Salesforce coding lessons for the 99%Finally, Apex tutorials for point-and-click admins! Written by a self-taught Google engineer.
Salesforce coding lessons for the 99%
Holy smokes!
This year’s Dreamforce was bigger and better than ever!
With no hesitation I will tell you that it was the best Dreamforce of all time!
I met a lot of SFDC99 readers! You sincerely shocked, touched, and inspired me with your heartfelt stories of how you became a developer in your own special way. Some became full-time developers, some started their own practices, and some were still on their way, taking it one step at a time.
I was so happy to meet many of the most active commenters on this site! But what surprised me most was how many people I’ve met who have never commented before – some of your stories were absolutely incredible! I’d tell you to write a comment just once to make a teacher happy, but, I’m a lurker too so I know the feeling. Reaching your dreams is enough for me =)
Thank you everyone who stopped me to say hi, and I sincerely thank you for all your heartfelt words!
Now without further ado…
Best Moment of Dreamforce
After one of my sessions, a lady came up to me and thanked me for inspiring her to believe that she too could achieve her dreams and become a coder. Tears came out of her eyes as she spoke, and I couldn’t help but get teary too. Sometimes I cry too when I think about the people who helped me along my own personal journey. We hugged and went our separate ways. I will never forget this moment for the rest of my life. I hope one day you achieve your dreams and become fortunate enough to help others achieve theirs too.
Funniest Moment of Dreamforce
Standing in one of my session lines, asking attendees if it would be worth going to! #trolling
Most Important Lesson Learned
Printing out 20 SFDC99 t-shirts is NOT enough! Very sorry to everyone desperately wanting an SFDC99 shirt that I had to turn away! Trust me, I know the feeling, and I hate it!
To those who were able to get their hands on a limited edition SFDC99 t-shirt, congratulations, you worked hard for it! This was a one-time batch and those t-shirts will never be printed again!
The good news is I have a killer idea for a t-shirt next batch and I’m going to be printing a lot more!
Total Free T-Shirt Summary
That’s right folks, 52 free t-shirts received this year and a new personal record! The things I did for some of these t-shirts I will take to my grave. Coming soon: I review the top 5 shirts of Dreamforce!
Most Exciting New Point-and-Click Feature
Visual Flows are getting scary powerful! A lot of the things you once needed a trigger to write are now 100% possible with point-and-click! Even some of the earlier SFDC99 tutorials are now possible without any code at all.
So what does this mean for those of you learning to code? I found the Salesforce employee who invented Visual Flows and asked him the exact same question this week. “The lines separating admins and developers are shifting, but there will always be a need for code. Code if you want open up Salesforce 100%. Visual Flows will one day take you 70% there.” I completely agree.
Most Exciting New Coding Feature
Salesforce1 Lightning is a brand new Salesforce UI that’s quicker, more responsive, gorgeous, and flexible. Imagine having the power to quickly code up beautiful, Salesforce1 styled UIs that can be written once and used anywhere in Salesforce, whether you’re viewing it from a desktop, tablet, or mobile phone. It automatically optimizes depending on your viewing screen!
The biggest knock I had against Salesforce was that the desktop UI looked outdated. Now with Lightning, Salesforce is back on top of the UI/UX world!
Major SFDC99 Announcement!
Beginning immediately, all Visualforce lessons are irrevocably cancelled. Lightning is the new UI language of Salesforce, and although Visualforce will still be supported, I have no interest teaching or coding in an outdated technology that will one day be replaced.
As a new developer, one of your biggest advantages is that you can learn the newest technologies without any of the mental baggage that comes with mastering older languages. Every few years, the industry reinvents itself and opens a door for a new wave of people to establish themselves in the latest technology. This is one of those moments. This is your moment.
Starting from now I will no longer personally code in Visualforce. Please bear with me as I ramp up on Lightning – I’ll have tutorials up for you on it soon!
