Salesforce Made Easy

How to use Substring in Apex Code - Force.com

2011-11-23T09:04:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone:

Scenario:
We have a string value to be copied from one field in a Standard object to the Custom Object Standard field "Name". Yes you can do this in a formula field but if the objects are not related directly you can not.

So, a little bit about Custom Object regarding the standard field "Name".
Name field in a custom object its length is 80 MAX. No one can change the attribute on this field to go over 80 length.
So since we are utilizing code to do the update, Apex will not automatically cut off the string if it is more then 80. It will submit an error.

Solution:
We utilized substring method in Apex to accomplish anything more then 80 characters going into the name.
Substring Method - "Returns a new String that begins with the character at thespecified startIndex and extends to the characterat endIndex - 1." Click Here for more on String Methods

To clarify this, if we have a string such as 'ABC' length is 3 characters. If you place this in a substring and you wanted the first 2 characters, it would be 'ABC'.substring(1,3) = 'AB' ... Make it mathically easier, 3-1=2 which gets you the first 2 characters in your string.

Now the catch in code, you would need utilize the actually name of the field instead of placing it in a string.
String ProdName;

Product2 prod = [ SELECT p.ProductCode, p.Name, p.Id, 
FROM Product2 p

WHERE p.Id =: oppLineItem.PricebookEntry.Product2Id];

if(prod.Name.length()>80){

//This would get the first 90 characters of the stringProdName = prod.Name.SubString(0,80); customobject__c.Name = prodName;}

I hope this helps...

A little lesson in code sometime does not hurt anyone.

Thanks

Zishan

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Validation Rules Using 'AND' 'OR' Functionality Within Salesforce.com

2011-09-25T20:13:00.001-04:00

Hi all:
Scenario:
Need to write a validation rule if a certain checkbox is check, either one field or another field has to be filled in. So it is one or the other.

Solution:
To utilize And and OR functionality within the Validation rule.

Create these fields on the Account object or substitute your fields.
Discount Applicable | Attribute: Checkbox
Amount: Currency
Percentage: Number (10,2)
Error should appear at top of Page stating: Since Discount Applicable is true then Amount OR Percentage is required.

Go to Setup | Customize | Object (Account) | Validation Rules | New

Breakdown the validation Rule:
Discount Applicable = True
This is a must to have so it would go under AND requirement.
Amount is blank OR Percentage is Blank. this is the OR part of the validation rule.

Putting it together:
Start off with OR( then place in the AND functionality within the OR functionality), You can see the formula below where I start off with the OR Statement then the Final should always be there...

OR(
AND(ISBLANK(If_Yes_Percentage__c),
ISBLANK(If_Yes_Amount__c), Is_There_a_Discount_Applicable__c = True))

This is it... Hope this helps..
Thanks
Z
VisualForce Made Easy
MMAXTRA
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Salesforce Interview Questions - Developers

2011-06-30T14:28:00.000-04:00

Hi:
A while back I posted Salesforce Interview Questions for Administrators, well now its time for developers and choosing the correct one that knows salesforce and the infrastructure is key to your organization.
So here we go:

Give a reason for the Error that states "To many SOQL Queries: 21"?

Too many SOQL queries: 21 Error in Force.com
Basically the For Loop or the trigger or class it is not built for doing more then 20 queries at once and it is hitting the governance limits.

Give all the Actions for a Trigger in Salesforce.com.

Insert
Update
Delete

Can you write a test class within a Trigger? True/False

False

What is the difference between trigger.new and trigger.old?

Trigger.new returns new versions or records for the Sobject.
Trigger.old returns old records or existing records for the SObject

What is SOQL?

The SQL Language for Salesforce.com. Salesforce Object Query Language

What is SOSL?

The SQL language for salesforce.com in regards to Search Functionality. Salesforce Object Search Language

What is the main difference between List and Set?

List contains Duplicates
Sets do not contain duplicates

Describe a Junction Object.

Junction Object is when an object has 2 master detail relationships.

Tell me ways of deploying Apex Code into Production from Sandbox.

ANT Tool
Eclipse
Change Sets

Do picklist dependencies follow through onto the Visual Force code or is there a special tag for it within the code?

Picklist Dependencies are now part of Visualforce and no special code is required.

How do you get a static URL for Salesforce, and why would you want that?

To connect to salesforce from the API, an API Login should be issued to:
https://login.salesforce.com/services/Soap/u/21.0
( for version 21).
On Success - server Url and session ID will be returned.
Static URL can be used for in Webservices API to connect to an endpoint.
Take the Salesforce Server that your instance is on and append "-api.salesforce.com/services/Soap/u/21.0" Of Course the 21.0 is the Version that salesforce is running at the time.

How one knows how to get the server that your instance is on?

Once one logs into Salesforce look at the URL and the first 3 characters is the server you are on. For example, cs3.salesforce.com "cs3" is the server that my instance is on.

What do you need for webservices API?

WSDL

What is the difference between Enterprise WSDL and Partner WSDL?

Enterprise WSDL has all the metadata and functions provided for the org. So if a field attribute or object is changed or added, one must re-generate the WSDL to update the file.
Partner WSDL - the developer has to do all the leg work up front and then if a field is added or object is changed or added, you do not have to re-generate the WSDL. It reflects on the WSDL with all changes. Mostly the developer would add it to his or her code. Plus you are utilizing SObjectDescribe() more.

