Force Unlimited

New Trailhead Module – Navigating the Salesforce Advantage

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Sat, 26 Mar 2016 16:16:00 +0530

It’s said that there’s a sales guy in everyone. However, there have been numerous instances during my career both as an employee and in my current role as the founder of a Salesforce consulting firm, where I’ve felt that this might not always be true! I’ve seen and experienced occasions where people have failed miserably to point out why Salesforce is so awesome. The recently released trail from Trailhead – Navigating the Salesforce Advantage is the best solution available out there for this problem. Why? Mainly because this module is not just for developers, admins and business users. It’s more focused toward those who are new to the platform or are wondering what all the hype about Salesforce and the cloud is. It’s the ultimate cheat sheet for your sales guy to pitch Salesforce to a client and win him over.

The new trail has four modules that are pretty light compared to what we usually see on Trailhead. It has around 2-4 units in each module and is 1hr 20min of your time well-spent. While it’s always better if you go ahead and take the trail yourself, I hope this blog will show you just what you are missing by not doing so.

Module 1: Salesforce Success Model

Imagine this all-too familiar scenario!

Curious Neighbor: So, what do you do for a living?

Me: I work with Salesforce technology. I have my own consulting company.

*Ahem, that felt good!*

Curious Neighbor: Oh Sales! That must be tough. You do door-to-door selling?

Me: …….

Curious Neighbor: Sooo..got any freebies to spare?

Me:...................*sigh, this is gonna take some time*

The 2015 Forbes ranking of the World’s Most Innovative Companies featured Salesforce in the #2 position. This module gives you some reasons as to just how it got there. To quote from the module itself, “We became a leader in cloud computing because we knew that it had the power to make life better for our customers.” The company has always followed an unwavering ‘customer-first’ principle which has been the key to hundreds of thousands of successful customers today. If you know any of those people who have been living under a rock and have not heard of Salesforce.com (poor souls), then this is the module they should be looking at for enlightenment!

Module 2: Salesforce Cloud Benefits

Salesforce is generally perceived to be a CRM solution and of course, it is one. But, have you ever wondered whether it’s actually a platform or an app or just pure magic? Well, it’s a bit of all three! This module gives an answer to the question – What is Salesforce? – in easy-to-grasp terms. It also takes you through why the founders of Salesforce.com Marc Benioff and Parker Harriss took the seemingly crazy decision in the late 90’s to grow roots in cloud computing. Look where it’s got them now! Take that, critics!

Module 3: Salesforce Technology Basics

If you are in the Salesforce world, then multi-tenancy and metadata are household terms for you. But if you are new to our world, then this is one module that is sure to get you up to speed with these terms and how they are the building blocks of the platform. It touches upon nearly everything you need to know before you foray into Salesforce including a section that clears any lingering questions on when to configure and when to code. But what struck me here was that the module has been designed to talk technical, but manages to do it without actually sounding technical. It’s the simplest and easiest way to understand the basics of the Salesforce platform. Try it out and you’ll see what I mean!

Module 4: Salesforce Ecosystem

This module is focused on the Salesforce ecosystem which is a thriving community of developers, admins, partners, customers, user groups, developer groups – the list is endless. I’ve met with and interacted personally through user/dev groups and virtually through the Success Community with other Salesforce enthusiasts. And if that’s not all, Salesforce conducts an annual Dreamforce event which brings together all the amazing folks from the community in one place for a lot of fun and innovation. It’s the best time of the year and is one that I eagerly wait for every year! Each and every one of these networking options is covered in this module, so make sure you go through this as well.

If you’re wondering where to get started on Salesforce, then look no further. This is the perfect intro you can get to what it’s all about. So just dive right in and blaze your own trail. And drop a comment below and let me know how it went!

Top reasons why you should attend Dreamforce this year

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 15:06:00 +0530

Here are some of the reasons why I think you should attend Dreamforce this year ...

Networking : One of the top reasons for you to attend, no matter if you’re a partner, developer, Sales Rep. Some of the top minds attend Dreamforce it might just be the right person you need to kickstart your next big idea
Product Launches : the latest products and features from salesforce is announced during dreamforce. Like in the DF13 Salesforce1 was launched which re-defined the platform as it is.. so you never know which big product or feature is going to be released next !
Bruno Mars : Need I say more ??
Salesforce Foundation : amidst all the excitement and fun Salesforce Foundation conducts a lot of NGO breakout sessions and networking events, also fundraiser like last time which raised more than $6 million (http://yaythis.me/1stCFmz)
Learning : Dreamforce is all about learning and sharing, there are a LOT of opportunities to learn, numerous breakout sessions and keynotes, here’s a list of last years sessions (http://luvit.me/1stDnAt)
DevZone : This is it !… you're chance to learn new skills, be in a hands-on workshop, discover new tools and knowledge you need to develop faster,better and deliver more.
Salesforce Live : Can’t make it to dreamforce this year ? It doesn't mean you need to miss out on the fun. Salesforce has an awesome channel that streams the popular keynotes / sessions / interviews LIVE during dreamforce so that you can be a part of it sitting at home. Be sure to Tweet and get featured on the social command centre. This is one good way to attend Dreamforce virtually.
Party : there will be a lot of parties, both hosted by salesforce and also by customers / partners for their groups. one thing is for sure you'll have loads of fun. here are some parties listed out by Apptus : http://luvit.me/VLrqeS
SWAG : Dreamforce is the place to be with all the free SWAG (stuff we all get) being distributed by partners and salesforce themselves.
Cause its the right thing to do : There is always something in it for you. If you’re starting out to be a developer / admin there is a lot of knowledge to gain at Dreamforce, You can get certified by taking the exam at the counters at Dreamforce. If you’re a partner, you’ll be able to attract the top minds and pitch your idea to VCs, Meet your heroes, most of us get our questions solved using the community, all the community heroes and MVPs come to Dreamforce. Its your chance to meet them and Share a beer with SteveMo.

But most of all, Remember to have fun, there will be way too many sessions than you could possibly attend (10,000+ ) so plan out which ones you like and attend them.

So what are you waiting for? Register now and lets grab a coffee at www.Dreamforce.com

Call Apex Class from Custom Button (Javascript) in Salesforce

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 05:34:00 +0530

Most of the times, we end up needing to do more complex logic, but from the simplicity of the custom button on the page layout. This post aims at giving you a running start to this.

Lets get straight into it, by this we're assuming you know how to

Step 1 : Lets first create the Apex class

Goto --> Setup --> Develop --> Apex Class --> Click "New"

Things to Remember:

Class needs to be a Global class
and the method you intend to call from the javascript must be a Webservice Method

e.g.

global class MyClass
{
    webservice static void myMethod() // you can pass parameters
    { 
         // Do something
    }
}

Step 2 : Now to setup the custom Button.

