Skinny Tables- When/Why to use?

Skinny tables are helpful when you have Large Data Volumes (more than millions of records in object). These tables improves the ready only operations like reports, SOQL query performances. Below are pointers which explain everything about Skinny Tables:

1. Skinny tables are custom tables (read only) created by Salesforce if enabled by customer support. These tables contains important fields information instead of storing all fields information which is present in actual object.
2. Skinny tables can be created for Account, Contact, Opportunity, Lead, Case, and custom objects.
3. The Force.com platform automatically synchronizes the rows between skinny table and the base object,so the data is always kept current. 
4. Soft delete records ((i.e records in the Recycle Bin with isDeleted = true) are not present in Skinny tables which improves query output.
5. Custom indexes are also copied if present in base table.
6. Skinny tables support only few data types(Checkbox,Date,Date and time,Email,Number,Percent,Phone,Picklist (multi-select),Text,Text area,Text area (long),URL).
7. The Force.com platform determines at query runtime when it would make sense to use skinny tables, so you don’t have to modify your reports or develop any Apex code or API calls
8. You need to contact salesforce customer support in order to enable this.

Things which needs to be considered before implementing Skinny tables:

1. Skinny tables can contain maximum of 100 fields. There are also limitation on data type as mentioned above.
2. After creating Skinny table, if you decide to add one more field in Skinny table, then you have to contact customer support. They will delete existing skinny table and will recreate new one.
3. If you change the data type of any field which is used in Skinny table, then Skinny table becomes invalid (unusable) and you need to contact customer support to again recreate it.
4. Skinny tables can not refer fields from another object.
5. Skinny tables get copied to full copy sandbox after refresh but not on other sandbox. in order copy it for other sandbox, contact customer support.
6. Skinny tables can increase the query performance of SOQL queries not SOSL queries as SOSL search based on flat file search whereas SOQL is based on database search.

How to freeze datatable header using slds standard classes

There is common scenario to freeze the table header and providing scrollbar to table body. This can be achieved by using standard slds classes no need to add custom CSS for that.

You have to use below mentioned slds classes:

• slds-table--header-fixed_container : add this class on div by specifying the height for div
• slds-table--header-fixed :add this class to table
• slds-cell-fixed: add this class to <th> tag.

I have created a sample to display account list in data table inside slds card. Please find below sample code:

Hope this will help!!!

Important facts which needs to be considered while designing any solution which includes Large data volumes in Salesforce

• Sharing calculation is even performed for records which are in recycle bin which may impact your performance. So if you don't need records then perform hard delete on records after archiving it.

• Only Bulk API supports hard delete functionality.

• Adding custom indexes on records may improve query performance but can degrade the performance of database insert and update. That is reason that Salesforce doesn't allow developers to add custom indexes by themselves. You have to raise support ticket and Salesforce will evaluate your use case before adding custom indexes. So always evaluate the pros and cons before adding any new custom indexes.

• As a best practice, don't use formula fields in where clause in SOQL. It degrade the SOQL performance if it doesn't return deterministic values (formula returns pre-defined set of values which are repeatable).

• Now Salesforce allow you to add custom index to formula fields only if it gives deterministic results

• Use readonly attribute on VF page if you want to query more than 50 millions records and display the result on UI by processing those records.

Using Chartjs in Lightning Components

ChartJS provides interactive and animated HTML 5 based javaScript charts. We can use these in Lightning components to display charts.

I have created a sample lightning app which display different charts by using salesforce data.

I am going to display opportunities amount(in millions) grouped by forecast category. First of all store the Chartjs file in static resource in order to use it in lightning components.

Download the Chartjs file which I am using from this link Chartjs download

You can download complete code along with static resource from below Github repository and deploy to your org.

Chartjs-in-Lightning-Sample-Code

Below is sample code used to display charts in above snapshot.


Hope this will help!!

How to use Lightning Icons (svg icons) in Visualforce Page

Salesforce provide different kind of Icons which can be used in Lightning component. As now we have an option to include slds in Visualforce pages, we can utilize predefined Icons in Visualforce page.