More to Come... If you have experienced questions in your interviews or if you interviewed someone please leave a comment... Helps everyone out...
Regards,
Zishan
VisualForce Made Easy
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Add Chart button is disable on my report screen

2011-06-21T16:38:00.002-04:00

Scenario:
You are creating a new/modifying a report and need to add a chart to the chart but you see the "Add Chart" button is disable... How to enable it? See Screenshot

Solution:

Make sure your report is a summary or matrix report. Tabular will not work.
Make sure you have the report grouped. <== where it states "Drop a field here to create a grouping" See Screenshot

It should have a field there.
Once you do that then Add Chart will get enabled...See Screenshot

Regards,
Zishan
VisualForce Made Easy
MMAXTRA
Watch Me Fight

How to limit which values in a picklist appear depending on record type on Salesforce.com

2011-06-13T13:09:00.000-04:00

Scenario:
You have set up a record type on Salesforce.com for an Object. Now you need to set different picklist values to appear for different record type selections.
Solution:
Very Simple:

Go to Setup | Customize for Standard Objects or Create for Custom Objects | Click on Record types
Then select the record type that you need to change
You'll see a section Picklists Available for Editing
You can specify which values should appear for the record type

See Screenshot for Account object record type:

Regards,
Zishan

VisualForce Made Easy

MMAXTRA

Watch Me Fight

100 Sample Formula Salesforce Guide

2011-04-12T15:51:00.002-04:00

Scenario:

Had to figure out a formula to use for Lead Aging. I needed it quick because it impacted production.

Solution:salessasasss

I found this great guide and wanted to share it with everyone. It is "100 Sample formula Salesforce Guide". Something that every admin/developer should have.
It is a great guide to start one off with formulas that we would end up using.
Here is the link http://crmsuccess.blogs.com/files2/100_sample_formulas_v6.pdf

Oh I found my formula and I tweaked it for my needs: Lead Age
IF(ISPICKVAL(Status , "Open"), ROUND(NOW()-CreatedDate, 0), IF(ISPICKVAL(Status, "New"),ROUND(NOW()-CreatedDate, 0),NULL))
Hope this was helpful.
Regards,
Zishan

VisualForce Made Easy

MMAXTRA

Watch Me Fight

View Setup Audit Trail

2011-04-08T12:19:00.000-04:00

Welcome Back.

Scenario:

When you manage a team, which has more then 1 admins, it is very easy to play the blame game of who did what, who deleted what and things like this.
Well, instead of going crazy and having admins go at it with each other, there is a solution and its great to catch the culprit.

Solution:

The best solution is within salesforce.com called View Setup Audit Trail.
This was a life saver in which we found out who deleted a Value from a picklist field.

Salesforce admins on your team should have visibility into who deleted values/changed values/deleted objects/fields/everything dealing with salesforce by logging into Salesforce and navigating to:

“Name| Setup | Security Controls – View Setup Audit Trail”

There you can download the setup audit trail for the past 6 months. Go through the log and find out who was the real culprit..

Hope this helps everyone.

Check out my Other Blogs:
VisualForce Made Easy

MMAXTRA

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Field Trip - Field Analysis Made Easy

2011-04-06T16:33:00.000-04:00

Welcome back...
Scenario:
I had to figure out a way to do field analysis for a cleanup project. What this means is that, for object and each field and each record I had to figure out which fields we utilize the most and what fields do not get utilize anymore because of business changes, management changes, merges, etc.
I started to do my own analysis, the way to start is download/export all the data for one object and include ALL fields.
Then get the total records and then eliminate the null values, it was just hard.
Now usually I do not promote products on my blogs and keep them business scenario driven. But this is something that would save time and effort especially when your at the stage of cleaning up your instance and making it more clearer.

Finally, I found this great app on the appexchange which saved me lots of pain staking work and just made a big difference in my field analysis.
The app is "Field Trip" and its by a company named Qandor which is a salesforce.com vendor.
Basically, so you install this into your sandbox or production instance. Very easy installation.

Once it is setup, you create an app or include it in your app. Go to the tab Labeled "Field Trip" .
Click on New Field Trip.
You will get the following screen:

Place in your name of your field Trip Analysis
Then choose and object from the picklist
Then finally you can filter out the analysis for specific recordtype which I did here or Account Name or anything or if you like everything then do not place in a criteria.
Hit Save and it will bring you to the next page which is:

Now click on Analyze Button. It will bring you to this screen.

Then click on Begin Analysis. It will start off the job and once the job is done it will email you with your analysis.
Your Finish field analysis will look like this:

A couple of things, when you first hit Begin Analysis Button and go back to the Field Trip. You will automatically see all the fields come up and the Populated On (%) will come up "#Error!" ... Do not be alarmed. This is still being processed.
When you install Field Trip a special Report Type is created so you can do reports off it. It is located under "Other Reports" and you will see 3 Field Trip Reports:

Field Trip
Field Trip with Field Analyses
Field Trip Histroy

See Screenshot

Well, that's it...
Hope you enjoy this and please let me know your feedback.
Click here to go to Field Trip App.
Check out my Other Blogs:

VisualForce Made Easy
MMAXTRA
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Currency fields displaying a different default currency than specified?

2011-03-18T14:26:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone:
Here is a scenario I had where an user was seeing a currency field that was displaying a different currency then it should have.
So for Example:
Currency Field Name is: XYZ Amount
This field is located on the Account Object.
So an account record is displaying everything correctly except the XYZ Amount is showing in GDP instead of USD.
How to fix it?

Solution:
A couple of things to check:

Check in the record edit mode or preview if there is a drop down of a field named Account Currency.
Change the currency to what this record should be at.
Simple and fixed.

Now what happens if you do not see the Account Currency. Well, then the record was probably created by a data integration that filled in the currency of that record.

Go to the Page Layout. (Setup | Customize | Account | Page Layouts | name of the page Layout)
Type into the fields search section, Account Currency
Drag it to the Page Layout.
Go to the record that is having the issue and hit Edit
Locate the Account Currency Field and change the value to what you would like it to be.
Hit save. Your done.
Go back to the page layout and take the field away if that is your business policy.

Here is a link to help you out: Salesforce Guide

Thanks
Z

Connect for Microsoft Outlook

2011-02-17T16:34:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone: I have been on a roll here, many questions, many scenarios.
Well the most common question since Spring Release 11 for salesforce.com is:
My company still utilizes Office 2003 which includes Outlook 2003, and the new install of Outlook is for 2010 and 2007. What happen to the old install?