Goto --> Setup --> Object --> Buttons, links and Actions section
Click New Button or Link

Enter the Name of the button
Behaviour : Execute Javascript
Content source : On-Click Javascript

The Code Sample :

{!REQUIRESCRIPT("/soap/ajax/30.0/connection.js")}
{!REQUIRESCRIPT("/soap/ajax/30.0/apex.js")}

if({!AAA__c.Name}!=Null)
{
    sforce.apex.execute("MyClass","myMethod",{}"});
    alert("This is {!AAA__c.Name}");
}

Things to remember

We use the sforce.apex.execute method which is part of the apex.js
if you have parameters to be passed in the method you can use e.g.

sforce.apex.execute("myClass","makeContact",
                             {lastName:"Smith",
                              a:account});

You can use any javascript while using this
You can use Merge fields to pass in Parameters or write logic
Test class for the class can be written just like any other test class

Advantage

Javascript cannot usually be tested in salesforce, therefore using apex in AJAX it will be easier for you to test your business logic in apex class

Salesforce Files Sync , The dropbox for Salesforce

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Mon, 7 Apr 2014 16:39:00 +0530

Finally the wait is over…. Salesforce Files Sync is here… Its kinda like the Dropbox for salesforce and in Spring ’14 you can get it on pilot. Well lets go over some neat features

It syncs your files automatically to salesforce… just drop it and forget it
The files are available on all the devices
if you’ve shared the file on a chatter post, if the latest version is uploaded it automatically points to the latest version
Sits right in well with the files tab in salesforce
Decide which files to be synced
Control this feature via profiles and Permissions set (Users need to have the “Sync Files” permission)

How do I get it ?

Well as of spring ’14 You’ll need to contact salesforce support to enable this feature for you by raising a ticket.

Once its enabled for your ORG, make sure you give the “Sync Files” Permission to all those who need it.

You can download the application from : Your Name | My Settings | Desktop Add-Ons | Salesforce Files.

Limits

Maximum Files folder size : 5GB
Maximum file size : 500 MB

Leave your thoughts in the comments

Read more about it : http://docs.releasenotes.salesforce.com/en-us/spring14/release-notes/rn_chatter_files.htm

Best Practices for writing Apex Test classes in Salesforce

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Sun, 17 Nov 2013 15:26:00 +0530

Here are some best practices that I felt need to be followed while writing test classes in Salesforce , Do add your thoughts too

All test methods should reside in a separate class from the class in which the method being tested resides.
These classes should be appended with the word Test followed by the name of the class being tested, e.g. OpportunityServicesTest.
These classes should all use the @isTest annotation.
Each method in the production class should have, at a minimum, one corresponding test method in its test class and should be appended by “test”
There should be a minimum of “Null Pointer Exception test” as part of negative testing for each method, specially the methods that accept parameters.
A method without an assert statement is not considered a test method. Large number of relevant assert statements increases confidence in the correct behaviour of business logic.
There should be a comment with each assert statement explaining what is being tested and what the expected output is
Only use isTest(SeeAllData = true) on class methods in exceptional cases where there are sObjects that doesn't allow DML operation e.g. PriceBook creation
No hard coded ids of any sObject in any test method.
If a Constant needs to be asserted ,its a best practice to reference that from the Constant class or from Custom Labels or Custom Settings. Using hard coded string in unit tests( or any class for that matter) will trigger failures when things like Picklist values change
All test data creation should be done from a Utility class. This allows for a streamlined creation of test objects that adhere to all the validation rules.
Any business logic that needs to be tested should be enveloped within a Test.runAs(user) statement so profile restrictions can be tested. . Using any admin profiles should be avoided.
All private methods should also have its corresponding unit test method. In the production code, add a public method for each private method and prepend it by “exposeForUnitTest_”.
Creating multiple test method for testing that same production code method should be avoided. We want to ensure that our unit test methods are properly testing the logic but the same time the efficiency of the unit test method should not be ignored. All the unit test methods run with every deployment so the cumulative run time should be as small as possible
Any asynchronous method testing should include Test.startTest and Test.stopTest. Test.stopTest forces the asynchronous methods to run so the results could be asserted.
Any exceptions that are caught in the production methods should be tested by feeding the test data that throws exception. Exception Type and error message should be asserted.
Every class should have test coverage close to 95% as possible. The focus should be on asserting method behaviour rather than increasing coverage. There are very few instances where a method behaviour is not straightforward to reproduce and hence test. These should be properly commented.

Resources :
http://wiki.developerforce.com/page/An_Introduction_to_Apex_Code_Test_Methods
http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/apexcode/Content/apex_methods_system_system.htm (test assertions and debug/logging)
http://blogs.developerforce.com/engineering/2013/04/apex-test-code-segregation.html
http://www.laceysnr.com/2013/04/three-reasons-you-should-write-proper.html

Freeze Users In Salesforce

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 13:41:00 +0530

What is Freezing User mean ?

We all know what deactivating a user in salesforce means : They will not be deleted from the system but will no longer be able to log in to Salesforce and their records can be transferred to another user.They cannot be part of workflows or part of any automated processes. Click here to read more on Deactivating users. Freezing a User is when you have to do some extra work to get the user deactivated.

e.g. If your ORG is one among the larger ones which uses a lot of automated process or has custom hierarchy fields then you may already know deactivating a user selected in a custom hierarchy field is not a one step process. So you can freeze the user account to ensure you've enough time clean up, transfer the records and then finally deactivate the user.

How to Freeze the User ?

From Setup, click Manage Users | Users.
Click the name of the user whose account you want to freeze.
Click Freeze.

NOTE : Freezing user accounts doesn’t make their user licenses available for use in your organization. You must deactivate user accounts to make their user licenses available.

Some use-cases when you'll need to Freeze User In Salesforce

If the user is tied to Assignment rules
Approval Process Dependency
If the user is a default owner of leads / Cases
If the user is Suspended and will come back to the organization
If the user is part of custom hierarchy fields etc.

Some things to know :

You need to have the "Manage User" Permissions to have this feature
It's available from the Winter '14 release
Cannot be included in a permission set
Not available for Delegated admins (Vote Idea)
You cannot Run a Report on this (Vote Idea)
You can query on the user login object to know if user is frozen (Thanks +Rhonda Ross )

Let me know your thoughts on this in the comments ! Happy Coding !

Describe all the fields for all SObjects

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 13:58:00 +0530

In one of the requirements I came across, I needed to get the list of all the fields across all objects. I wanted to make sure that I did in the best possible way, But couldn't find any straight answers. So here's the code I came up with. Its simple and straight-forward and if you find a better way to do this let me know in the comments. Thank you

To start off, we need the list of SObjects that we are going to run this for. Ideally we should have the list of SObjects stored in a Custom setting, this is a one time thing and could be done using anonymous apex execution. Following is the code to do just that..

List<string> SObjectList = new List<string>();

for(Schema.SObjectType objTyp : Schema.getGlobalDescribe().Values()){
   String name = objTyp.getDescribe().getName();
   // Exclude all the unwanted Sobjects e.g. History, Share etc..

 if(!name.containsignorecase('history') && !name.containsignorecase('tag')&&
    !name.containsignorecase('share') && !name.containsignorecase('feed')){      
      SobjectList.add(name);
  }
   // Insert into your custom settings
  }

Now that we've got the entire list of SObjects, lets do a Global Describe. Before we move on there is a gotcha here, as you know there is a governor limit on the number of Describes in an execution context (As of Winter '14 its 100 in both asynchronous and Synchronous) . I'll go ahead and suggest that its best if you could either do it in multiple executions or use a limit to control the number of SObjects processed.

