X-Squared On-Demand » Apex

Sophisticated DateTime “Formula Fields” with Apex and Field-Level Security

David Schach — Mon, 17 May 2010 20:39:25 +0000

What do you do when you want to calculate a formula-like field but a regular formula won't work?

Salesforce CRM's formulas handle dates very well. If you want to enter a date value and have formula fields display, for instance, mydate__c + 21 days, that's simple. Just use mydate__c + 21.

Side note: If you try going the long way around and use DATE( YEAR( mydate__c ), MONTH( mydate__c ), DAY( mydate__c ) + 21 ) and mydate__c = 09/17/2010, Salesforce returns #Error! because there's no date 09/38/2010. Similarly, adding three months to a date like 1/31/2010 will also give an error. More about this in a future post.

DateTime fields are like Date fields, but they include... wait for it... a time component (and can be created in the running user's local time zone or in GMT).

Here's a use-case for a DateTime formula field:

A photography studio schedules photo shoots, and different packages include different durations. Similarly, we could use a hair salon which offers different services, each with a different duration, a dentist... you get the idea.

Requirements:

Enter a DateTime for an appointment start time (starttime__c)
Enter a duration (though in a production system, I'd include a value on the Product2 sObject, we'll just enter a value here) (minutes__c)
Display a read-only DateTime field with the end time (endtime__c)
The end time must be read-only to all users, like any formula field

Here's what won't work:

A formula field won't work because there are no MINUTE(), HOUR(), SECOND() formula functions
Workflow won't work because it depends on formulas to fill new values for date/datetime fields

That leaves Apex. First, the configuration:

Create DateTime field starttime__c
Create DateTime field endtime__c
Set endtime__c field-level security to Read-Only for all profiles
Create Number (18,0) field minutes__c
Create a trigger on the sobject

Here's the trigger:

trigger timeTrigger on TestObject__c (before insert, before update) {
    for (TestObject__c t : Trigger.New){
    	if(t.StartTime__c != null && t.minutes__c != null){
        datetime myDateT = t.StartTime__c;
        double d = t.minutes__c;
        Integer shootmins = d.intValue();
        if(mydateT != null && shootmins != null)
        	t.EndTime__c = myDateT.addminutes(integer.valueof(shootmins));
       	}
    }
}

Regular readers will note that I do usually split triggers into a trigger and a class, but I've not done so here purely for the sake of brevity.

Here's the test code:

public without sharing class shootTimesTriggerTest {

    private static testMethod void ShootCalculateEndTime_PositiveTestCases() {
        TestObject__c to;
        TestObject__c l;    
        test.starttest();
        l = new TestObject__c (name = 'test');
        datetime myDateTime = datetime.newInstance(2008, 12, 1, 12, 30, 2);
        l.StartTime__c = myDateTime;
        l.minutes__c = 90;
        insert l;
        to = [SELECT id, EndTime__c FROM TestObject__c WHERE id = :l.id];
        datetime newDateTime = datetime.newInstance(2008, 12, 1, 14, 0, 2);
        system.assertequals(to.EndTime__c, newDateTime);
        l.minutes__c = 45;
        update l;        
        to = [SELECT id, EndTime__c FROM TestObject__c WHERE id = :l.id];
        newDateTime = datetime.newInstance(2008, 12, 1, 13, 15, 2);
        system.assertequals(to.EndTime__c, newDateTime);
        test.stoptest();
    }

    private static testMethod void OppCalculateEndTime_NegativeTestCases() {
        test.starttest();
        TestObject__c l = new TestObject__c (name = 'test');
        l.minutes__c = null;
        insert l;
        system.assertequals(l.EndTime__c, null);
        test.stoptest();
    } 
}

A few points about how this works:

Triggers run in System mode, so they don't respect field-level security. Thus, we can set a field to read-only for all profiles, and the EndTime__c field will still be updated.
The test code runs in System mode as well, avoiding any potential problems if the field were set to invisible to a profile and we used System.RunAs() to test for various profiles.
Although I'm not a fan of using SOQL queries this often, I used these in the interest of saving time. Keep in mind that if you had quite a few queries in your regular code, adding these two might put you over the limit, so use queries sparingly!
This is the only way I know of to add minutes to a DateTime.

Did I miss anything? Please let me know in the comments.