Saddest Moment of Dreamforce
The end, of course! Dreamforce 2015 please come soon =(
This is the same feeling I still have every year the day after Christmas!
David
Hi Awesome David,
It was nice meeting you at DF -14.
Could you pl pass your email address to my email.
Going a great Karma helping people.
All the Best.
Cheers,
Girish
Melbourne, Australia
Hi David , I am sorry , I am writing my apex related problem under this section. I didn’t understand where to write problems.
I am writing my problem in detail for clear understanding, this will be very big, sorry for that, I know your time precious but I am stuck really.
I am developing simple Library management system for apex , VF practice.
Book, customer, customerDeatails are custom objects.
customerDeatails are having Book and customer lookup field.
Now one customer should’nt take more than 3 books. so “tryme__CustomerDeatail__c ” this object will have all the (book and related customer ) info.
From (custDetails) variable (which I am using in VF page) we will get selected customer. Now by using this I am writing SOQL that will give how many books this customer is having right now under his name under (custDetails2 ) variable. Then if-else condition and error message.
Now my problem is I am getting (“SObject row was retrieved via SOQL without querying the requested field: tryme__CustomerDeatail__c.tryme__Books__r “) this error. I understood this error, that I am using one field without querying in in SOQL but I am not using book__c field anywhere in my VF page.
In debug log I found that , I am getting correct list size, if else condition is working fine. But not able to understand why this error is coming. It is not showing line number also for error, directly on browser it is showing
“SObject row was retrieved via SOQL without querying the requested field: tryme__CustomerDeatail__c.tryme__Books__r ”
public tryme__CustomerDeatail__c custDetails {get;set;}
public tryme__CustomerDeatail__c custDetails2 {get;set;}
public tryme__Customer__c cust {get;set;}
public List lstCust {get;set;}
public Integer j=3;
public LibraryManagement_IssueBook (){
system.debug(‘——Inside Costructor—–‘);
System.debug(‘—–List Customers insoide Constructor—-‘+lstCust);
custDetails = new tryme__CustomerDeatail__c ();
cust = new tryme__Customer__c ();
}
public void Penalty(){
custDetails2 = [select id, name, tryme__Customer__r.ID from tryme__CustomerDeatail__c where tryme__Customer__r.ID =: custDetails.tryme__Customer__c] ; //
System.debug(‘—-custDetails2 ——-‘+custDetails2 );
System.debug(‘—-custDetails on page ——-‘+custDetails.tryme__Customer__c);
System.debug(‘—-custDetails2 in system ——-‘+tryme__CustomerDeatail__c.tryme__Customer__r.ID);
System.debug(‘—-custDetails2.size()–‘+ custDetails2.size());
if(custDetails2.size() < j ){
insert custDetails ; // ———————————— inserting record
System.debug('–custDetails2 size is smaller than 2 —');
}
else{
ApexPages.Message myMsg5 = new ApexPages.Message(ApexPages.Severity.ERROR,'–custDetails2 size is more than 2——–');
ApexPages.addMessage(myMsg5 );
System.debug('–custDetails2 size is More than 2 —');
}
}
<!–
–>
Hi David,
I got the solution. It was very very silly mistake.
LOL *phew* !!!!
So David, few questions:
1. Is there now no or limited future for (i.e. for developers to learn) headless flows?
2. With the (seemingly) widespread adoption of VF by enterprises (all the SFDC admin ads I see specify VF skills), won’t there still be a need to be able to port VF code/functionality to Lightning?
3. We’ve developed a stand-alone app used for wireless remote sensing & controlling (IoT). We were looking to port it to Force.com and Heroku. With all these new feature announcements, is Heroku getting edged out like VF?
Thanks,
Chuck
Hey Chuck,
Great questions!
I spoke to #1 in the post if you scroll far enough into it!
#2 is parallel to becoming a Java programmer. It’s becoming a legacy language although tons of companies rely on it, so there’s always a need. At the same time, I would not recommend programmers learn Java (as a primary language, not as an Apex stepping stone!) as there are more modern languages like Python and Ruby to become proficient in.