For complete list of icons please refer Lightning Icons

Icons have been divided in 5 different categories (Standart,Utility,Custom,Doctype and Action). In this blog we are going to explore how to utilize these icons in VF page.

First of all, you have to include SLDS in VF page by using <apex:slds/> tag as shown below:

<apex:page showHeader="false" standardStylesheets="false" sidebar="false" docType="html-5.0" >
<head>
  <apex:slds /> 
</head>

<body class="slds-scope">
<!--body content-->
</body>
</apex:page>

Now in order to refer any svg icon, use below code:

<span class="slds-icon_container slds-icon-custom-custom22 slds-icon-text-default" >
<svg aria-hidden="true" class="slds-icon ">
<use xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
xlink:href="/apexpages/slds/latest/assets/icons/custom-sprite/svg/symbols.svg#custom22">
</use>
</svg>
<span class="slds-assistive-text">Custom 22</span>
</span>

Now i will explain all css class options:

• Icon background color(.slds-icon_container)  : This is used to provide background color to icon. By default, (.slds-icon_container) has a transparent background. In order to provide backgroud similar to specified in icons in SLDS, use .slds-icon-[cateory name]-[icon name] class. 

For example, for account icon, I need to provide background, then use .slds-icon-standard-account class.

<span class="slds-icon_container slds-icon-standard-account" >

<svg aria-hidden="true" class="slds-icon">

<use xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 

xlink:href="/apexpages/slds/latest/assets/icons/standard-sprite/svg/symbols.svg#account">

</use>

</svg>

<span class="slds-assistive-text">Account</span>

</span>

• Icon color(.slds-icon): By default, Icons color (.slds-icon) is white. Icon color can be changed by using below classes:

1. .slds-icon-text-default: same as default text
2. .slds-icon-text-warning: yellow
3. .slds-icon-text-error: red

Note that doctype icons have specific colors that cannot be changed with the CSS property.

• Icon size(.slds-icon): You can use below class to specify the icon size:

1. Extra-small (.slds-icon--x-small): typically used for small alert icons, with no background color.
2. Small (.slds-icon--small): 1.5rem×1.5rem (for icons with a background color).
3. Medium (default - requires no additional class): 2rem×2rem.
4. Large (.slds-icon--large): 3rem×3rem.

Below is sample VF page code which display different svg icons belonging to different categories.

VF Page snapshot:

Hope this will help!!

Salesforce 1 Events in Lightning Experience and Salesforce 1 app

Salesforce provide predefined events by which lightning components interact with Salesforce 1.You can utilize these events in Salesforce 1 app or in in lightning container(lightning experience).

I will be covering few important events along with sample code. So lets start:

• force:showToast

This can be used to display some message on UI. For example, you are loading records from server side on your components, then you can display message saying "Records are loaded successfully" when operation completed. 

Yo can also control the duration for which this message will be displayed on screen. This can also be used to display error, warning or info message. You can control the appearance of toast message by using type attribute.

var toast= $A.get("event.force:showToast");
////checking if SF1 event exist or not. 
//these events exist in lightning experience and Salesforce 1 
if(toast){
toast.setParams({
"title":"Success",
"type":"warning",
"message" : "Retrieved Records Successfully.."
}
)};
toast.fire();

• force:navigateToSObject

This event can be used to redirect user to record detail page by specifying the recordId.

var sObectEvent = $A.get("e.force:navigateToSObject");
sObectEvent.setParams({
"recordId": component.get("v.recordId")
});
sObectEvent.fire();

• force:navigateToRelatedList

This will open related list of record( specify the parent record id for related list).

var relListEvent = $A.get("e.force:navigateToRelatedList");
//relatedListId- The API name of the related list to display, 
//such as “Contacts” or “Opportunities”
relListEvent.setParams({
"relatedListId": "Cases",
"parentRecordId": component.get("v.recordId")
});
relListEvent.fire();

• force:editRecord

This will navigate to record edit page specified by recordId.

var sObectEditRecEvent = $A.get("e.force:force:editRecord");
sObectEditRecEvent.setParams({
"recordId": component.get("v.recordId") 
});
sObectEditRecEvent.fire();

• force:refreshView

This event will refresh the complete UI. So if you perform any operation and then want reload the component, then you can utilize this event.