Before that, I would like to take a moment to let you know what is Connect for Microsoft Outlook:
It is a great toolbar which helps you navigate or add cases to Salesforce from your Outlook.
You can do more such as:

"synchronize your contacts, tasks, and calendar events
associate Outlook email messages with salesforce.com records
create cases from Outlook email messages
map custom fields in salesforce.com to fields in Outlook"

Answer:
It never went away, but yet confusing to find.
So if you will, here are instructions of how to find where outlook 2003 salesforce connect is:

If you login to Salesforce and navigate to: "Your Name | Setup | Desktop Integration | Salesforce for Outlook"
On your Right hand side you will see "Salesforce for Outlook" | "Connect for Microsoft Outlook"
Click on "Connect for Microsoft Outlook". You shall see Version 3.3.111 "Install Now" Button.
Click on it and make sure that you do not have Outlook up and running. Close it out and then Install the program. This works for Outlook 2003, 2007, and XP.

See Screenshot:

Check out my Other Blogs:

VisualForce Made Easy

Dataloader Made Easy

Regards,
Zishan

Calculate the amount of months between 2 dates in Salesforce via Formula

2011-02-16T14:43:00.000-05:00

Hi:
Welcome back...I had a business scenario to where the business unit needed to calculate the amount of months between 2 dates via Formula in Salesforce.com. But when CloseDate is the first of the month then add a month to the formula but when the close date is not the first of the month then do not add the month in.
This was the criteria, for the business.

Pretty Simple. But a little complex.

So Let's go to the solution and let me break it down for you.
The object affected in this case is Opportunity.

The Fields affected are:
CloseDate <== Standard date field in Opportunity Object
Project_End_Date__c <== Custom Date Field in Opportunity Object
of_Months__c <== Formula Number Field in Opportunity Object

The formula is easy:
Before we get to the formula lets brain storm 3 possible scenarios:

Scenario 1:
If the CloseDate Day starts with 1 Lets Say 01/01/2011 and Project End Date is 3/01/2011 then the number of months should be 3.
This is the easiest scenario

Scenario 2:

If CloseDate is 01/11/2011 and Project End Date is 03/11/2011 then the number of months is 2.

Scenario 3:
If CloseDate is 01/11/2011 and Project End Date is 03/21/2011 then the number of months is 2.

This formula takes the business criteria and calculates it:
The first criteria for the business was:
When CloseDate is the first of the month then add a month to the # of Months Field.
IF(DAY(CloseDate) = 1, <== If this is true Such as 02/01/2011

(((YEAR( Project_End_Date__c ) - YEAR( CloseDate)) *12) +
(MONTH( Project_End_Date__c ) - MONTH( CloseDate ) ) +1)

The second criteria for the business was:
This is when the first criteria becomes false: IF(DAY(CloseDate) = 1,
Such as 02/11/2011

((YEAR( Project_End_Date__c ) - YEAR( CloseDate )) *12) + (MONTH(
Project_End_Date__c ) - MONTH( CloseDate ) ) )

So here is the formula:

IF(DAY(CloseDate) = 1, (((YEAR( Project_End_Date__c ) - YEAR( CloseDate
)) *12) + (MONTH( Project_End_Date__c ) - MONTH( CloseDate ) ) +1),
((YEAR( Project_End_Date__c ) - YEAR( CloseDate )) *12) + (MONTH(
Project_End_Date__c ) - MONTH( CloseDate ) ) )

Just a quick tip for formulas, I do it in Excel before I write it out on the salesforce.com field.
Check out my Other Blogs:

VisualForce Made Easy

Dataloader Made Easy

Regards,
Zishan

Interview Questions for Salesforce Administrators

2011-02-14T10:17:00.000-05:00

Hi, Welcome Back.
Is your company currently looking for a Salesforce Administrator? If yes, then you need to asked them correct questions so you get the right candidate and not someone you need to teach.

A Salesforce Administrator should have knowledge of Validation Rules, Objects, Fields, Workflow Rules, User Profiles and General Knowledge. So I have prepared questions to ask interviewee about Salesforce.com. This may even help people who are going to the interview for a salesforce.com administrator position.
Lets Start:

What is the difference between Lookup Relationship and Master-Detail Relationship?
True or False? If you were to delete a record that had a lookup to a child object, all child object records would get deleted as well.
Where is the view Account hierarchy link?
What does the Account Hierarchy tell or do?
Where can you make a field required?
I'm setting up different page layouts for different user profiles. As a system administrator, is there another way to see what the user sees instead of them granting log in access to you?
What type of Workflow Alerts are there?
Validation Rules, What are they use for in Salesforce?
What is Dataloader?
What is the difference between Profiles and Roles in Salesforce.com?

This is what I have so far, but stay tune I shall come up with more.

Check out my Other Blogs:

VisualForce Made Easy
Dataloader Made Easy

Thanks
Give me feedback or post some questions that I missed out on.
Zishan

IP Restricted Profiles

2010-11-21T17:55:00.000-05:00

Scenario:
IP restrict all profiles so that the user can not login into the salesforce instance outside of the company.

Solution:
Within the profile place in the ip range of your company.
This also takes away the use of security token keys, which the user has no ability to create one.

Screenshots:

The System Administrator Profile, notice the Login IP Ranges Related list Link.

Go to the Login IP Ranges Related List and Click New

Place in the ranges of IP within your company for the Profile

Now if you as the system admin profile go under My Personal Information, you should not see Security Token Key Reset Link.

BROWSER SETTINGS TO WORK WITH SALESFORCE

2010-10-22T10:48:00.000-04:00

Scenario:
Business Unit uses IE more then Mozilla Firefox for salesforce.com use. IE needs special settings to support salesforce.
Solution:

"In general:

Salesforce.com recommends using Firefox 3.0 for best performance. For configuration recommendations, see Configuring Firefox.

Microsoft® Internet Explorer versions 7.0 and 8.0 (If you are using IE 6.0, I recommend that you upgrade to a newer version) Salesforce.com strongly recommends using Internet Explorer version 8.0 over version 7.0. Apply all Microsoft® hotfixes. For configuration recommendations, see Configuring Internet Explorer.

Apple® Safari version 3

Supported on Windows XP,Windows Vista, and Mac OS X version 10.4 and later. There are no browser setting recommendations for Safari.