Bottom line, if you focus on Visualforce you’re playing your weakness against your competitor’s strengths (ie other Apex programmers competing for the same job). They know Visualforce VERY well, you are starting from scratch. Any each day you focus on Visualforce, you’re falling behind on the new technology (Lightning).
At the same time, if you focus on Lightning, you’re playing to your strength and your competitor’s weakness. You get to learn a language they also do not know, and you do not have any bad habits of the older language. As each day passes, Lightning gains more of a foothold as you become stronger in the language. It all works out =)
In reality I don’t think it’s as black and white, but I wouldn’t spend a majority of your time in Visualforce for sure.
Although if I had a son learning code, I wouldn’t let him touch Visualforce at all!!
Hope this helps!
David
OK, so confession time. At the time of my post, as self-taught I had confused Visualforce with Visual Workflow so didn’t quite follow your answers. Fortunately I get the difference now which leads me to a related question. If in your opinion the value of learning Visualforce has peaked, then that seems to conflict with the recently introduced emphasis on Sites and Communities since those features depend on VF development skills for full customization. Am I still confused?
Also, repeating my question regarding the impact that Lightning and Lightning Connect may have on Heroku, if any?
Thx again,
Chuck
ha ha ha no worries!
My crystal ball tells me that Sites and Communities will also move to Lightning, although the timelines on those are always further out than the Sales Cloud.
Regardless of that, there will always be a need for Visualforce. You can see Visualforce as the “older” programming languages of today – still plenty of companies code in language XYZ since it’s too hard for them rebuild in a new language. Because of that, there will always be demand.
However for people brand new to the industry, it’s better for them to learn the latest and greatest so they’re not years of experience behind the current crop of developers. I’m being a little extreme when I say 100% Lightning, in reality it’s not a bad thing to also learn Visualforce especially if you’re in a situation where you have to.
If I had more time I’d still teach Visualforce, but it’s a bigger net benefit if I don’t right now given my time constraints!
Lightning Connect could be the biggest innovation in all of DF, expect to use it at some point =) Heroku is more for connecting apps, whereas connect is about connecting data.
Hope this helps!!
It was a great honor to meet you at Dreamforce 2014 DevZone. It was super-excitement and was kind of speechless to see “David Liu”, the sfdc99 guy in front of my eyes.
Haha, I love your trolling the line for your session to see if they thought it would be worthwhile! Wish I had been there to see it!!!
he he he hi Alex!! Luckily no one said the session would be bad or that the speaker was crazy =P
Hey!! So now there is new technology that is – Lightning!!!!! COOL
I want to learn it. I worked on Visualforce and know many things on it.
Is Lightning is similar to VF or HTML?
And will Lightning replace to Visualforce, Like S-Controller are replaced by visualforce?
You are 100% right Viru – Visualforce will go the way of S-controls!
Thanks ;-)
will Lightning component also replace VF?
Yup! Although Salesforce will still support Visualforce for a long time =)
Ok, thanks!
One last question!
Lightning Component support HTML, CSS and JavaScript like VF?
It sure will =)
http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/lightning/lightning.pdf
In Salesforce Lightning FAQ(section Visualforce & Lightning),it is clearly mention that Visualforce is not going to be replaced by Lightning components.Lightning is a component-based framework, but Visualforce is an MVC framework.So I think that Lightning is going to complement the platform.
https://developer.salesforce.com/page/Lightning_FAQ
Visualforce will still be supported in the near future since so many orgs have built on top of it. In that sense one could see Lightning as a complement to Visualforce.
In reality, Lightning is like color HDTV and Visualforce is still in black-and-white! Time to move forward!!!
David, you are AWESOME! Count me in for Lighting training from Day 1! Front row seat right here, baby!
David,
Really, really loved meeting my first Salesforce crush in person! You continue to inspire me…
Thanks for time, attention and encouragement!!