 
      SObjectFieldsMap = new Map<string,Set<string>> ();
      Map<String, Schema.SObjectType> GlobalDescribe = new Map<String, Schema.SObjectType>();
      // Get the Global Describe which contains details for all objects
      GlobalDescribe =Schema.getGlobalDescribe();

      // Now we loop through our pre-compiled list of SObjects and get the describes for it
      for(String sObj:SObjectList)
      {
       // Populate the Map, with Sobject => list of fields
       if(SObjectFieldsMap.get(Sobj)==null && GlobalDescribe.get(sObj)!=null)
        SObjectFieldsMap.put(sObj,new Set<string>());

        if(SObjectFieldsMap.get(sObj)!=null) // Some Objects may not have Describes 
        SObjectFieldsMap.get(sObj).addAll(GlobalDescribe.get(sObj).getDescribe().fields.getMap().keyset());
      }

Well thats pretty much it. Hope this helps, let me know if you need anymore clarifications on this or if you've got some thoughts on this. Happy Coding!

REGEX in Salesforce

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 13:00:00 +0530

What is a RegEx?

Regular Expression in computing terms is a pattern that is used to search. It has its own syntax and semantics. To learn more on what RegEx is visit --> here
Great now we learnt what REGEX is, to build your own regex visit --> buildregex.com

So how does all this play in salesforce apex ? There are numerous use cases for using regex and checking patterns e.g. Checking if string is in Email Format.

There are 2 Major Classes to check if regex matches. Pattern Class and Matcher Class
in short, the pattern class is used to store a type of regex and once you have a pattern stored, We use the Matcher Class to identify if a specified string matches the pattern.

Here's the code for Matching String to Email pattern In salesforce

public static Boolean checkEmailFormat(String email) {
        String emailRegEx = '[a-zA-Z0-9\\.\\!\\#\\$\\%\\&\\*\\/\\=\\?\\^\\_\\+\\-\\`\\{\\|\\}\\~\'._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9\\-.-]+\\.[a-zA-Z]+';
        Pattern MyPattern = Pattern.compile(emailRegex);
        Matcher MyMatcher = MyPattern.matcher(email);
        Boolean result = MyMatcher.matches();
        return result;
    }

This is a self explanatory code, the Pattern is first compiled and stored, then we check the "email" parameter matches the regex, the result (true/false) is returned to the calling method. Wanna learn more ? --> Check SFDC Documentation

Hope this helped ! Let me know your thoughts or if there are some neat regex that you'd like to share in the comments . Happy Coding !

Email Case Team Members on Case Comment

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 14:40:00 +0530

This is going to be a short blog for a requirement I came across, But didn't find any blogs out there addressing this. So lets get right to it, I need to notify all the case team members when a case comment is logged, be it contact, users etc.

Here's what we'll need

Trigger on Case Comment
A Helper Class (To keep the trigger clean)
Test Class ( Don't forget to test your code)

To make things look clean we'll keep most of the code to the helper class,

Trigger :

You could put in additional filters, checks etc in the trigger to suit your needs

trigger CommentEmail on CaseComment (after insert,after update) {
   CaseCommentEmailHelper Obj = new CaseCommentEmailHelper();
   Obj.SendCaseCommentEmail(Trigger.new);
   }

Helper Class:

This Class helps to send the email out to all the case team members when ever a Case Comment is created/Edited Trigger Associated: CommentEmail Scenario: 1)Case has contacts and/or Users as Case Team Members 2)Send Email only if Case Comment is Public Sorry for the long Block of code, But this is a tested working piece of code to cover possible scenarios,There are a couple of Helper Methods at the bottom

public class CaseCommentEmailHelper {
    
    public  void SendCaseCommentEmail(List<CaseComment> newTrigger)
    {
     system.debug('Entered Case Comment');
        Set<id> parentCaseIds = new Set<id>();
        Set<id> CommentedUsers = new Set<id>(); // To set the reply-to Address
        set<id> ContactMembers = new Set<id>();
        Set<id> UserMembers = new set<id>();
       
        List<CaseComment> isValidComment = new List<CaseComment>();
        
        for(CaseComment CC :newTrigger)
        {
         if(CC.IsPublished==true)//Only if comment is public, send out emails 
         {
          isValidComment.add(CC);
          parentCaseIds.add(CC.ParentId);
          CommentedUsers.add(CC.LastModifiedById);
         }
        }
        
        if(isValidComment.size()>0)
        {
         Map<id,Case> CaseObjs = new Map<id,Case>([select Id,Description,
                   Owner.Email,CaseNumber,Subject 
                   from Case where id in:parentCaseIds]);// Query all case related Data
         Map<id,List<id>> CaseToUserCaseTeamMembersMap = new Map<id,List<id>>();// Query Case Team Members
         Map<id,List<id>> CaseToContactCaseTeamMembersMap = new Map<id,List<id>>();
         
  // We Maintain 2 maps, Case => User Case Members and 
         // Case => Contact Case Members Map to reduce further loops ahead
          
         for(CaseTeamMember CTMember: [SELECT Id,MemberId,ParentId FROM 
                                              CaseTeamMember WHERE ParentId in:parentCaseIds])
         {
         
          if(!isContactID(CTMember.MemberID))
          {
           if(CaseToUserCaseTeamMembersMap.get(CTMember.ParentID)!=null)
            CaseToUserCaseTeamMembersMap.get(CTMember.ParentID).add(CTMember.MemberID); //Add to the list of User Members
           else
            CaseToUserCaseTeamMembersMap.put(CTMember.ParentID,new id[]{CTMember.MemberID}); 
                          //Create a new List for the case and add the memeber to it
            
            UserMembers.add(CTMember.MemberID);
          }
          else if(isContactID(CTMember.MemberID))
          {
           if(CaseToContactCaseTeamMembersMap.get(CTMember.ParentID)!=null)
            CaseToContactCaseTeamMembersMap.get(CTMember.ParentID).add(CTMember.MemberID); 
                           //Add to the list of Contact Members
           else
            CaseToContactCaseTeamMembersMap.put(CTMember.ParentID,new id[]{CTMember.MemberID}); 
                       //Create a new List for the case and add the memeber to it
            
            ContactMembers.add(CTMember.MemberID);
          }
         }
         
         /* Now we have the required Data to map and send emails out, 
            There are 2 scenarios, The Case team can consist of Users and Contacts, 
            We send out Emails to Contacts only if their Email is not Blank 
         */
            
         Map<id,User> UserObjs;
         Map<id,Contact> ContactObjs;
         
         if((CommentedUsers.size() > 0) || (!CaseToUserCaseTeamMembersMap.isEmpty()))
          UserObjs = new Map<id,User>([select id,Email from 
                                                   User where ID in: CommentedUsers OR ID in:UserMembers]);
                                                   //Query all User Required Data 
          
         if(!CaseToContactCaseTeamMembersMap.isEmpty()) 
      ContactObjs = new Map<id,Contact>([select id,Email from Contact 
                                                        where ID in: ContactMembers AND Email!=NULL AND Email!='']);
          
          for(CaseComment CC :newTrigger)
          {
            List<String> toAddresses = new List<String>();
          
              // Add Users in case Team to email list    
              if((!CaseToUserCaseTeamMembersMap.isEmpty())&&CaseToUserCaseTeamMembersMap.get(CC.ParentId).size()>0)
             toAddresses.addall(getUserEmailList(UserObjs,CaseToUserCaseTeamMembersMap.get(CC.ParentId)));
             //Add Contacts in Case Team to Email List
             if((!CaseToContactCaseTeamMembersMap.isEmpty())&&
                                     CaseToContactCaseTeamMembersMap.get(CC.ParentId).size()>0)
             toAddresses.addall(getContactEmailList(ContactObjs,CaseToContactCaseTeamMembersMap.get(CC.ParentId)));
             
            if(toAddresses.size()>0) 
            SendCommentEmail(toAddresses,UserObjs.get(CC.LastModifiedById).Email,CaseObjs.get(CC.parentId),CC.CommentBody);
          }   
        }   
      