Important: For all browsers you must enable JavaScript, cookies, and SSL 3.0.

Certain features in the Salesforce online application as well as some desktop clients, toolkits, and adapters have their own browser requirements. For example:

" Internet Explorer is the only supported browser for the standard mail merge feature.

" Internet Explorer is the only supported browser when installing Salesforce Mobile on a Windows Mobile device.

" Internet Explorer is the only supported browser for Connect Offline.

" Safari is not supported for the Salesforce CRM Call Center CTI Toolkit.

Refer to the documentation for those products for specific information. Other requirements can be found in Salesforce System Requirements.

Internet Explorer settings

1. Make sure the following IE8 Internet options are selected

Tools | Internet Options:

General Tab
1. From the General tab, click Settings under Browsing History
2. For the Check for newer versions of stored pages option, select "every time I visit the webpage".
3. For the Disk space to use option, enter at least 50 MB.

Security Tab
1. From the Security tab, click Custom Level under Internet and scroll to the Scripting section.
2. Make sure the Active Scripting option is enabled. JavaScript depends on this setting being enabled.

Privacy Tab
1. From the Privacy tab, click Advanced.
2. Select the Override automatic cookie handling option.
3. Select the Always allow session cookies option.

Advanced Tab
From the Advanced tab, scroll to the Security section and do the following:
1. Do not select the Do not save encrypted pages to disk option.
2. Select the Use SSL 3.0 option.

Tip: The Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed option causes the cache to clear when Internet Explorer is shut down. This increases privacy, but may decrease performance.

Mozilla Firefox version 3.0

Configuring Firefox

Available in: All Editions

For best performance, salesforce.com recommends using the Mozilla Firefox 3.0 browser.

The following settings are required:

1. Click Tools | Options.

2. Enable JavaScript:

a. Go to the Content panel.

b. Select the Enable JavaScript and Enable Java options.

3. Accept cookies:

a. Go to the Privacy panel.

b. Select the Accept Cookies from sites option.

c. For the Keep until option, select they expire.

4. Set encryption protocols:

a. Go to the Advanced panel.

b. Click the Encryption tab.

c. Select the Use SSL 3.0 option.

5. Click OK.

Advanced Settings

Optionally, configure advanced caching preferences to maximize performance:

1. Type "about: config" in the browser's location bar, and then press Enter.

2. If a warning displays, "click I'll be careful, I promise!"

3. Search for the following preferences and set them to the recommended value by double-clicking the preference name. Changes take effect immediately.

4. Change how the browser retains common resources across requests by setting the following caching preferences.

Preference Recommended Value Default Value

browser.cache.check_doc_frequency 3 3

browser.cache.disk.capacity 50,000 or more; increase to 50,000

use more hard disk space

browser.cache.disk.enable True True

browser.cache.disk_cache_ssl True False

browser.cache.memory.enable True True

network.http.use-cache True True

Note: You can set some of these preferences by clicking Tools € Options in the Firefox browser. Refer to Firefox Help for details.

Tip: Setting privacy.sanitize.sanitize On Shutdown to "true" causes the cache to clear when Firefox shuts down. This increases privacy, but may decrease performance.

To view the contents of your cache, type "about:cache" in the Firefox location bar and press Enter.

Refer to Mozilla Zine Knowledge Base and Firefox Support Home Page for more information on these and other preferences."

Add User to see Campaign Button

2010-10-11T13:28:00.000-04:00

Scenario:
You have an user that would like to start doing campaigns. But he/she does not see the campaign button. The user is part of a profile that his/her peers are utilizing campaigns. So why can't this person do anything?
Solution:
Many people would think it is part of there profile. It is not. Very simple solution for this. Go to the individual's profile or information. Click on Marketing User Checkbox, wallah they have access to campaign button.

Hope this helps.

Looking for testmethod for Wizard

2010-08-06T21:23:00.000-04:00

Hi if you are looking for a test class or testmethod for the opportunity controller wizard that was written by salesforce but they never provided a test class for it... Well check out my other blog, Visualforce made Easy where you will find the testclass for it.
Here it is Click on the link
opportunity-wizard-controller TestMethod

Awesome, Give me feedback
Thanks
Zishan

Count Selected Items in MultiPicklist in Formula Field in Salesforce.com

2010-06-08T09:56:00.003-04:00

Scenario:

Need to capture the count of selected items in a multi-select picklist into a field.
Note: This will work once the user clicks save on the record.

Solution:

Create a formula field in the salesforce object where the multi-select picklist resides.
Make it a Number attribute with decimal holding of Zero
Give it a name
Click on Advance Formula
Two conditions we will use is

INCLUDES(multiselect_picklist_field, text_literal) method
IF(logical_test, value_if_true, value_if_false) method

Let say our Multi-Select Picklist was named "Colors__c" and the values were "Red", "Green", "Blue"
We need to count the values that the user selected within this "Colors__c" Picklist.
Formula would be as follows:

Taking the INCLUDES(multiselect_picklist_field, text_literal) method first:

INCLUDES(Colors__c,'Red') <== Basically means that when the user has selected "Red" from the multi-select picklist box named "Colors__c"
Now place in IF Then Method:

IF(INCLUDES(Colors__c,'Red'),1,0) <== If(the user chooses "Red" then give the value of the field a 1 otherwise a zero.
Now we need to add to it so that it increments when a user selects more then 1 value from the multi-select picklist.
IF(INCLUDES(Colors__c,'Red'),1,0)
+ IF(INCLUDES(Colors__c,'Green'),1,0)
+ IF(INCLUDES(Colors__c,'Blue'),1,0)

Click save. That is it.

Please check out the screen shots below. but please provide feedback on this:
Colors__c Field Multi-Select Picklist: (Red, Green, Blue)

No_of_Colors_Selected__c Formula Field:

Using the Field in the Object (Account in this case):<== As you can see I selected Red and Green Values from the Colors__c box.

Click Save to see if Formula Works:

No_of_Colors_Selected is 2 which is correct because I only selected Red;Green values from the Colors__c Picklist.