New Developer Library Released

David Schach — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:43:29 +0000

Today, Developer Force (http://developer.force.com) released its new library. Here are a few of them. All can be found at http://wiki.developerforce.com/index.php/Documentation.

Workbook
http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/workbook/index.htm

Fundamentals
http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/fundamentals/index.htm

Cookbook
http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/cookbook/index.htm

Apex Advanced Code Example
http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/apexcode/Content/apex_shopping_cart_example.htm
https://sites.secure.force.com/appexchange/listingDetail?listingId=a0N30000001saDCEAY

And many more to come!

Overload Apex Class to be Controller AND Extension

David Schach — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:01:00 +0000

Wow - today brought an interesting discovery. Here's the situation:

Coding the new premium version of Mass Update Contacts (details to come), I replaced the two parts of the page with Apex Components. This will allow the app to support custom address fields and international address formats.

I didn't want to write one ControllerExtension for the main page, a CustomController for the view section component, and another CustomController for the pageblocktable component. So here is the overloaded class constructor. Note that this works because an extension passes the StandardController to the constructor, and a CustomController passes nothing:

public with sharing class VersatileClass {

private Account account;

public VersatileClass(){
	system.debug('OPERATING AS CONTROLLER');
		if(System.currentPageReference().getParameters().get('id')==null){
			//Include error checking here
		} else{
			string AId = System.currentPageReference().getParameters().get('id');
			account = [select id, name from Account where id = :AId];
			//And whatever else you want to do
		}
}

public VersatileClass(ApexPages.StandardController controller) {
	system.debug('OPERATING AS EXTENSION');
		if(System.currentPageReference().getParameters().get('id')==null){
			//Include error checking here
		} else{
			this.account = (Account)controller.getRecord();
			//And whatever else you want to do
		}
	}
}

Enjoy! This should save people a lot of time.

Email Inbox Version 2

David Schach — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:39:41 +0000

Well, it took about ten minutes from the release of Email Inbox Version 1 for people to request additional features, screenshots, etc. Version 2 includes some neat icons, and this post has the multiple-times-requested screenshots we promised.

First, a teaser screenshot. (There's a better one below the code.)

Here's the updated Visualforce code:


    
    
        
            
                
                    Messages
                    
                    
                        
                        
                    
                
            
        
        
            
                
                    
                        
                            
                        
                    
                    {!e.Subject}
                
                
                    
                    {!$ObjectType.Contact.fields.Name.label}
                    
                    {!e.FromName}
                    
                
                
                    
                    {!$ObjectType.Account.fields.Name.label}
                    
                    {!e.Parent.Account.Name}
                
                
                    
                        
                            
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
                            
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
                            
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
                            
                        
                    
                    
                    
                    
                
                
                    
                        
                            
                        
                    
                    
                    
                
                
                    
                        
                            
                        
                    
                    {!e.Parent.CaseNumber}

The Apex controller code has not changed from Version 1.

Here's the screenshot, which includes some emails from around the Salesforce ecosystem:

Incoming (and auto-response) Emails

Things to notice and things we've learned:

Salesforce will search ANY Email field to match an incoming email to a Contact. (nice job, Salesforce!) - We know because Simon Fell's Contact.Email is sfell at salesforce.com, and his Contact.Secondary_Email__c is simon at fell.com in the sandbox. Ditto (with her own email addresses) for Irene Brodt.
Auto-response emails will be included. We turned off auto-response after a few emails came in.
Though the Email Address field is coded just to show the field value, Salesforce includes the Gmail link. (We assume that's because we activated the integration, but we may be wrong. Has anyone not activated that?)
We did not (yet) implement the super Email/Web2Case trigger code that Marco Casalaina posted in the Salesforce Support Blog, but if we had, then every email in the list would be associated with a Contact. (Example: Michael Smith of Force2b.net, who will be a Contact from now on!)

Enjoy!

Visualforce Email Inbox

David Schach — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:00:26 +0000

Sonny Cloward, SysAd at Rainforest Alliance, approached us about writing a Visualforce page to display all incoming emails for a given Case Queue. This led a few interesting discoveries. Here's how we handled the (donated time) project:

First, the page was built upon the template Sam Arjimandi built at Salesforce. Instead of the Account object, we substituted the EmailMessage object. But something didn't work.