    }
    
    //=============== Private Methods ===================
     private  List<String> getUserEmailList(Map<id,User> UserObjs,List<ID>UserIds)
       {
        List<String> UserEmailList = new List<String>();
        if(UserIds!=null && UserObjs!=null)
        {
         for(Id userId :UserIDs)
          {
           if(UserObjs.get(userId)!=null)
              UserEmailList.add(UserObjs.get(userId).Email);
          }
        }
        return UserEmailList;
       }
       
     private  List<String> getContactEmailList(Map<id,Contact> ContactObjs,List<ID>ContactIds)
       {
        List<String> ContactEmailList = new List<String>();
        if(ContactIds!=null && ContactObjs!=null)
        {
         for(Id ContactId :ContactIds)
          {
           if(ContactObjs.get(ContactId)!=null)
              ContactEmailList.add(ContactObjs.get(ContactId).Email);
          }
        }
        return ContactEmailList;
       }
       
       private void SendCommentEmail(List<String> toAddresses,string replyTo,Case CurrentCase,string CommentBody)
  {
   
      String CaseLink =System.URL.getSalesforceBaseUrl().toExternalForm().remove('-api' )+'/'+CurrentCase.Id;
      string TXTEmailBody =(String.isNotBlank(CurrentCase.Description)?'Description: '+CurrentCase.Description:'')
           +'\n\nCase Comment: '+CommentBody
           +'\n\n Case Link: '+CaseLink
           +'\n\n Thank You!';
           
      string Subject ='Case #'+CurrentCase.CaseNumber+': '
          + (String.isNotBlank(CurrentCase.Subject)?CurrentCase.Subject:'')
          +' has been updated.';
      
      // Send Email
      Messaging.SingleEmailMessage mail = new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage();
      mail.setToAddresses(toAddresses);
      mail.setReplyTo(replyTo);
      mail.setSubject(Subject);
      mail.setUseSignature(false);
      mail.setPlainTextBody(TXTEmailBody);
      Messaging.sendEmail(new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage[] { mail });   
     
     }
    
   private boolean isContactID(id IdInQuestion)
 {
  return (IdInQuestion.getSObjectType()== Contact.sObjectType);
 }
}

Well that was a lot of code to go through, But hopefully it helped you. Remember, The test class is still pending Check it out here.. Let me know if any clarifications are required. Happy Coding !

<apex:actionStatus>

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Sat, 11 May 2013 03:10:00 +0530

Action status is usually used to show the status of an Ajax Process to which it is related to. It can be as simple as showing text during the update to as fancy as greying out the page and showing a loading gif. your imagination (and HTML CSS skills) are the limits

1. Simple Text Based Status

You can show Action Status for any Ajax Update Component with the Attribute called “Status”. Some of the e.g. for the components are apex:actionPoller, apex:commandButton etc..
if you want to show a simple text while update use the following code

<apex:actionStatus startText=" (incrementing...)"
            stopText=" (done)" id="counterStatus"/>

and in your component you could say Status =”counterStatus” which is the Id of your actionStatus.

2. Fancy ActionStatus Div

In the following code we make use of

<apex:Facets>

which override the standard display and give you more flexibility to add your own HTML CSS. once you use this status you could see a output similar to below image

Here's the code you need to use

How to activate Summer ’13 Preview on sandbox

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:18:00 +0530

The salesforce.com Summer ‘13 release is quickly approaching and soon you'll be able to take advantage of exciting new features and functionality! If you are a Force.com Sandbox customer, you have the opportunity to get early access to Summer ‘13 in your Sandbox and test new customization and features (the chance to get your feet wet) before your production organization is upgraded.

What will Happen?
Salesforce provides you an option to “test” out the new features in one of your sandboxes, make sure you existing logic plays nice or if you want to upgrade them with the new features.

What are the new features of summer ‘13?
The new features of summer 13 include browser enhancements, new UI to setup, Data.com changes, Tooling API, Enhanced SOQL / SOSL limits, Chatter Communities, Enhancement to Chatter, Site.com etc..
You can keep track of the new features by visiting the Summer ‘13 release notes here, they’re updated often.

How will I opt-in / Opt-out my sandbox from Summer ‘13 Preview?
Steps Involved

You need to Determine your sandbox instance by using the location column below.

Login to your Production ORG Goto Setup –> Data Management –> Sandbox

Determine which sandboxes you need to have preview
Refer to below chart to understand “How to Opt-in /out”
If sandbox is full copy be mindful of the 29 day refresh policy
All the Summer ‘13 Features will be rolled out on May 10th 2013 to the Opt-in Sandboxes

If your Sandbox needs to have Summer ‘13 Preview	If your Sandbox Does NOT need to have Summer ‘13 Preview
CS3, CS4,CS5,CS7,CS9,CS11,CS12,CS13,CS14,CS15,CS17 will be be automatically in preview mode if you DON’T refresh AFTER May 3rd 2013 11:59 PM PST	CS3, CS4,CS5,CS7,CS9,CS11,CS12,CS13,CS14,CS15,CS17 refresh AFTER May 3rd 2013 11:59 PM PST
CS1,CS2,CS6,CS8,CS10,CS16 Refresh Before May 3rd 2013 11:59 PM PST	CS1,CS2,CS6,CS8,CS10,CS16 will be be automatically in NON-preview mode if you DON’T refresh BEFORE May 3rd 2013 11:59 PM PST
If you have a Large Sandbox ensure your refresh begins before 3rd May and completes before 10th May 2013	Refresh your sandbox after 4th May and Before 10th may

NOTE : All sandboxes will be forcefully upgraded to Summer ‘13 after 15th June 2013

PROS & CONS of Sandbox Summer’13 Preview

PROS :

You will get preview access to latest features & enhancements from Summer ‘13 release
You’ll be able to determine which features to Turn off / On when your production turns Summer ‘13
Identify if all your business cases run smoothly on Summer ‘13
Able to maximize the “new features” once they’re released
Modify VF / Apex Classes to take advantage of the new Platform Releases
Plan internal / external product releases

CONS :

Once your Sandbox is in PREVIEW mode, you will not be able to deploy anything from this sandbox to a Spring ‘13 sandbox or Production until June 15th 2013
AppExchange Packages can be installed to Only Summer ‘13 Preview Sandboxes until June 15th

Reason : When Summer ‘13 Preview Gets Activated on your sandbox the metadata changes and you’ll also notice your Apex Version now is 28.0 for all new apex you write and all your other sandboxes and production that do NOT have Summer ‘13 will still have Version 27.0
And you cannot Deploy / Install anything that has metadata of version 28.0 to Version 27.0
Here’s an Infograph depicting that

If you have additional questions about your Sandbox options in conjunction with the Summer ‘13 release, please contact salesforce.com Customer Support or reach out to me . Please leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below

Additional Resources:

Escalate Question to Case

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:11:00 +0530

This is a very useful need at times requested by clients. “Escalate Question to Case” / “Create Case from a question” / “Convert Question to case” in either customer portal , Partner portal, or any self serve portal.

In the answers portal, when we are required to Escalate the question to a case so that the executives can handle it. Salesforce provides this functionality internally but its a little tricky to turn it on and in this post I want to address this.