Thank you
Check out my Other Blogs:

VisualForce Made Easy
Data Migration Made Easy

eTechCareers.com <== Coming Soon!!!! All of your Employment needs for Information Technology and Project Management.

LINKS:

Force.com Workbook

Force.com Platform Fundamentals

Determine End of Month Date or Days in Salesforce.com

2010-01-20T19:53:00.004-05:00

Scenario:
   A) Determine how many days in a month.
   B) Determine how the End of Month Date

Solution:
For A:
   DAY(DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),MONTH(TODAY())+1,1)-1) <== This will determine the days in the current Month.
For example: For Jan there are 31 Days in the month.

For B:
DATE(YEAR(TODAY()) ,MONTH(TODAY()),DAY(DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),MONTH(TODAY())+1,1)-1))

This will return the actual end of month date...
For January it will return January 31, 2010.
This does not accomodate Leap Year:
So an easier way to do this would be:
DATE(
YEAR(TODAY()),
MONTH(TODAY()),
CASE( MONTH(TODAY()),
1, 31,
2, IF( MOD( YEAR(TODAY()), 4) = 0, 29, 28),
3, 31,
4, 30,
5, 31,
6, 30,
7, 31,
8, 31,
9, 30,
10, 31,
11, 30,
12, 31,
0
)
)

This will return for the Month of Feb: Feb, 28, 2010.

Now to get Last Day of Next Month it would be similiar:
DATE(
YEAR(TODAY()),
MONTH(TODAY())+1,
CASE( MONTH(TODAY())+1,
1, 31,
2, IF( MOD( YEAR(TODAY()), 4) = 0, 29, 28),
3, 31,
4, 30,
5, 31,
6, 30,
7, 31,
8, 31,
9, 30,
10, 31,
11, 30,
12, 31,
0
)
)

This will Return The Next Month Like March:
March 31, 2010.
Now if you are using a Date field to determine the end of that current month and using a formula field to do so...
Substitute the TODAY() with the field that you want the formula to go off from...

Thank you
Check out my Other Blogs:

VisualForce Made Easy
Data Migration Made Easy

eTechCareers.com Coming Soon!!!! All of your Employment needs for Information Technology and Project Management.

LINKS:

Force.com Workbook

Force.com Platform Fundamentals

Event within 10 days in salesforce.com

2010-01-20T17:21:00.003-05:00

Scenario:
Want to know if there is an event within 10 days of the event.
On any Object:
Create a formula field.
Field Type= Text

The formula is:
IF(
MONTH(DateFieldName)=MONTH(TODAY()),
IF(
AND(
DAY(DateFieldName)-DAY(TODAY())>=0,
DAY(DateFieldName)-DAY(TODAY())<=10
),
"TRUE",
"FALSE"
),
IF(MONTH(DateFieldName)-MONTH(TODAY())=1,
IF(
AND(
31-DAY(TODAY())+DAY(DateFieldName)>=0,
31-DAY(TODAY())+DAY(DateFieldName)<=10
),
"TRUE",
"FALSE"
),
"FALSE"
)
)

Thank you
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LINKS:

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PodCast on Salesforce Developer Exams 401 and 501

2009-12-31T10:33:00.002-05:00

Hi all:
I wanted to share a podcast that I found on ITunes for salesforce.com 401 and 501 developer exam.
Podcast id=325668840
If you click on this it should open up your ITunes and get you to the location.
If you do not have ITunes then I can download the Episode and post them up...

In ITunes the direction is as is:
Podcasts ==> Video Podcasts ==> Software How-To ==> salesforce.com Training and Certification

I hope this helps...

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Developer 401 Force.com Exam - Tips

2009-03-06T10:58:00.016-05:00

Hi:
The developer 401 Force.com Exam is geared toward people who do not know how to code as per say write a trigger or Visual Force Page. But does understand what the technical functions are in salesforce.com.
So when you are preparing for this test, please do not worry about the code itself but worry about:

Security that is involved on the force.com platform <== Refers to Groups, Roles, Profiles
Master/Detail/Lookup relationships
Junction Objects
relationship between Developer/Full Copy/Config sandbox and Production
Matrix Reports (similar to a Pivot table in Excel)
DataLoader
Import Wizard
Know all the Components(See pic below)

Basically go through the setUp area and you should know and understand everything that is there for this exam. Remember this exam does not test your code knowledge it is an exam to make sure you undertstand the technical side of things. It may seem like an Admin exam. You might say "I am not an admin". Well, everytime when a developer gets a project, one must think of two things:

Can it be done without code <== this is understand the functions of the App.
If done in code then what would be affected, as in Relationships between objects, Reports, etc.

I listed out the top 45 things to know/understand about the test...It is highly recommended that you know the technical functionality of all the functions on the force.com. Also, know the Apex Dataloader as well. (Note: These are notes not questions from the exam)

1.  ID's are identical in :
A. Production, full copy sandbox, developer
B. Production and full copy sandbox only
C. Production , developer

2.  If you want to look at trends in a report which report would you use:
A. Matrix
B. Summary

3.  If you want the a list of positions what dashboard would you use:
A. metric
B. table
C. chart
D. gauge

4.  how many master detail relationships can you have on an object:
A. 4
B. 2
C. 1
D. 3

5.  What would you use an apex trigger for...
A. have a zip code object and in the city and state of the 
candidate position to check the zip code table and see if that 
city exist in the state
B. create new record, have it update a field

6.  What is a Mini page layout or related list?

7.  Know everything about an external id.

8.  Know the ins and out of the search component on the side bar

9. What versions have apex and vf both active:

10. For the user object what can you do in the page layout:
A. custom link
B. inline vf page
C. custom button
D. custom field

11. A CEO does not want to log into salesforce.com but would 
like see the dashboards.
How would one accomplish this? How would one set this up?

12. When one wants to lock the records:
A. is this process automated
B. One needs to choose this option when doing an approval process.