Sophie
You are too funny Sophie – nice meeting you too!!
I am still trying to sort all of this out, so I appreciated your candid statement that Visualforce is not something that we should be focusing on anymore. Salesforce didn’t come right out and say that at Dreamforce, but they hint at it in this Lightning FAQ: https://developer.salesforce.com/page/Lightning_FAQ. Then there’s the Lightning Process Builder, which looks awesome. I’m unclear if this will replace Visual Workflow or if it is meant to augment that tool. Did you get any insight into that? Either way, the line between admin and developer is becoming more blurred, because Salesforce keeps providing more powerful tools for admins to solve problems without the need for code, or at least not as much code.
Process builder is basically a simpler version of Visual Flows – less power but easier to use!
So there’s basically a spectrum from ease of use (left) to power (right):
Workflows –> Process Builder –> Visual Flows –> Code
No shame in choosing any intermediate step – but coding is just for those who want no limits on the platform!
Oh my 52?!? That’s amazing, I thought 10,11 with the dev sweater was good. I guess for my first DF it’s not bad. It was a pleasure meeting you there and getting a chance to talk with you! Already planning my DF15, and now I actually have a way better idea on how to plan my agenda, and get free swag(I am not ashamed)
I could not control my excitement when I saw the new Lightning, and where they plan on going with it.
One of the biggest things I got from the conference is never stop believing in yourself, never give up! Anyone CAN code, and everyone is willing to help!
PS that dev sweater is by far now my most comfortable sweater.
Great meeting you too Brandon!!!! Never give up!!!!!
PPS, the shirt of destiny has been washed and awaits it’s first wearing ;)
Thank you!!
This is like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants but with free t-shirts… SWEET!!! Good things are coming to you!
Hi David,
I have been an active viewer of sfdc99 for quite sometime now however I am writing to you for the very first time. I am currently working with HCL, India and have been into Salesforce for last 4 months handing CRM Usage cases and have done ADM 201, Dev401 and preparing for ADM 211. I am very much into your posts and visit sfdc99 without a miss even a single day. YOU INSPIRE me a lottt and are my role model to be honest. Frankly speaking, earlier i was afraid of writing to you because I was very confused what to do and where to start from. BUT, NOW, since i have been reading your posts for quite long,i have prepared myself for the NEXT BIG THING, i.e. to become a successful Salesforce developer. Starting today, i will be learning Java and would go through your TUTORIALS atleast twice a week.I would request you to be my MENTOR and guide me step by step so atleast i could shift myself into development by beginning of next year.
I AM VERY MUCH THANKFUL TO YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART AND LOTT OF RESPECT TOO FOR CREATING SFDC99 AND HELPING OUT PEOPLE LIKE ME TO ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS. I would also recommend my teammates join sfdc99 mania in order to accomplish their targets. GOD BLESS YOU YOUNG MAN :-) :-) and try my best to be at Dreamforce’15 next year. Please hold my hands, walk me through this journey and take me along with you!!
Love You David :*
Woooooo! Your comment goes in the SFDC99 hall of fame!
Email me whenever you are stuck, I will help you achieve your goals!!!
David
Thanks a Lot David :)) Will NEVER Give UP!!
Glad to hear your answer to the question, “What does this mean for those of us learning to code?” I had been wondering the same thing.
David, thanks for your enthusiasm and encouragement. There are so many of us who are working on next steps, and you are a great cheerleader! You make us believe we can do it!
Standing in the line asking attendees if it would be worth going to! Epic troll! xD
Awe Inspiring David.
I will definitely tighten up my admin side of knowledge before I deep dive into development.
PS: I want to go to DF15 :)
Regards,
Amit
I hope to see you there Amit!
Great story telling David ( as always :-))) if you have children, they would love listening to your story lol).
thank for the information on Salesforce 1 app. I have not started with visualforce but will not start with it then.
Good luck
Visal
Smart man – if you learned Lightning now you’d be one of the best in the world!