Pretense to the requirement

Enable Answers

Setup –> Customize –> Answers –> Settings –> “Enable Answers” and then Select a community
Note: if you have multiple communities enabled, then in Answers –> settings ensure you select the default community to be used

Setup Customer Portal to Include Answers

Enable Customer portal : Setup –> customize –> Customer portal—> Settings –> (your portal) –> Customize Portal Tabs –> select “Answers” to the available tabs list

Now you will have access to the answers in the portal. you can can create, edit and delete your posts in the portal.

Profile Changes

For all the user profiles who access the customer portal be it “High Volume Customer Portal “, “ Customer Portal Standard”, “ Customer Portal manager” etc.. we need to provide access to the following

Case : Read, Create, Edit
Answers : Read, Create, Edit
NOTE : In the Case’s field level Permission : Provide Read / Edit access to “Question” Field

Finally

There’s one last change you need to make, Add the “Question” field on the Case layout.

And there you go ! now log into the portal as the user who has the profile we made changes to and you can find the Escalate to case button on the question entry.

Note : you may want to provide this permission to only the people required to have it. It is efficient to use permission sets
Source : Full blown implementation for Answers in Portal

Second Meetup in Cochin announced- Salesforce.com Kerala User Group

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Tue, 9 Apr 2013 23:03:00 +0530

The Salesforce Kerala User Group- the official meeting point of Force.com enthusiasts in Kerala and around is thrilled to announce its second Meetup event to be held on April 11^th, 2013 at the IMA Hall, Palarivattom, Cochin. A sequel to the Meetup in October which was the first of its kind in Kerala, the upcoming one has an agenda designed to take you a step higher. This is a great platform for any and every one of you with a link to the ‘cloud’ to get together and swap ideas, share your experiences and learn about exciting new trends in the market today.

The free event is open to veteran developers and newcomers alike. The aim of the free event is to provide a common ground for newbies to learn from the experts who in turn can share their experiences and let the world know why Force.com is such a great platform to work with in the first place! You get to hear first-hand from developers in the field on what excites them about Force.com and related Salesforce applications- which have been a passion all throughout their careers.

The event highlights include a Google Hangout session with +Josh Birk - Developer Evangelist at Salesforce.com. For those stepping into the world of cloud computing, there is an intro session into Force.com and additional technical sessions- all of which are hand on sessions, giving the attendees a peek into the developer environment. You get a to have a broad outline of

Force.com Sites
Force.com Canvas
Certification

And the good news is that the event will be aired online for the benefit of those who cannot come all the way over!

With technical sessions by seasoned Salesforce developers and Unconference sessions to discuss the most common problems faced by salesforce developers and don’t forget the Cloud Trivia where you can win a lot of goodies showing off your force.com skills!

So what are you waiting for? Existing members – RSVP for the event! New members looking to join the community and be a part of the ever expanding Salesforce network- Sign up to be a part of the User Group!

Excited to be meeting you at Cochin and hoping you help make this a huge success like the last one!!!

Session by Josh Birk

Visualforce To Excel

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 02:11:00 +0530

In this short post I want to explain how we can generate an excel output from a VF page. We already know to how to generate a PDF from VF page. (Read more to find out how). One of the common requirements is to convert a VF page with data into an Excel sheet, here are some things you may want to keep in mind

Use a separate VF page for export. It is advisable to use a separate VF page to export off, reason being, usually the VF page in which data resides contains buttons, links images etc. and that is not something you usually want in your excel
Use <apex:dataTable> : this gives you a consistent output and works for both windows and MAC. (Thank you Pratyush Kumar for the Info)
Proper validation : Before the export page is reached, make sure all validations to ensure data will be present is a good practice

Lets get to the code,
The Design
Here’s a sample data that you may want to download from VF to excel

here’s the code for the above VF, Remember to pass an Account ID as a query string to this page

   <apex:page standardController="Account">
 <apex:pageBlock title="Hello {!$User.FirstName}!">
     You are viewing the {!account.name} account.
   </apex:pageBlock>
  <apex:pageBlock title="Contacts">
   <apex:pageBlockTable value="{!account.Contacts}" var="contact">
      <apex:column value="{!contact.Name}"/>
      <apex:column value="{!contact.Email}"/>
         <apex:column value="{!contact.Phone}"/>
     </apex:pageBlockTable>
    </apex:pageBlock>
 </apex:page>

VF to Excel

Once you’re happy with how the data looks like, its time to convert it into Excel. all you got to do is modify the <apex: page> tag to include the contentType="application/vnd.ms-excel">

<apex:page standardController="Account" contentType="application/vnd.ms-excel">

That’s it, we’re all set. now once you refresh the page you should get the following Excel output,The spreadsheet generated will convert your pageBlockTable to their respective columns, shown here

Known Issues

There is a known issue for this approach in IE. I’ve listed the work-around below, Jeff Douglas had posted it in his blog. Trick is to set the contentType="application/vnd.ms-excel#FILENAME.xls" cache="true"

I hope you found this useful, would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Source :
Post on Developer Force
Jeff Douglas

Spring ‘13 Release Rituals

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:50:00 +0530

The much awaited Spring ‘13 webinar was yesterday 30-JAN-2013. It was exciting and thanks to Pat Paterson(@metadaddy) and Samantha (@samantha_ready) for the amazing webinar presentation which covered the thrilling topics of spring 13 like

Tooling API,
Connect in Apex,
Canvas
Connected apps.

Spring '13 Release Developer Preview Webinar from Developer Force, salesforce.com

Ok now to the exciting part !

ForceTrivia
This is a online trivia played after the release webinar, you can follow or join in using #forcetrivia on twitter and http://facebook.com/forcedotcom . Here are the questions and answers for the Spring ‘13 Trivia.

Q: By what name were ‘Connected Apps’ previously known?
A: Remote Access apps

Q: What is the authorization protocol used by Connected Apps?
A: OAuth 2.0

Q: What 4 kinds of code artifact can the Tooling API manage?
A: Apex Classes, Apex Triggers, Visualforce Pages, Visualforce Components

Q: Which other Force.com API allows you to deploy code?
A: The Metadata API

Q: Which new tab was added to the Developer Console?
A: ‘Progress’

Q: Connect in Apex also known as the ___(a)___ API is the native representation of the ___(b)___ API.
A: a. Connect b. Chatter

Q: What VF component attribute allows you to send controller data into your Canvas app?
A: Parameters

Q: What standard field that was formally read only is now writable on update?
A: ID

Q: What are two new object triggers you can create for chatter in Spring 13?
A: CollaborationGroup and CollaborationGroupMember

Q: What does Force.com Canvas use to prevent XHR problems posting back to Salesforce?
A: JavaScript SDK

You could also visit my earlier blog post to read about spring ‘13 detailed features

Source : Spring ‘13 Trivia Winners !

Reload Standard Detail page from Inline VF

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 07:58:00 +0530

I just faced a small block, Pretty simple once you've figured it out, Thought of sharing it and saving time for us in the future. Most of the time we require to reload the Standard Page following an action on the inline VF Page. The solution to this was not apparently available to me when I needed it. Usually after clicking on a link or button we need to refresh the standard (parent page) the VF page is in. Read more on how to add inline VF Pages

Problem: A VF page is inline on a standard detail Page, On click of button inside VF Page, Reload the standard Detail Page once action completes in the Inline VF page

Solution : I tried the parent.location property in the oncomplete event, but didn't seem to work as expected Listed below are couple of similar solutions that work.