13. Profiles and what do they give access to?

14. Sharing and revoking grant access

15. The import wizard and user object

16. Force.com metadata api

17. What represents the view in MVC

18. Organization wide defaults

19. Public read/write, public read only

20. If the approval process sents out 3 emails simultaneously Slide 1to managers.
What is the next step in the approval process and how does it get to
the next step?

21. Parent child relationship

22. Many many replationship

23. Manager wants to give access to data reporting to his team
what access is required for this to happen:
A. reports, dashboard folder
B. reports dashboard user running

24. Encryted field not good for :

25. Workflow rules

26. Today()-Datevalue(CreatedDate)

27. For approval process what groups can you have:
A. profiles
B. roles and subordicates
C. active team members

28. Org wide defaults / hierarchy turned off

29. Page Layout can you add inline vf

30. Record types

31. Is there such a thing called minipagelayout

32. Who can change the owner of a record

33. How does a developer test out the time trigger workflow rule
does he do it through:
A. debug log.
B. sign in as the developer name, create new record, 
go to the time trigger queue

34. Creating a lookup relationship

35. What are the three actions for a workflow process the beggining steps

36. Do you give permissions to submit for approval button,
Or is it added on automatically?

37. Dataloader: 50,000 more records at a time. True or False

38. Developer used dataloader and try to load into sandbox 
but had an issue had authentication issue
What could it be:
A. Password encryption
B. Chk username
C. chk endpoint

39. What is a Declarative interface?

40. What is localize and internationalize?

41. What does out of the box salesforce give you?
A. data warehouse
B. approval process
C. workflow rules
D. validation rules

42. Know this page.Inside out.



43. Apex Dataloader and Import wizard through salesforce.com
For Apex Dataloader Go Into:
Setup|Administrative Setup|Data Management| DataLoader (See Below)


I hope this helps future developers who will be taking this exam..
Great Links on Salesforce.com

Thanks

Zishan

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Dynamically generate the logged in user's id Syntax in Salesforce.com

2009-02-27T11:55:00.005-05:00

Scenario:
Place on the home page sales history information by user for only that user.

Tools needed:
Apex Class/Trigger/Controller
VisualForce

I will go into the code part later. But to get the id of the user dynamically and have your VF page component added onto your Home Page Layout working. In your SOQL query under your Apex Controller/Class you must use the following:

UserInfo.getUserId();

So in SOQL, in Apex code you can do:
Select Id, Owner.Id, Name, Site from Account where Owner.Id=:UserInfo.getUserId();

I hope this helps....
Thanks
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Date Formats and Date Literals in SOQL Query

2009-02-25T11:32:00.002-05:00

Hi.. Welcome back..
I always had issues with SOQL Query utilizing dates in particular. So I wanted to share some tips and tricks on writing SOQL queries using some Built in Date Functions...

Now you do your query in 2 ways:

1. Specify a date in your query such as
Select Id,CreatedDate from Account where CreatedDate=DateValue(2008-02-05)
This will return all Id's for all the Account Object that were Created 2008-02-05.

2. Do it with a Fixed Expression or Built in Function such as:
Select Id, CreatedDate from Account where CreatedDate = YESTERDAY
This will return all Id's for the Account Object that were Created yesterday.
This is called a Date Literal.

Now before we go on:
You must know the Syntax for Date in Force.com :

YYYY-MM-DD

For DateTime the Syntax is as follows:

YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss+hh:mm 2009-02-24T23:01:01+01:00
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss-hh:mm 2009-02-24T23:01:01-08:00
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ 2009-02-24T23:01:01Z

So Lets go into Date Literals: I took this off from the Salesforce.com Api docs...
The link is: http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/api/index.htm

Go to search and type in Date Literals... This should come up.(See Below)

Enhanced List Views

2009-02-24T13:07:00.001-05:00

Would you like the new view for search layouts instead of the old boring SFDC view... See Picture Above.
Or Need the new look and feel of Salesforce.com
Like this:

To make this happen it is very simple, Under User profile do not enable Accessibility Mode.
Several user interface features are not available when Accessibility Mode is enabled on a user's User record, including the Enhanced List Views functionality you are referring to.
In order for this to work, navigate to Setup | My Personal Information | Personal Information, click [Edit], deselect the "Accessability Mode" checkbox, and Save.
Done....
Now your UI is uniformed and looks better. I like the fact that the entire page does not refresh when you want to sort it by account or any field.
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How to Create a Validation Rule in Salesforce.com(Force.com)

2008-12-23T13:14:00.001-05:00

What Are Validation Rules in Salesforce.com:
From Salesforce.com Premier Support Rep:
"Validation rules verify that the data a user enters in a record meets the standards you specify before the user can save the record. A validation rule can contain a formula or expression that evaluates the data in one or more fields and returns a value of "True" or "False." Validation rules also include an error message to display to the user when the rule returns a value of "True" due to an invalid value."

In simplest terms, some rule that you would like to do checks on your system, record.

So, Validation Rules are Available in: Group, Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, and Developer Editions.

To create validation rules:

Go to the Object you would like to create the validation rule on. To get to that object click Setup and then Customize. If it is a standard object like Account, Contact, Opportunity, Product, etc.

If it is a Customize Object then click on Setup==> Create==>Objects and then click on the object you like.

Now click on Validation Rule and click New.

Give your Validation a Name

Give it a Description (not needed but helps in the long run and good practice)

Check the Active Box to make it Active

Error Condition Formula: This is where you place in your expression to validate the field. For example: Let say you want to validate that US States Field to have 2 abbreviations in it. The rule would be something like:
AND (
OR(BillingCountry = "US", BillingCountry="USA", LEN(BillingCountry)=0),
OR(
LEN(BillingState) < 2, NOT( CONTAINS("AL:AK:AZ:AR:CA:CO:CT:DE:DC:FL:GA:HI:ID:" & "IL:IN:IA:KS:KY:LA:ME:MD:MA:MI:MN:MS:MO:MT:NE:NV:NH:" & "NJ:NM:NY:NC:ND:OH:OK:OR:PA:RI:SC:SD:TN:TX:UT:VT:VA:" & "WA:WV:WI:WY:PR:MP", BillingState) )))

Now in the Error Message Place in the Error you would like the User to see or get.
Like : A valid two-letter state code is required.
Error Location: Do you want to display the error on top of the page or next to the field itself. If you want it next to the field then click field and choose your field from the picklist.
Click Save to finish or Save & New to create additional validation rules.