$A.get('e.force:refreshView').fire();

For further reference on other events and their usage please refer SF1 Events

Below is sample code utilizing SF1 events. This component displays list of account records and allow user to navigate to record detail page and edit page by using SF1 events.

Hope this will Help!!!

SHARING AND VISIBILITY DESIGNER : Exam preparation guide and tips

I had started planning for Salesforce Application Architect journey in Nov, 2017. As in order to achieve this, I need to passed below mention 2 exam as other required exams I had already cleared.

• Certified Sharing and Visibility Designer
• Certified Data Architecture and Management Designer

As Sharing and security is my favorite, so I start preparing for "Certified Sharing and Visibility Designer" exam. It took almost 1 month for preparation and finally I cleared first architect exam on 30 Dec, 2017.

Through this blog, I am going share my preparation experience and tips for everyone who all are planning for this.

• For self study, please refer Resource Guide for Sharing and Security, which contains all the study material links for different topics. If you complete this, then you are ready for this exam. 
• Please do practice on all topics related to declarative sharing and programmatic sharing.

This exam contains three sections:

1. Declarative Sharing (68%)
2. Programmatic Sharing(25%)
3. Performance(8%)

Tips on different sections:

Declarative Sharing

• Candidate must have complete understanding of different record sharing in built functionality like OWD, Role Hierarchy, Sharing Rules, Manual Sharing, Teams, Territories etc.
• Custom permissions, Profiles and permission sets.
• As I was not able to do practice on Territories, I just went through Salesforce help section for territories. Important topics are difference between Territory management(1.0) and Enterprise Territory Management (2.0) and their capabilities.
• Must do practice on Account Teams and Opportunities. Different scenarios like who all can add team members, who can change record owner, what level of access can be given to user considering object OWD setting etc.
• Permission required for creating list views and with whom all list view can be shared.
• Custom settings, named Credentials and Custom metadata.
• Ownership Skew, Lookup Skew and Account Skew and their impact on performance.
• Always remember that manual sharing of record or manual sharing created through apex get deleted when record owner changes.
• Differences between shield and classic encryption.
• Record Access Grants(Implicit grant, Group membership grant, Inherited grant and explicit grant).
• Reports and dashboard folder access and permission required to manage this. Also cover different types on file and folder access permissions.
• Always remember that External default sharing level of object should be equal to or less restrictive than internal default sharing level.
• Public groups (who all can be added and how access can be restricted to higher role using public groups).

Programmatic Sharing

• How to force object permission and FLS in apex and VF page (using schema describe methods).
• How to use apex manage sharing for standard objects and custom objects

Performance

• Granular locking: Usually group membership get locked if any configuration happens. This will make impossible to perform group membership changes during this lock period.  If Granular locking feature is enabled then system will lock portion of records instead of locking entire Group maintenance table. This allow multiple update simultaneously if there is no hierarchical or other relationship between the roles and groups involved in the update.

• Parallel Sharing rule calculation:  If Salesforce perform any activity (maintenance or upgrade)  then all sharing recalculation jobs get killed. In order to avoid this, consider enabling parallel Sharing Rule calculation. This will split the job in multiple threads which will run asynchronously. If Salesforce perform any activity, these jobs will not be killed and resume after salesforce activity.

• Deferred Sharing Calculation : Best fit if you can buy out maintenance window from live user. Once you enable this, system will not perform any sharing calculation and you can perform major configuration changes like role changes, public group reassignment etc.

• Avoid Account data skew, lookup skew and ownership data skew.

• Avoid creating more nested public groups

You ran refer below mentioned my blogs links which explain things in summarized way:

• Access Grants
• Consideration for large scale implementation
• Custom Permission
• Decleration Sharing v/s Programmatic Sharing

Hope this will help!!