1) Set the Target attribute on the command link

<apex:commandLink value="Save" target='_Top'/>

<apex:commandButton value="Refresh" onclick="window.top.location='{!Account.id}'; return false" >

Hope this saves time for some of us in the future. Do let me know if you’ve other solutions.
Resources
What is Visualforce?
Visualforce Developer’s Guide
Inline VF page- How To Video

How to write Batch Class in Salesforce.com Apex

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 10:00:00 +0530

In order for us to write batch classes in apex, let us 1st understand what is batch class , when and where it should be used? This is an extensive blog going into details.
Main sections of this post are

What is batch Apex
When to use batch apex
Advantages of using batch apex
Batch Apex Governor limits
Sample Code

What is Batch Apex ?

Batch as the name suggests, is used when a large data (bulk) volume is involved and it has to be redundantly processed using a particular logic.
The Batch apex, can be used to conveniently perform time to time task and some real complex job ranging from data cleansing, archiving the data to the other quality improvements.

When to use Batch Apex?

The typical use of batch apex is when you want to do a bulk job, but if you do it in a regular apex you’re bound to hit the governor limits. Batch Classes process the set of records you pass to it in batches of maximum 200 per batch. To learn more about the governor limits go here , or you can check out the presentation at slideshare below

Governor limits from Shivanath Devinarayanan

Advantages of using Batch Apex?

Higher Governor Limits

Can be used to process in batches

Can be scheduled to run at different time. (read more)

Work around to other governor limits e.g. Send More than 10 E-mails blog by Ankit Arora

here is the governor limit difference in using batch

Area	Normal Context	Batch Context
SOQL queries	100 SOQL per cycle	200 SOQL per cycle
records retrieved by SOQL queries	50,000	50,000,000 (getQueryLocator)
~~executed code statements~~	~~200,000~~	~~1,000,000~~ (Winter '14)
Heap size	6 MB	12 MB

Batch Apex Governor Limits

These are the governor Limits you need to keep in mind when dealing with Batch Apex

Up to five queued or active batch jobs are allowed for Apex.
A user can have up to 50 query cursors open at a time. For example, if 50 cursors are open and a client application still logged in as the same user attempts to open a new one, the oldest of the 50 cursors is released. Note that this limit is different for the batch Apex start method, which can have up to five query cursors open at a time per user. The other batch Apex methods have the higher limit of 50 cursors. Cursor limits for different Force.com features are tracked separately. For example, you can have 50 Apex query cursors, 50 batch cursors, and 50 Visualforce cursors open at the same time.
A maximum of 50 million records can be returned in the Database.QueryLocator object. If more than 50 million records are returned, the batch job is immediately terminated and marked as Failed.
If the start method returns a QueryLocator, the optional scope parameter of Database.executeBatch can have a maximum value of 2,000. If set to a higher value, Salesforce chunks the records returned by the QueryLocator into smaller batches of up to 2,000 records. If the start method returns an iterable, the scope parameter value has no upper limit; however, if you use a very high number, you may run into other limits.
If no size is specified with the optional scope parameter of Database.executeBatch, Salesforce chunks the records returned by the start method into batches of 200, and then passes each batch to the execute method. Apex governor limits are reset for each execution of execute.
The start, execute, and finish methods can implement up to 10 callouts each.
Batch executions are limited to 10 callouts per method execution.
The maximum number of batch executions is 250,000 per 24 hours.
Only one batch Apex job's start method can run at a time in an organization. Batch jobs that haven’t started yet remain in the queue until they're started. Note that this limit doesn't cause any batch job to fail and execute methods of batch Apex jobs still run in parallel if more than one job is running.

Sample Code

Batch Class :

   global class ExampleBatchClass implements Database.Batchable<sObject>{

        global ExampleBatchClass(){
                   // Batch Constructor
        }
       
        // Start Method
        global Database.QueryLocator start(Database.BatchableContext BC){
         return Database.getQueryLocator(query);
        }
      
      // Execute Logic
       global void execute(Database.BatchableContext BC, List<sObject>scope){
              // Logic to be Executed batch wise      
     
       }
     
       global void finish(Database.BatchableContext BC){
            // Logic to be Executed at finish
       }
    }

Call the Batch Class :

          ExampleBatchClass b = new ExampleBatchClass(); 
          //Parameters of ExecuteBatch(context,BatchSize)
          database.executebatch(b,10);

Note : if batch size is not mentioned it is 200 by default.

That’s about it for this post, if you still want a deep dive into Batch Classes I suggest you read this

Do let me know your thoughts Happy Coding !

Lotus Notes Apps to Force.com

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Wed, 9 Jan 2013 10:00:00 +0530

Why should I migrate from Lotus notes to Force.com?
Lotus notes was a very popular application and was used widely for all types of business processes and was a mini ERP. Even now many of the medium to large corporations use lotus notes just because they cannot either find a good alternative or just don’t want to break things.
Today we can touch the tip of the iceberg and understand how to start the migration.
you can also read : Top 5 reasons to migrating from lotus notes to force.com
Still not convinced why you should migrate from lotus notes to force.com? check here

What does it take ?-Effort Involved

Scale of migration complexity depends on 4 different regions.

Data Model: if just data model has to be replicated the effort is rather easy
Workflows and Approvals: the effort level would be deemed moderate

If there are branching of logic and workflow and approval business processes are involved
if attachments also have to be loaded back to force.com

Complex Logic : if the lotus notes application contains Agents / Actions /Scripts , These logics will be migrated into force.com as Apex Classes / Triggers / Controllers and would involve significant effort

The Initial steps involved for migration of Lotus notes to force.com are
1) Identifying Data-Model changes
2) Re-creating the Forms / UI
3) Configuring Workflows / Approval Processes
4) Migrating Data
Each application / Database chosen to be migrated from lotus notes can be created as a separate app in force.com

Identifying Data Model Changes

The 1^st step would be to re-create the existing data model objects from lotus notes to custom/ standard objects in salesforce
The data model is akin to a database table, the row and column listing that is the heart of every force.com application. Columns in lotus applications translates to Fields in force.com
Things to keep in mind
· Lotus ID for previous requests should be made into a unique ID in force.com
· Force.com supports relational model, so objects are to be referred using lookups
· Sharing model should be maintained as such while creating the data model in force.com

Re-creating the forms / UI

The views in Lotus notes are created using Visualforce in force.com or using the standard page layouts with the drag and drop functionality
A custom UI can be designed to replicate the Lotus notes Pages using Visual Force.

Configuring Workflows and Approval Processes

Business processes and approval processes existing in the lotus notes application must be recreated as Workflow rules / Approval Processes
Workflows are used when on a DML event, a specific action like sending out an email alert, updating a field or sending out an outbound message.
Whereas approval processes are used in scenarios where User interaction is required, Approval Processes can also send out emails and update fields similarly like workflow rules.