Done...
Thanks
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Date Must Be in the Current Month Validation Rule in Salesforce.com

2008-12-23T13:06:00.002-05:00

Hi all:
I just had a task for a client, in which I had to create a Validation Rule, and that Validation had to do the following:

On the current Account Record, (It can be Account, Opportunity, Contact etc.)
If the CreatedDate was last Month then the user can not edit the record but if it was not then the user can edit the record.

So this is my Validation Rule for Such a Case:

First thing was, I had to convert CreatedDate to a regular Date value because it was a DateTime Value. So you do that by DATEVALUE(CreatedDate).
Then I stated that if the year of the CreatedDate and Month is not equal to today then basically spit out an error. This is the complete Validation Rule:

OR(
YEAR(DATEVALUE(CreatedDate)) <> YEAR(TODAY()),
MONTH(DATEVALUE(CreatedDate)) <> MONTH(TODAY())
)

I hope this helps... Let me know send me feedback..
Thanks
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IE (Internet Explorer) Issue for Salesforce.com?

2008-12-17T10:04:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone:
I had an issue where I wrote a simple trigger to update Contact Record off an Opportunity. Everything worked out with a test rate of 90%, then deployed into the production from sandbox.
But then realized that it worked for some people and some people it did not.
So a couple of test I did was:

Check my code
Check the Profile
Login as the user and see if I re-create the same error message.

Well I logged in as the user, the trigger worked in every aspect... So I knew there was maybe a IE issue since the user kept using IE and did not want to use Mozilla.
I contacted Salesforce Support and there great representative told me what I needed to do to get it working for that person...See Below:

"Please have your user implement the following solution on his computer and test the trigger again.

Here is a guide to browser settings on Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and 7 that can help users who are having trouble.

1. From the browser menu, click Help, then choose About Internet Explorer. Ensure that the cipher strength is 128 bit or higher. If it is not, go to www.microsoft.com/windows/ie and upgrade to a 128 bit version.

2. Next, click the Tools menu, then select Internet Options.

For IE 6:
3. On the General tab, locate the Temporary Internet Files section and click the Settings button. Select the "Every visit to the page" radio button and ensure there is enough disk space for the cache. The ideal cache size is between 20 and 50 megabytes (MB). (Make sure your computer has enough disk space on its hard drive.) When you are finished, click the OK button.

4. In the same Temporary Internet Files section of the General tab, click the Delete Cookies button and Delete Files button.

For IE 7:
3. On the General tab, locate the Browsing history section and click the Settings button. Select the "Every time I visit the webpage" radio button and ensure there is enough disk space for the cache. The ideal cache size is between 20 and 50 megabytes (MB). (Make sure your computer has enough disk space on its hard drive.) When you are finished, click the OK button.

4. In the same Browsing history section of the General tab, click the Delete button. In the Delete Browsing History window that appears, locate the Temporary Internet Files section and click the Delete Files button. Then locate the Cookies section and click the Delete cookies button. When you are finished, click the Close button

********

5. Click the Privacy tab. In the Web Sites area or using the Sites button click the Edit button. In the Address of Web site text box, enter "https://*.salesforce.com" (without the quotation marks) and click the Allow button. When you are finished, click the OK button.

6. Click the Advanced tab. Scroll to the bottom of the Settings box. The "Do not save encrypted pages to disk" check box should NOT be selected.

7. Also on the Advanced tab, the "Empty Temporary Internet Files Folder when browser is closed" check box should be selected, as well as the "Use SSL 2.0" and "Use SSL 3.0" check boxes.

8. Click the Security tab. Click the "Internet" icon (represented by a globe graphic). Click the Custom Level button. Scroll almost to the bottom of the Settings box to "Active Scripting". Ensure that the Enabled option is selected. Now scroll to the option that says "Display Mixed Content" and make sure this is set to Enabled. When you are finished, click the OK button.

9. Also on the Security tab, click the "Trusted Sites" icon (represented by a check mark graphic). Click the Sites button. In the "Add this Web site to the zone" text box, enter "https://*.salesforce.com" (without the quotation marks) and click the Add button. When you are finished, click the OK button.

10. With the "Trusted Sites" icon still selected, click the Custom Level button. Scroll to the option that says "Display Mixed Content" and make sure this is set to Enabled.

11. Click the "OK" button.

12. Close all open browser windows, re-launch Internet Explorer, and login to salesforce.com.

NOTE: If problems persist and you know you are connecting to the Internet using a Proxy server, you can also make the following change to your settings.

1. Click the Tools menu, and select Internet Options.

2. Click the Advanced tab, and scroll approximately half-way down the Settings box.

3. Select the "Use http1.1 through proxy connections" check box." From Salesforce.com Premier Support.

Thanks I hope this helps out anyone with this issue.
Thanks
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Salesforce.com Certified Force.com - Take the exam or Not?

2008-11-27T12:39:00.002-05:00

Hi:
Salesforce.com Certified Force.com Examination. Wow, this has became the biggest thing in Salesforce is getting these cerifications.
There are 5 Certification Exams in different levels for Force.com, 2 for Admins, 2 for Developer and 1 for Consultants. The exams tend to run from $200-$400 depending on which one. The 5 Exams plus study guides, for these are:

ADMINISTRATOR:

Salesforce.com Certified Administrator : Study Guide
Salesforce.com Certified Advanced Administrator : Study Guide

DEVELOPER:

Salesforce.com Certified Force.com Developer : Study Guide
Salesforce.com Certified Force.com Advanced Developer : Study Guide

Consultant:

Salesforce.com Certified Consultant : Study Guide

There are Classes for these courses which will run you about $5000 plus 5 days of your time. Do you need the classes?
That depends on you. Basically, You need to answer a couple of questions:

Can you Self Study?
Do you know the force.com platform
Are you an ADMIN/Developer for more them 2 years?
Have you been up to date on the software enhances every season?