Fields have certain attributes:

Property	Description
Autonumber	The API creates an autonumber.
Create	Value for the field can be specified during create using the API.
Defaulted on create	When created, a default value is supplied if no other value is specified.
Delete	Value for the field can be deleted using the API.
Filter	Can be used as filter criteria in a SOQL query FROM or WHERE clause.
idLookup	Can be used to specify a record in an `upsert()` call. The Id field of each object has this property and some Name fields. There are exceptions, so check for the property in any object you wish to `upsert()`.
Nillable	The field can contain a null value.
Query	The field can be queried with SOQL using the API.
Replicate	The value of the field can be replicated using the API.
Restricted picklist	A picklist that depends on the value of another picklist for the values it displays.
Retrieve	Value of the field can be retrieved using the API.
Search	Can be searched with SOSL using the API.
Update	Can be updated using the API.

The important one here is "Filter" because (as the documentation states) this allows the field to be used in a WHERE clause. Also, however, (as the documentation does not state) it allows the field to be used in an ORDER BY clause. So all fields on the EmailMessage object that do not allow filtering/ordering had to be presented plainly, without Sam's cool PageBlockTable sorting features. Once this was done, Sonny had some great ideas:

Show the email subject, but make that a hyperlink to the email message itself
Link the Case Number (EmailMessage.ParentId) to the Case (EmailMessage.Parent)
Show the Case Contact (EmailMessage.Parent.Contact.Name), linking to the Contact (EmailMessage.Parent.ContactId)
Show the Case Account (EmailMessage.Parent.Account.Name), linking to the Account (EmailMessage.Parent.AccountId)
Provide filters - Incoming only, Unread only, etc.

You'll see in the Apex Code where we added parent object fields to the SOQL query, and where we used a List to populate the query's filter.

public with sharing class EmailMessageController {
   public String EmailMessage { get; set; }
   private List messages;
   private String sortDirection = 'ASC';
   private String sortExp = 'MessageDate';
   public String wheretext;

   public EmailMessageController(){
   	wheretext = '';
   }

   public String sortExpression { get {
        return sortExp;
     }
     set {
       //if the column is clicked on then switch between Ascending and Descending modes
       if (value == sortExp)
         sortDirection = (sortDirection == 'ASC')? 'DESC' : 'ASC';
       else
         sortDirection = 'ASC';
       sortExp = value;
     }
   }
   
public void setWhereText(String value) {  
   whereText = value;
 }
public string getWhereText(){
	return wheretext;
}
   
public List getViews(){
	List options = new List();
	options.add(new SelectOption('WHERE e.id != null','All'));
	options.add(new SelectOption('WHERE e.Incoming = true AND e.Status = \'0\' ','Incoming Unread'));
	options.add(new SelectOption('WHERE e.Incoming = true AND e.Status = \'1\' ','Incoming Read'));
        options.add(new SelectOption('WHERE e.Incoming = true','All Incoming'));
        options.add(new SelectOption('WHERE e.Incoming = false','All Outgoing'));
        options.add(new SelectOption('WHERE e.ToAddress = \'support@x2od.com\'','Support Queue'));
        options.add(new SelectOption('WHERE e.ToAddress = \'support2@x2od.com\'','Support Queue2')); //etc.
        return options;
}

 public String getSortDirection() {
    //if not column is selected 
    if (sortExpression == null || sortExpression == '')
      return 'ASC';
    else
     return sortDirection;
 }

 public void setSortDirection(String value) {  
   sortDirection = value;
 }
  
   public List getMessages() {
       return messages;
   }
   
   public PageReference ViewData() {
       //build the full sort expression
       string sortFullExp = sortExpression  + ' ' + sortDirection;
      
       //query the database based on the sort expression
       messages = Database.query('Select e.FromAddress, e.Parent.ContactId, e.Parent.Contact.Name, e.Parent.Account.Name, e.ToAddress, e.Parent.CaseNumber, e.Parent.AccountId, e.TextBody, e.SystemModstamp, e.Subject, e.Status, e.ParentId, e.MessageDate, e.LastModifiedDate, e.LastModifiedById, e.IsDeleted, e.Incoming, e.Id, e.HtmlBody, e.Headers, e.HasAttachment, e.FromName, e.CreatedDate, e.CreatedById, e.CcAddress, e.BccAddress, e.ActivityId From EmailMessage e ' + wheretext + ' order by ' + sortFullExp + ' limit 1000');
       return null;
   }
}

