Salesforce Development Best Practices

As a Salesforce developer, you play a critical role in crafting efficient and reliable solutions. Adopting best practices ensures that your code is scalable, maintainable, and follows industry standards. In this blog post, we’ll dive into essential Salesforce development best practices, accompanied by developer-friendly examples to help you excel in your Salesforce projects.

1. Governor Limits Awareness:

Stay cognizant of Salesforce’s governor limits, which restrict resource usage in Apex and SOQL queries. Avoid hitting these limits to prevent runtime exceptions and performance issues.

Example: When processing a large set of records, use Apex Batch to ensure compliance with the governor limits.

public class MyBatchClass implements Database.Batchable<sObject> {
    public Database.QueryLocator start(Database.BatchableContext BC) {
        return Database.getQueryLocator([SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE CreatedDate = LAST_N_DAYS:30]);
    }

    public void execute(Database.BatchableContext BC, List<Account> scope) {
        // Process the records in the scope here
        for (Account acc : scope) {
            // Your processing logic
        }
    }

    public void finish(Database.BatchableContext BC) {
        // Perform any post-processing tasks here
    }
}

2. Bulkify Your Code:

Write your Apex code to handle bulk data efficiently. Avoid writing SOQL queries or DML statements inside loops, as it can lead to governor limit breaches.

Example: Instead of querying for related records within a loop, use relationship queries or aggregate queries to fetch all required data in a single query.

// Inefficient Code
List<Contact> contacts = [SELECT Id, Name, Account.Name FROM Contact];
for (Contact con : contacts) {
    // Querying related data within the loop
    Account acc = [SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE Id = :con.AccountId];
    // Your logic here
}

// Efficient Code - Using relationship query
List<Contact> contacts = [SELECT Id, Name, Account.Name FROM Contact];
for (Contact con : contacts) {
    // Related data is already queried with the main query
    Account acc = con.Account;
    // Your logic here
}

3. Optimize Queries with SELECTive Filtering:

Limit the data retrieved in SOQL queries to only what’s necessary. Utilize WHERE clauses effectively to retrieve targeted data and reduce query execution time.

Example: Instead of fetching all Accounts, use a WHERE clause to retrieve Accounts from a specific region.

4. Error Handling and Logging:

Implement robust error handling and logging mechanisms to capture and handle exceptions gracefully. Logging helps in debugging issues and monitoring code behavior.

Example: Use try-catch blocks to capture exceptions and log relevant information, such as error messages and stack traces.

5. Efficient Apex Triggers:

Design efficient Apex triggers to handle data modifications on records. Bulkify triggers and consider using Trigger Frameworks to maintain separation of concerns.

Example: Use a Trigger Handler class to encapsulate trigger logic and avoid directly writing logic in the trigger body.

public class ContactTriggerHandler {
    public static void onBeforeInsert(List<Contact> newContacts) {
        // Trigger logic for Before Insert
        for (Contact con : newContacts) {
            // Your logic here
        }
    }

    public static void onBeforeUpdate(Map<Id, Contact> oldContacts, List<Contact> updatedContacts) {
        // Trigger logic for Before Update
        for (Contact con : updatedContacts) {
            // Your logic here
        }
    }
}

trigger ContactTrigger on Contact (before insert, before update) {
    if (Trigger.isBefore) {
        if (Trigger.isInsert) {
            ContactTriggerHandler.onBeforeInsert(Trigger.new);
        } else if (Trigger.isUpdate) {
            ContactTriggerHandler.onBeforeUpdate(Trigger.oldMap, Trigger.new);
        }
    }
}

6. Test-Driven Development (TDD):

Follow Test-Driven Development practices to create reliable and maintainable code. Write unit tests before implementing new functionality.

Example: Write a test class to cover various scenarios for a custom Apex class before deploying it to production.

@isTest
public class MyApexClassTest {
    @isTest
    static void testMyApexMethod() {
        // Test setup - Create test data here

        // Test method call
        Test.startTest();
        // Call the method to be tested
        // Example: MyApexClass.myMethod(testData);
        Test.stopTest();

        // Assertions - Verify expected outcomes
        // Example: System.assertEquals(expectedResult, actualResult);
    }
}

7. Version Control and Deployment Strategies:

Use version control (e.g., Git) to manage your Salesforce codebase and adopt proper deployment strategies (e.g., Salesforce DX, Change Sets) to ensure seamless releases.

Example: Use Git branches to work on new features, and merge them into the main branch after thorough testing.

8. Code Documentation:

Document your code comprehensively to aid understanding and collaboration among team members.

Example: Add comments to explain complex logic, input parameters, and expected outputs.

By following these Salesforce development best practices, you can build robust, efficient, and maintainable solutions. Stay mindful of governor limits, optimize queries, and adopt Test-Driven Development for reliability. Employ efficient Apex triggers and handle errors gracefully to enhance code quality. Embrace version control and proper deployment strategies to ensure smooth releases. Remember, adherence to best practices elevates your Salesforce development skills, making you a proficient and successful Salesforce developer. Happy coding!

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