26-10-2011

DEV 401:
Building Applications with Force.com and Visualforce

Features of the Force.com Platform

Instructor: Parikshith
Email: madepally@gmail.com

Typical Business Requirement

Preserving Data Quality

Automating Process

Ex: A position open for more than 30 days without any candidates
triggers an email to the recruiter to jump start recruiting procedures

Keeping System in sync

Ex: Positions must be approved before recruiters start recruiting for

them.

Keeping Processes from getting stuck

Ex: As new positions are entered in the application, the company

would like to ensure that appropriate fields are filled out.

Outbound messages help keep salesforce in sync with other systems

Auditing

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Features of the FORCE.COM platform

There are number of features that address and automate
management of these business requirements including:
Formula Fields
Validation Rules
Approval Process

Time dependent workflow

Outbound messaging
Field history tracking
Setup audit trail

Module Objectives
List typical business requirements in the area of a business
process
List some features on the force.com platform that help you
implement business process.
Describe how the VLOOKUP function can be used to solve
a business requirement
Describe how the REGEX function can be used to solve a
business requirement
Describe how ISCHANGED, ISNEW, and PRIORVALUE
functions could be used to solve a business requirement.

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Useful operators & functions

ISCHANGED: Compares the value of a field to the previous value
and returns TRUE if values are different. If the values are same
then the function returns FALSE
Ex: Prevent the users from changing the paygrade of a position
after it has been approved.
PRIORVALUE: Returns previous value of a field
Ex: As negotiations take place, the HR would like to keep a
track changes to the salary listed on the offer

Useful operators & functions

IF: Determines if expressions are TRUE or FALSE. Returns a
given value if True and another value if FALSE.

Ex: If the offer expiration date is less than today, and the offer
status is set to sent, display follow up on offer otherwise the
fields should be blank
ISNEW: Checks if the formula running during the creation of a new
record and returns TRUE if it is. If an existing record is being
updated, this function returns FALSE
Ex: Ensuring the hiring managers dont backdate the opendate
of a position to increase its perceived Urgency, by using
ISNEW and checking whether the OPENDATE < TODAY ()

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Useful operators & functions

Example of an IF Statement: IF (test, true return, false)
Nested

IF(test, true return, Elseif(test, true return, false return))

Note: Limitation 5000 character limit in the window

Useful operators & functions

ISPICKVAL: Determines the value of the picklist field is equal to a
string you specify.

Ex: Use in conjunction with IF to test If the status of an offer is

accepted. If so, (show the accepted salary) x 10% to calculate
the bonus amount, otherwise display no value
IF(ISPICKVAL(status, Accepted), ROUND
(Actual_Salary__c)X0,1,2),0)
Note: ISPICKVAL is not used alone. It must be used anytime
that you are referring to a picklist (except when using a case
function)

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Useful operators & functions

REGEX: Compares a text field to a regular expression and returns
TRUE if there is a match. Otherwise it returns FALSE. A regular
expression is a string used to describe a format of a string
according to certain syntax rules.
Ex: Check to make social security number of a candidate
matches a regular expression representing a valid social
security number in the correct format.

Useful operators & functions

CASE: Checks a given expression against a series of values. If the
expression is equal to a value returns the corresponding result. If it
is not equal to any values, it returns the else result.
Ex: Use CASE to evaluate the number of days that a position is
open and display a value depending on the result. For
positions open 1 week, display Maintain, For positions open
4 weeks, display Assign Task etc.
IMAGE
Inserts an image with alternative text and height/width
specifications
Ex: If status is escalated show a red flag
If status is Under Review show a yellow flag
If status is All Clear show a green flag

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Useful operators & functions

Functions for encoding
HTMLENCODE
JSENCODE
JSINHTMLENCODE
URLENCODE
These functions make it safe to insert data that you do not control
such as merge fields values, URL parameters, links and Visual
force pages
The Encoding functions escape or replace characters that are
reserved or unsafe in Html, Javascript and URLs

Questions?