And here's the Visualforce Page:


	
	
		
			
				
					Messages
					
					
						
						
					
				
			
		
		
			
				
					
						
							
						
					
					{!e.Subject}
				
				
					
					{!$ObjectType.Contact.fields.Name.label}
					
					{!e.FromName}
					
				
				
					
					{!$ObjectType.Account.fields.Name.label}
					
					{!e.Parent.Account.Name}
				
				
					
						
							
						
					
				
				
					
						
							
						
					
				
				
					
						
							
						
					
				
				
					
						
							
						
					
				
				
					
						
							
						
					
				
				
					
						
							
						
					
					{!e.Parent.CaseNumber}

There are some other cool bits:

If there is no Case.Contact, the table will display the FromName, pulled from the email message.

An interesting point: You may notice that EmailStatus is presented in numerical form. For instance, Incoming Unread is 0, Incoming Read is 1, etc. The documentation, however, says, "Read only. The status of the email. For example, “New,” “Unread,” “Replied,” “Sent.”" So we're not sure of the exact mapping. 3 seems to be Sent, so 2 is probably Replied... but we're not sure.

Don't forget: EmailMessage has two lookups (foreign key): Case, and Activity. This Activity is the task created when Salesforce receives the email, and is - according to the documentation - assigned to the Case Owner. We're not sure what happens when the Case is owned by a Queue. Feel free to comment and share your experiences.

That's it! Enjoy.

Checkbox Formula Field in Visualforce

David Schach — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:00:52 +0000

In keeping with the theme of checkboxes and formulas, we provide an easy way to create a checkbox formula field using Visualforce: the checkbox tag with the disabled attribute:

First, the Apex controller method:

public boolean checkformula(){
boolean b = [insert formula here];
return b;
}

And the visualforce code:

That's it! Of course, there are many ways to set up the Apex method, but the important piece is the Visualforce markup. By using a tag usually associated with an edit page but making it disabled, the checkbox becomes an output field.

Pulling Code Out of Triggers

David Schach — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:00:41 +0000

To date, triggers have only been accessible on each object's setup page, leading to a lot of hunting for code within the Salesforce CRM application. Even in Eclipse, switching between the Class and Trigger folders for a given project can be a pain.

These pains can partially be alleviated by keeping all Apex code in one place--as Apex Classes. With the addition of a consolidated trigger list in Summer09, some may feel that this post is superfluous, but consolidating code in one place, combined with the trigger list, will lead to a better development, debugging, and org administration experience.

First, here's a sample trigger (written by Jeff Douglas):

trigger AddOwnerColor on Account (before insert, before update) {

    // create a set of all the unique ownerIds
    Set<Id> ownerIds = new Set<Id>();
    for (Account a : Trigger.new)
        ownerIds.add(a.OwnerId);    

    // query for all the User records for the unique userIds in the records
    // create a map for a lookup / hash table for the user info
    Map<Id, User> owners = new Map<Id, User>([Select Favorite_Color__c from User Where Id in: ownerIds]);   

    // iterate over the list of records being processed in the trigger and
    // set the color before being inserted or updated
    for (Account a : Trigger.new)
        a.Owner_Favorite_Color__c = owners.get(a.OwnerId).Favorite_Color__c; 
}

Let's pull the code from the trigger into an Apex Class and leave a reference to that class & method in the trigger. We need to pass the list Trigger.new as a parameter to the new class's method:

The trigger:

trigger AddOwnerColor on Account (before insert, before update) {
AccountTriggers.AddOwnerColor(Trigger.new);
}

And the class:

public class AccountTriggers {
    public static void AddOwnerColor(Account[] accts) {

    // create a set of all the unique ownerIds
    Set<Id> ownerIds = new Set<Id>();
    for (Account a : accts)
        ownerIds.add(a.OwnerId);    

    // query for all the User records for the unique userIds in the records
    // create a map for a lookup / hash table for the user info
    Map<Id, User> owners = new Map<Id, User>([Select Favorite_Color__c from User Where Id in: ownerIds]);   

    // iterate over the list of records being processed in the trigger and
    // set the color before being inserted or updated
    for (Account a : accts)
        a.Owner_Favorite_Color__c = owners.get(a.OwnerId).Favorite_Color__c; 
    } // close AddOwnerColor
}

While this may seem trivial, it has a few advantages:

Easier to work in Eclipse (all code in the Classes section)
Easier to write test code (can see tests and their associated methods in one place)
Can promote code reuse by allowing other classes and triggers to call the same method.
For those who like to include test code in the same class as the regular Class, this allows them to do so.