Migrating Data

Data migration from lotus notes to force.com is fairly simple and available with multiple options

Dataloader : The apex dataloader is an apt tool to migrate data from lotus notes to force.com
using csv files exported out of lotus notes
Cloud Convertor : a free appexchange product enabling data migration from excel / lotus notes to force.com
DetachIt : This tool can be used to exporting the attachments from lotus notes
Custom Code : Developers can use Custom Code to migrate data from lotus notes to force.com

There are many other tools that can be used to migrate data from lotus notes to force.com
you could also watch the Best Practices for Migrating Lotus Notes App to Force.com

To keep you motivated here’s a video “Secret to Success Migrating off Lotus notes” do share your thoughts

Spring ‘13 Features Release Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Tue, 8 Jan 2013 01:09:00 +0530

Salesforce.com Spring ‘13 is a debated release where some say there are not many features being released like the usual salesforce releases while some say that Spring ‘13 packs really good and needed features. I’ll let you be the judge of that.
All of what I can say is , it is exciting as we are all waiting to see what is packed in this release and can’t wait to get our hands on it. Below are the videos salesforce released on their YouTube channel some time ago.
you can also find the release notes here : http://shivd.me/Spring13Release
The Spring 13 Release Preview of all features : http://shivd.me/Spring13ReleasePreview
and you could join us for the webinar here: http://shivd.me/Spring13Webinar
You could sign up for the Pre-Release ORG here : http://bit.ly/getspring13

Spring ‘13 Overview
Spring '13 is packed with new features to help you get started. This demo provides an overview of the Spring '13 salesforce.com release

Force.com Platform
Connect and innovate faster than ever with the Salesforce Spring '13 release. Connect to your customers in a whole new way using the Salesforce Platform. More emphasis is on canvas apps

Sales Cloud
Speed your sales with the Salesforce Spring '13 release. Connect to your customers in a whole new way!

Service Cloud
Customer service is more mobile than ever with the Salesforce Spring '13 release. Connect to your customers in a whole new way!

Data.com
Build complete, accurate customer profiles with Data.com, and connect to customers in a whole new way with the Salesforce Spring '13 release

Chatter and Communities
Supercharge productivity and build community with the Salesforce Spring '13 release. Connect to your customers in a whole new way!

The release fever starts and I can wait to hear your thoughts about it !

Run Batch Class Hourly

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Sun, 6 Jan 2013 16:34:00 +0530

This is a use case that we all come across very often, Schedule a batch class every hour to clean up data or to send out batch emails to case team members (Which I’ll blog about later).
There are three main steps involved in this

Write a Batch class with the required logic
Write a Scheduled Apex which calls the above Batch Class
Schedule the class from the developer console by executing anonymous apex

Step 1: Write the batch class
Batch apex gives us the advantage to run jobs that might require a lot more that the usual governor limit contexts, example Batch job are made to perform common UPSERT operation on a scheduled basis. The Batch apex, can be used to conveniently perform time to time task and some real complex job ranging from data cleansing, archiving the data to the other quality improvements

Learn more about Batch Apex here.

Example of a batch class

global class ExampleBatchClass implements Database.Batchable<sObject>
{
    global ExampleBatchClass(){
              // Batch Constructor
     }
   
     // Start Method
     global Database.QueryLocator start(Database.BatchableContext BC){
        return Database.getQueryLocator(query);
     }
   
     // Execute Logic
     global void execute(Database.BatchableContext BC, List<sObject> scope){
            // Logic to be Executed batch wise      
   
     }
   
     global void finish(Database.BatchableContext BC){
   
     }
   
 }

Step 2: Write the Schedulable class

Now, We have the batch class ready and it has to be in a schedulable context in-order to schedule the batch. You can learn more about schedulable apex here

Example of a Scheduled Apex

  global class scheduledBatchable implements Schedulable{
     global void execute(SchedulableContext sc) {
        // Implement any logic to be scheduled

           // We now call the batch class to be scheduled
        ExampleBatchClass b = new ExampleBatchClass(); 
        
        //Parameters of ExecuteBatch(context,BatchSize)
        database.executebatch(b,10);
     }
  }

Step 3: Schedule the class by executing anonymous

Finally now we can schedule the batch class, there are two ways by which we can schedule the batch class

From Setup—> Apex Classes –> Schedule Apex : but, here the minimum is one day/ 24 hours
By executing anonymous code from either developer console or apex, here the minimum is 1 hour

Code to be executed

// Cron EXP for hourly schedule
   String CRON_EXP = '0 0 * * * ?';
   SheduledBatchable sch = new scheduledBatchable();
   system.schedule('Hourly Example Batch Schedule job', CRON_EXP, sch);

If you want to run it as frequent as 15,30 or N mins .....

System.schedule('Job1', '0 * * * * ?', new SchJob());
System.schedule('Job2', '0 15 * * * ?', new SchJob());
System.schedule('Job3', '0 30 * * * ?', new SchJob());
System.schedule('Job4', '0 45 * * * ?', new SchJob());

We’re all done ! now you can see your batch job scheduled Setup—>Monitoring –> Scheduled Jobs

would love to hear your thoughts , Happy Coding !

What is Do.com

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Tue, 1 Jan 2013 01:00:00 +0530

Continuing the Salesforce.com series from my previous blog post, I would like to give a small intro into the latest online salesforce App, “Do.com”. So what is DO.com? Well to start off DO.com is an evolving collaboration tool. It is written in HTML5 and Ruby on Rails via Salesforce.com’s Heroku platform. DO.com helps your team manage projects/ tasks.

But wait; is it just another project management tool for professionals that cost a lot of money? No, the application is fully free (for now!) and can be customized to fit the needs of any business. Do.com offers an open API for developers, and has received input from some of Salesforce’s brightest team members.

According to Salesforce Senior VP Sean Whiteley (as said to VentureBeat) – “Do.com is currently free, but it will add premium paid features next year. Elements like changing the way it looks, adding new fields and deeper administration tools are being explored as potential premium features.”

So let’s explore what DO.com does!

What can I do with Do.com?

· Manage single / multiple projects and associated tasks

· Manage people or groups of people to which these tasks are assigned to and also keep track of the who scenario

· Have full mobility for your team, though Do.com is accessible as a Web app through all browsers; it’s also available as an Google Android app, iOS mobile app for iPhone and iPad .

· Have your favorite calendar tool be it outlook, iCal or Google calendar in sync with DO Calendar.

· Integrate Do.com direct with your Google Apps account and Also your Salesforce.com ORG

· Do.com includes Gmail gadget that makes it easy to assign tasks through e-mail. For example, send a short e-mail to task@do.com and it will automatically detect your address and add an entry

What are possible real world applications?

Well it depends on how you choose to use this, but this can be used for:

· Normal project planning scenario

· Task management for a marketing campaign or a sales campaign

· As the video shows, managing school elections

· Managing accounting chores, for a recurring reminder etc…

There is a lot of potential in this, and will be more productive as time passes by. One of the best features that I personally like is the integration with salesforce.com Accounts, Leads and Contacts. But more on that later!

In my next blog, I will walk you through the DO.com features using a sample project. Come back soon!
For more info: http://help.do.com
Twitter: @DoWorkTogether, Sources: http://bit.ly/Qb88dv

Do.com Project management overview

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 00:30:00 +0530

In my previous blog post I introduced the pros and cons of DO.com. Go ahead and read it, and come back to this blog where I explore how to use DO.com via a sample project.

How do I start?

Lets walkthrough a basic project / task management and try to use our imagination as to see what we can use this platform for.

- First visit https://do.com/ and sign up for your personal do.com account, this is where we manage our projects
and tasks with the specified group of people

- There are two ways of signing up, you can sign up with your personal ID or use your Google Apps ID if you have one.

