Developer Kickstart Module 6: Apex Triggers

Welcome to Module 6 of the Developer Kickstart curriculum at Cloud Code Academy! This module, we dive deep into the world of Apex Triggers - a fundamental aspect of Salesforce development.

Goals of the Practice

During this module's practice repository, you will gain essential knowledge about:

• Understanding what Apex Triggers are and their role in Salesforce development.
• Recognizing when to use Triggers over other automation tools.
• Writing basic triggers to perform operations before and after insert, update, delete, and undelete events.
• Handling bulk operations in Triggers to adhere to Salesforce governor limits.
• Implementing best practices in Trigger development, such as the 'One Trigger Per Object' design pattern and the use of helper classes.

Mastering Apex Triggers will equip you with the ability to automate complex business processes and validations, enhancing the power and flexibility of your Salesforce applications. This week lays the foundation for more advanced topics such as Trigger frameworks and asynchronous Apex, setting you on the path to becoming an expert Salesforce developer.

Setup

Setup Overview

Getting Started Checklist

1. Create/Configure a trailhead playground or developer org to do your work throughout this program.
2. Install Visual Studio Code from here.
3. Install Salesforce Extension Pack in Visual Studio Code. This can be done by searching 'Salesforce Extension Pack' in the Extensions view in VS Code and clicking Install.
4. Authorize your org in Visual Studio Code. Press Ctrl + Shift + P to open the command palette and type 'SFDX: Authorize an Org', then press Enter. Follow the steps in the browser to log in to your org, then return to VS Code.
5. Make sure to save and deploy your changes into Salesforce from your local machine. This can be done through the command pallet or right clicking the file you want to deploy and using the option SFDX: Deploy this source to org

Running the Test Classes

To run the test classes:

1. Open the command palette with Ctrl + Shift + P.
2. Type 'SFDX: Invoke Apex Tests...', and press Enter.
3. In the 'Select Test Class' input, select the test class you want to run and press Enter.
4. The test results will appear in the Output panel at the bottom of the screen. You can switch to the 'Test' tab in this panel to see a summary of the test run.

Resources

If you get stuck at any point, here are some resources that might help:

• Apex Developer Guide
• Salesforce Stack Exchange
• Visual Studio Code Documentation
• Salesforce Extensions for Visual Studio Code

And remember, programming is often about solving problems, so don't be afraid to use search engines to find answers to your questions.

Good luck with your learning journey in Salesforce development!