There's a catch (there always is):

You should comment into your Class which trigger is calling the class because otherwise, it is almost impossible to see at a glance where the code flows. This will especially help when writing and debugging tests.

Just a matter of personal style: It may be a good idea to write an Apex Class for each object's triggers (such as class AccountTriggers above). Code reuse is still possible, but it can track where triggers were originally used.

Happy coding!

Hacking a Case Comment Trigger

David Schach — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:01:23 +0000

There has been some discussion about asking the salesforce.com team to include the CaseComment object in the “triggerable” list. After conferring with JP Seabury (ForceMonkey), we designed a Rube Goldberg-esque solution to the problem.

Business Use-Case
Whenever a user adds a comment to a case, add him/her to the Case Team.

The Plan

Here it is, in general terms:

Workflow on Case Comment sends email to Apex email service
Email service parses CaseId and UserId and adds the User to the Case Team

Case Comment Workflow
Use existing workflow functionality to send an email whenever a comment is added to a case.

Template Includes:
Case Id
User Id

The recipient is an Apex email service that we can code using the Email to Idea example by Rasmus Mencke.
For more information on setting up the InboundEmail object, check the Apex documentation.
Apex Class
The class needs to add the User to the Case Team, which requires a few fields:

MemberId – UserId (received from the email)
ParentId – CaseId (received from the email)
TeamRoleId – Could be hardcoded or found in a SOQL SELECT statement. A better practice would be to pass the name or Id in the email (coding it in the template), allowing the use of one Apex Class with multiple Case workflow email templates.
NOT TeamTemplateMemberId – This is not a createable field. It is only available when Case Team members are added automatically in Salesforce CRM.

That’s it! The unique part of this is that we’re sending an email FROM Salesforce TO Salesforce.
Thinking outside the box – isn’t it more fun?

Project: Lookup to Picklist

David Schach — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:56:37 +0000

In the first installment of post-Dreamforce projects, I present a mechanism to present the user with all available Lookup options in a picklist. This should simplify some Visualforce pages. (Credit to the Developers Guide from the new post-Dreamforce Library.)

The key to the code is the ability to customize the SOQL statement to focus as much, or as little, as the developer would like. Though the code I provide makes no limit on the number of records returned, I encourage developers to limit the select statement as seen fit.

VF Page:

Extension:
Note the SOQL query in Line 12 (below) that defines which records are included in the picklist. You can include WHERE and LIMIT statements to get the picklist down to a manageable number of items.



public class ChildExtension {
private final Child__c child;
    public ChildExtension(ApexPages.StandardController controller) {

        this.child = (Child__c)controller.getRecord();

        }
    public List

 PositionOptions {get

        {

        List

 parents = new List

();

        for (Parent__c prt : [select name from Parent__c pt])

            parents.add(new selectOption(prt.id, prt.name));

            return parents;

        }

    private set;

    }

}

Because the parents List in the extension sends an ID to the application, it can successfully create a record with the parent Name in the picklist, but the ID in the background. You can also substitute a different field for Name: If you prefer, put a contact’s email address or anything else. Try it out!

One more thing: This is an easy segue into another project, which will be a way to use the traditional lookup interface but to pre-filter the records available in the lookup.

And because I put this in every post: There’s a catch. (There always is.) I’m sure that somewhere in there, Salesforce would prefer that we not create a picklist of a few hundred items. So please feel free to test the limits of this visualforce method, but please be prepared to filter your SOQL query.

On a separate note, I just had lunch with John Rotenstein aka The Enforcer, who already put up a photo of our time in his office. (I think the pirate logo was an accident, but it does add to my sinister persona, no?)

Apex – The Basics

David Schach — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:45:02 +0000

Jon Mountjoy has written another super post over at developer.force.com. This one is titled An Introduction to Apex. It goes through some of the basics of the language and provides some examples.

Everyone should read this; beginners will get a better orientation than otherwise available, and experienced Apex developers will probably also learn a thing or two.