I personally took the Force.com 320 Application Library Course. It was awesome, I had a great Teacher, I went through BlueWolf.
There tool is not that bad for data migration purposes. I use there ESI tool.

Now, I will be taking the Developer exam on December 5. Hope to pass on the first try.
I'll keep everyone updated.

BottomLine: Get the certs, its like getting certs for Microsoft. Many companies are now asking for Certified Force.com People.

Thanks
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Understanding a Trigger in Salesforce.com

2008-11-27T11:54:00.002-05:00

Hi again:
This will be the first of many lessons on Triggers. But before I start writing triggers in salesforce.com, I need to explain triggers and how they work. One needs to understand before anything. So lets start.

What is a Trigger?

"A Trigger is a block of Apex Code that executes in response to a particular type of change in a record's data." from the Force.com Developer Guide Page 336

What does the above definition mean in simple English. Basically a trigger is an event that fires off when a record is changed.
by changed I mean, you can:

Update a Record - Updating an existing record.
Insert Record - Inserting a new record like a new Account or Contact.
Delete Record - before the record deletes make sure everything is valid.

These three Actions we call (Update, Insert, Delete) are the main functions of a trigger. Basically which one will use a trigger for.
Also one can use a trigger as a controller combine with Visualforce or calling a web service API.
People have asked the question "How can I override the Save button in Force.com" Plain and simple way is to write a trigger. Why or How?
Simple, when you create or update a record the only way your new information weather you added information to an existing record or changed it or you added a new record, one would have to click SAVE to place the information into the database.
By clicking Save if you have a trigger on that Object then you can fire it off, thus overriding the save button. It will save and do the commands you wrote in the trigger itself.
Also, triggers must be written in Sandbox and then deploy to server via eclipse tool.
It must pass the standard requirement of 75% in sandbox before deploying into production.

I hope this cleared many questions about understanding a trigger. My next post will be on writing a trigger and implementing it.
Thanks
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Tips and Tricks About AJAX TOOLS in Salesforce.com

2008-11-20T14:08:00.001-05:00

Hi all:
Today, I want to give tips and tricks about AJAX TOOLS in salesforce.com. But you need a couple things first:

If you have an salesforce.com org set up then download the ajax toolkit .
Click on Get it Now.
Go to the process, it will ask where would you like to place it, using your developer account, company's or sandbox username and password.
Once all of the steps are done and executed onto the org you decided.
This will create an app onto your org called AJAX TOOLS. Look at Picture
The best place to run AJAX is in Mozilla Firefox (If you do not have Mozilla then download here). With IE it does not work properly.
Now once we are in AJAX, Click on Start Ajax Tools - This will open up a new window and first thing you will see is all of your S-Controls and Underneath that your Apex Classes, and Visual Force Pages.
You will see many icons on top going from Left to Right Across. See Picture Below
Save, Run, New, Backup and Config On the Left hand side of the Menu - Is used to save your S-Controls, Apex Classes
On the Right hand Side These are different set of menus that open up a new world.
Shell:

You Can place your Javascript code to see if it runs correctly
Can place in APEX Code, SOSL Statement or your SOQL statement
To Make it run just hit enter...

Samples:

Cool way to learn Javascript and correct SOQL Statements.

Explorer:

This is the best tool of them all on this AJAX TOOLKIT.
One can create queries and relationships just by selecting tables fields from the Parent Table.
For example, Dropdown Account Where it states SObject.
Next you will see all the fields come up PLUS all the relationship Tables that go along with the Account. AMAZING.
You can do many things with the query statement you produce out of here.
You can create your S-Control and then make the tweeqs that you need to make it work. All you have to do is click on Generate Sample. This will generate the code needed for your S-Control on that object. See Picture Below

I hope this help anyone out... Let me know...
Thanks
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Too many SOQL queries: 21 Error in Force.com

2008-07-23T15:03:00.002-04:00

Hi and Welcome:
Basically this error defines that your code went over the governing level of salesforce. Basically, this happens when you are uploading data through an web service api or data loader.

Just remember you will have to keep your batch size low due to the trigger governor limits (soql statements). A batch of 20 is just fine, or less.

So an example:
Scenario:

Upload through a 3rd party tool to salesforce from sql server into the product and pricebookentry table.
This is to update the existing products into salesforce. (NOT AN INSERT BUT AN UPDATE)
The trigger will update the account making the IsActive(Price) Active on the current Pricebook which is Active not Standard Pricebook.

Bad Trigger:

trigger updateitafter on Product2 (after update) {

List toUpdate = new List();
for(Product2 p:Trigger.new){

Product2 existingProduct= Trigger.oldMap.get(p.Id);
//The SOQL statement below will give you an error
//because of the for loop..
for (PriceBookEntry li:[Select UnitPrice, Product2Id,
Pricebook2Id, Id From PricebookEntry
where Product2Id=:existingProduct.Id
and IsActive=false and UnitPrice!=0.00])
{
li.IsActive=true;
toUpdate.add(li);
}

update toUpdate;
}
}

The right way to do the trigger:
trigger updateitafter on Product2 (after update) {
List allids = new List();

List toUpdate = new List();
for(Product2 p:Trigger.new){

Product2 existingProduct= Trigger.oldMap.get(p.Id);
allids.add(existingProduct);
}

for(PriceBookEntry li:[Select UnitPrice,
Product2Id, Pricebook2Id, Id
From PricebookEntry where
Product2Id In :allids
and IsActive=false
and UnitPrice!=0.00])
{
li.IsActive=true;
toUpdate.add(li);
}
update toUpdate;
}

The Change:

In apex or any database-centric Programming, a query should not be executed inside the loop.
So getting all the ProductId's first and placing it into an array(list) then using that list placing it back into the query just by an IN statement makes it easy and within limits of salesforce.
This would do two things:

Execute a single query and loop through its results.
Also, efficient coding and clean.

Hope this was helpful.
Thanks
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