Salesforce DX is the newest buzzword (buzzphrase?) in the Salesforce ecosystem. By launching Salesforce DX, Salesforce now offers tools for individuals and teams to more easily integrate continuous development into their coding regimen. Salesforce is advocating version control as the “source of truth” for Salesforce code and metadata, not a sandbox or development org – or, dare I even say it, the company production org.

Many ISV developers might be scratching their heads and thinking, “But wait a minute, my company already practices continuous development. We have defined processes for syncing code changes and data to development and QA orgs, and we’ve been using source control for years! What benefit does Salesforce DX have for us? Why bother switching over our existing projects?”

While there are many resources on Salesforce DX out there, including a trail on Trailhead, it can still be daunting for an ISV developer to get started. We’re all busy with our own projects, so why fix something that’s not broken? Here are what I consider the top reasons why ISV developers should switch to Salesforce DX: Continue reading →

With the European Union’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) enforcement date of May 25th fast approaching, it is important to understand how Salesforce is supporting companies in their GDPR readiness efforts.

I recently wrote and published a blog post with more information about GDPR for Salesforce admins & developers over on the Full Circle Insights web site. I encourage you to check it out here: “GDPR Overview for Salesforce Admins & Developers”

There are many resources that I found to be incredibly helpful in understanding GDPR and how it will impact our work as Salesforce admins & developers, including:
The EU GDPR Portal – https://www.eugdpr.org/
Salesforce GDPR Readiness Overview – https://www.salesforce.com/gdpr/overview/
“GDPR compliance and Salesforce Individual object” by Ian Gotts on Medium

Happy reading!
— Robert

You’re stuck. Your SOQL aggregate query isn’t working (but it should be). Salesforce is running into a query limit exception even though you specified a limit. Where do you turn for help?

The Salesforce Developer community has grown considerably in the past few years – far beyond the early community forums. There are now so many different resources available that it can be overwhelming for someone new to Salesforce to know where to go to have the greatest chance of getting help.

At the Tahoe Dreamin’ 2018 conference, attendees to my session Navigating the Salesforce Developer Community learned about several resources and reasons why they may choose to use each. Best practices and guidelines when soliciting help from others were also discussed.

Didn’t attend the conference or missed my session? No worries – I’ve got you covered! While the session wasn’t recorded, I’ve made the slides available below…

Continue reading →

All developers have their favorite IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that they prefer to use. If you’re a Salesforce developer, you’ve perhaps noticed that many different options have cropped up over the past several years for us to code in. How do you know where to start if you’re new to the Salesforce ecosystem? Or even if you’re a seasoned Salesforce developer, why should you explore other options if you’re already comfortable with the IDE you’ve been using?

Salesforce developers can quickly become overwhelmed with the endless choices of development environments that are offered by Salesforce and by the community. Some well-known options include the built-in Developer Console as well as desktop IDEs like the Eclipse Force.com IDE, Visual Studio Code with MavensMate, and Illuminated Cloud for IntelliJ – and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. With so many different options, how can you know which one is best for you?

In the most recent Salesforce Play-by-Play on Pluralsight, Don Robins challenged me to explore these questions and walk through a real-world development scenario. Check it out!

Sign In | Pluralsight

app.pluralsight.com