You’ll see the following screen

You’ll notice on the left hand side there are a couple of things that look interesting

· Groups – Your group is the people you work with and the projects, tasks and notes you work on together. To share projects, tasks and notes with someone, they must be in your group. You can create multiple groups by clicking the ‘+’ sign on the bottom left hand corner

· Tasks - This is a list of your tasks or your groups task and you can filter them based on pre-defined filters like “Completed task”, “My Tasks” etc or create your own custom filter

· Projects – This is the wrapper for all your tasks; projects are meant to reduce clutter and organize tasks logically. When you share a project among your team they can access all the tasks within the project.

· Notes – this is like a sandbox of notes and ideas each person wants to track, and can evolve into a task or attached to a task.

Step 1: Create a project

During your 1^st login you might have created a project and some dummy tasks. If you skipped those steps, then create a new project, by clicking on the project and ”create new project”

Enter the

· Project Name

· template if you have a predefined group of people you often share task/projects with

· dead line of the project

· description

Once the project is created, we get a detail UI where more tasks can be created. But before that, a quick note about the project tabs

There are 3 tabs:

1) Tasks shows a list of tasks for current project, you can create new tasks, Subscribe to the list on your calendar, or create a new section to organize the tasks for logical separation.

2) Activity, This tab reminds me of chatter.com feed, this acts as a similar news feed for the project and changes to the list of tasks

3) Attachments, obvious enough, is a tab to keep track of the attachments your members posted in the project

Step 2: Create tasks

Now that we have a project, we need to create some Tasks. Navigate to Tasks and click on create Task button

The creation page collects some basic info

Do.com users may invite colleagues, friends and family to tasks regardless of whether those contacts are Do.com users. Invite your members and if he/she is already invited, name is available to select on the dropdown. I’m not going into the details and will leave it to your imagination to fill out the rest of the task details

Things to Note:

· Tasks can be recurring and can be assigned to multiple people.

· Once assigned the member gets a notification by email, and can choose to accept it.

· Once task is completed the member can mark it as completed from either the dashboard, his email or from the mobile

· The dashboard gives a high level overview of the ongoing/completed projects and tasks.

I hope I have whetted your appetite for DO.com with this blog. The best feature of DO.com is its ability to integrate intimately with salesforce.com.

Force.com Overview

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 03:30:00 +0530

In my previous blog post I touched on the different cloud offerings from Salesforce.com. They do so via Platform as a service (PAAS), which is the driving force behind their cloud applications. Aptly named Force.com, this is the perfect solution/platform for building robust cloud applications on salesforce.com that can be used internally to support the business flow of your organization or can be published in the AppExchange as a package for other users to benefit from.

· Force.com: Everything in Salesforce.com, right from Sales cloud, Service cloud, Data.com etc. can be leveraged off the PAAS offering called FORCE.COM. It offers very high customization that no other CRM/ Platform on the cloud offers, with umpteen number of tools and features available out of the box, which are easily customizable by an end user with no programming background. If you opt for a force.com solution, be aware that the CRM functionality does not come built in (but can be created from scratch to mimic the original offering) unless you go all out for the unlimited edition.

Customization of force.com is usually done by two roles: The Administrator and the Developer.

Administrators are responsible for creating security settings and enabling/disabling features in your Salesforce ORG (instance), they also setup Workflows, Business automation approval processes, Sharing rules, Team allocation, Adding users etc and will be responsible for the ORG in general. Needless to say, it is critical to have an experienced Administrator for this role.

Developers on the other hand, are responsible for leveraging the true potential of the platform by writing Apex classes and Triggers. Apex is the proprietary language that force.com platform provides for interaction with its Objects and Metadata. The declarative construction of the application in Salesforce is very stable and reliable but has its limits and constraints. That is where Apex kicks in and bends the platform to yield to the complex business scenarios.

E.g. CRM can handle leads/ contacts, but when your business is in Recruiting or real estate, we’ll need a lot of customization like sending an interview request or an online written test to the candidate or show a layout and customize it, which is not possible through the normal point and click actions of an Administrator. This is when Force.com Apex Classes, Visual force pages, Controllers etc. are written by developers to achieve the functionality.

Force.com Platform also allows you integrate existing applications in your organization and merge it either by reusing existing apps or by writing Custom Web services to interact with your web application. Web services can also be used to pull data relevant to your business like stock quotes of a particular account from yahoo, or the map location of your candidate from Google maps API etc…

The possibilities are endless. Hope this helps shed some light on the Force.com Platform from Salesforce.com.

What is Salesforce.com?

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0530

There is a lot of hype in the market about Salesforce.com and its many products, so what exactly is it and how can it benefit you?

Salesforce.com is a company based out of San Francisco, California. They are the leaders in cloud technology.

Salesforce.com is also the name of their flagship product, which is a highly customizable CRM with attractive out of the box features like Web to Lead, Weeding out duplicate leads, Opportunity Forecasting, Email and Campaign management, Google Apps Integration etc… All this along with the standard CRM features like Lead, Contact, Account, and Opportunity Management.

Salesforce.com is a multi-tenant Environment which means we get an environment that suits our business needs. This is where the confusion begins! So let’s start off by listing some of the most important of Salesforce.com’s products and what they focus on. Things to keep in mind – whatever edition/ Product you purchase, you can upgrade to a higher product without migration or any related problems, which plays well with their pay as you grow policy.

This blog post will shed some light on Sales cloud and Service Cloud. Each one deserves an article on its own, but let’s treats this as an appetizer!

· Sales Cloud : As the name suggests, this package of Salesforce.com contains the tools your sales team is going to use - contact/Account management, Opportunity tracking, Lead Management, Products, Quotes / Contract management etc. – To primarily focus on sales needs. Recently this feature also supports social contacts that enable you to have social network integration for your contacts/Leads. This does not restrict you to a single package, there are different editions (features) you can opt for based on your requirement and on your budget

· Service Cloud : This edition primarily focuses on Service wing or customer support side of your company – case management , knowledge base management, KB article creation, single window console management where the support executive can get all the details on single window, Call center integration with CTI, SLA management, Escalation Rules based on your business workflow.

With the onset of social media, most of the customers have a social presence, and most of the complaints are now via twitter handles and facebook page posts. So Sales cloud also provides application to track those cases and raise them to your support engineers.

This is a perfect support management tool. Salesforce.com recently partnered with the Social media monitoring Giant Radian6 and provides in depth monitoring of your brand providing you very high flexibility and dashboard of statistics, but more about Radian6 later!

Salesforce.com has grown its platform to support some of the most complex business scenarios and has proved in the market that it just needs one fifth the development effort and cost when compared to a normal application.

How to add Drop-down list in Excel

noreply@blogger.com (Shivanath D) — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 23:37:00 +0530

This is just a basic article to illustrate how to insert a drop-down list in excel worksheet.

In Microsoft Office 2007 it is not very difficult once we are used to it.

Step 1: Go to the Data tab in Excel

Step 2: Click the Data Validation button

Step 3: From the allow list Select the List Value, also make sure you have the In-cell dropdown selected or Excel does not generate the dropdown list.

There are two ways you can enter the data,

1) Directly specify the data in Source field.

2) Click the Source control and drag to highlight the cells that have the data you want.

Step 4: click ok and you can find your drop box in the cell you specified the validation.

You can add the drop-down list to multiple cells. Select the range of data input cells instead of a single cell. It even works for non-contiguous cells. Hold down the Shift key while you click the appropriate cells.