforeUpdate(Trigger.old, Trigger.new, Trigger.newMap, Trigger.oldMap); …

11. Salesforce Development – Example Trigger Handler
public class ApplicationTriggerHandler{ public static boolean onBeforeInsert_FirstRun = true; public void onBeforeInsert(List<Application__c> newObjects) { if(onBeforeInsert_FirstRun) { addTeamToApplications(newObjects); addProgramTranslations(newObjects, null); CountryLookupServices.setCountryLookup(newObjects, null); // PREVENT RECURSION onBeforeInsert_FirstRun = false; }

12. Salesforce Development – VF Pages
Naming Convention
If multiple applications within same organization, first prefix could be three letter acronym for the application (i.e. PPA_ for Promotion Planning Application)
Add Prefix related to Application Area (i.e. ADM for Administration Area: PPA_ADM_Main_Menu, PPA_ADM_User_Management, etc.)
Extensions
Best if named after page (i.e. PPA_ADM_Main_Menu_Ext, PPA_ADM_User_Management_Ext, etc.)
Comments
Add Standard Company Template to all Pages with Name, Description, Author, Modification Log, etc.
Use throughout Code to Describe Areas of Page (lack of WYSIWYG)

13. Salesforce Development – VF Components
Naming Convention
Similar to VF Pages
Comments
Add Standard Company Template to all Pages with Name, Description, Author, Modification Log, etc.
Use throughout Code to Describe Areas of Component (lack of WYSIWYG)

14. Salesforce Development – Apex Classes
Comments, Comments, Comments
Organize – Use MVC approach
MODEL
<Object>Model
Apex-Lang: an open-source library of helper classes written purely in apex whose goal is to address shortcomings in the core apex classes
Richard Vanhook’s Base Model: Logic for pulling data
Easier to adjust with Agile approach when object changes happen frequently
VIEW
Visual Force Pages / Components
CONTROLLER
Page Extensions
<Object>Services
Show Example
Business Logic for Object

15. Salesforce Development – Apex Classes Models
Basic Example Given this SOQL query: SELECT name FROM account WHERE employees < 10 Here is the corresponding code to create the query string via a SoqlBuilder: new al.SoqlBuilder() .selectx('name') .fromx('account') .wherex(new al.FieldCondition('employees').lessThan(10)) .toSoql(); - See more at:

16. Salesforce Development – Apex Classes AccountModel Example
public with sharing class AccountModel extends BaseModel { public AccountModel() { super('Account'); } public AccountModel(sObject obj) { super('Account', obj); protected override List<BaseModel> castToModelObjects(List<sObject> objectList) { List<AccountModel> modelList = new List<AccountModel>(); for(sObject obj : objectList) { modelList.add(new AccountModel( obj )); return (List<BaseModel>)modelList;

17. Salesforce Development – Apex Classes AccountModel Example
protected override void setSelect(al.SoqlBuilder builder) { Set<String> fieldSet = this.getAllFields(); builder.selectx(fieldSet); } public List<AccountModel> getAllRecords() { this.buildQuery(); List<sObject> objectList = this.query(this.builder); return (List<AccountModel>)this.castToModelObjects(objectList);

18. New in Spring ’15 – Test setup method
Set Up Test Data for an Entire Test Class
Create test records once and then access them in every test method in the test class
Save time when you need to create reference or prerequisite data for all test methods
All records in test setup are rolled back at the end of test class execution
Changes to test setup data are rolled back after each test method finishes execution
Defined in a test class, take no arguments, and return no value

19. New in Spring ’15 – Test setup method
Test Setup Method Considerations
Not available annotation is used
John’s Suggestion: Use SeeAllData as a last resort
Multiple test setup methods are allowed in a test class, but the order in which they’re executed by the testing framework isn’t guaranteed.
John’s Suggestion: Don’t use multiple
If a fatal error occurs during the execution of a test setup method, the entire test class fails, and no further tests in the class are executed.
If a test setup method calls a non-test method of another class, no code coverage is calculated for the non-test method.

20. Test Setup Method – SF Example
@isTest private class CommonTestSetup static void setup() { // Create common test accounts List<Account> testAccts = new List<Account>(); for(Integer i=0;i<2;i++) { testAccts.add(new Account(Name = 'TestAcct'+i)); } insert testAccts;

21. Test Setup Method – John’s Suggested Example
@isTest private class CommonTestSetup static void setup() { testDataHelper.InsertAccounts(20); } public class testDataHelper { public InsertAccount (int numAccounts) { // Create common test accounts List<Account> testAccts = new List<Account>(); for(Integer i=0;i<numAccounts;i++) { testAccts.add(new Account(Name = 'TestAcct'+i)); insert testAccts;

22. Salesforce best practice tips
Best Practice #1: Bulkify your Code
Best Practice #2: Avoid SOQL Queries or DML statements inside FOR Loops
Best Practice #3: Bulkify your Helper Methods
Best Practice #4: Using Collections, Streamlining Queries, and Efficient For Loops
Best Practice #5: Streamlining Multiple Triggers on the Same Object
Best Practice #6: Querying Large Data Sets
Best Practice #7: Use of the Limits Apex Methods to Avoid Hitting Governor Limits
Best Practice #8: Appropriately
Best Practice #9: Writing Test Methods to Verify Large Datasets
Best Practices #10: Avoid Hardcoding IDs
Source:

23. Questions / Comments
My favorite TV shows:

24. References
Salesforce Best Practices:
Eclipse Salesforce IDE:
Mavensmate:
APEX-LANG:
SOQL Builder:
Spring ‘15 Release Notes: