LWC: Working with custom record forms using lightning-record-edit-form

I was recently working on creating a utility LWC component for displaying Salesforce record data. This component is unique in that it can be used with both standard and custom objects, and t here is no need to create a record form for each object; simply drag and drop this component on any record form page in Lightning App Builder, provide the API name of the object, and supply a few more parameters, and voila! The record form will be generated based on the page layout. By overriding the new and edit buttons, this component may be used to create or change a record.

This component relies on the fact that every record is associated with a page layout, and it requires this information when it is instantiated. If an object has record types, a mapping must be supplied. This component does not currently accept compound fields, but as far as I can tell, it is possible.

I learnt a lot while working on this component, which I'd like to share in this blog.

lightning-record-edit-form can be used for both creating and editing a record. To customize the behaviour of your form when it loads, use the onload attribute to specify event handlers. This is how you gain access to the record

async handleRecordEditFormLoad(event) {
    const record = this.recordId ? event.detail.records[this.recordId] : event.detail.record;

    ...
    ...
}

You can use the below piece of code to display the form once you've retrieved the page layout data (see below).

get sections() {
    return this.layoutSections?.map((layoutSec) => {
        const layoutSection = { ...layoutSec };
        const { layoutColumns } = layoutSection;
        layoutSection.layoutColumns = layoutColumns?.map((layoutColumn, id) => {
            const { layoutItems } = layoutColumn;
            layoutColumn = { ...layoutColumn, id };
            layoutColumn.layoutItems = layoutItems
                ?.map((layoutItem, id) => {
                    layoutItem = { ...layoutItem, id };
                    return layoutItem;
                });
            return layoutColumn;
        });
        return layoutSection;
    });
}

Use getRecord wire adapter to get record’s data.

@wire(getRecord, { recordId: '$recordId', layoutTypes: ['Full'], modes: ['View'] })
    wiredRecord({ error, data }) {
        if (data) {
            this.recordData = data;
            ...
            ...
        }
    }

During record creation, this wire adapter won't fetch recordData for us. As a result, use the onload attribute of lightning-record-edit-form (see above). The recordData will be auto-populated with default values, like OwnerId, so you won’t have to populate it yourself.

When the user is filling up information, use onchange event handler of lightning-input-field to update the record data in memory.

handleInputChange(event) {
    event.preventDefault();
    this.recordData.fields[event.target.dataset.api].value = event.detail.value;
}

If you don't include a lightning-button with type="submit" inside lightning-record-edit-form, this is how you can save the record

handleModalSave() {
    const data = this.recordData;
    this.template.querySelector('lightning-record-edit-form').submit(data);
}

There is a wire adapter getRecordUi that gets layout information, metadata, and data to build UI for one or more records. However, for unknown reasons at this time, it is marked as deprecated. As a result, I had to use metadata API to read the page layout information before the form could be loaded.

Make sure that you check out the UI API Playground provided by Philippe Ozil to study UI APIs and comprehend the type of data JSON gives. Or else use Chrome debugger tools.

Refer SLDS library as much as possible to maintain the aesthetics of Salesforce platform so that you can serve majority of the use cases.

Fire force:refreshView event in Salesforce LWC component

To reload data for standard components, you might have used $A.get('e.force:refreshView').fire(); in Lightning Aura components. Unfortunately there’s no direct 1-1 replacement for this Aura feature in LWC, at least at this point of time.

But you can still fire this event from LWC like below:

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

Sending Email in Salesforce using Apex

This is a common snippet to send an email using Salesforce Apex:

Messaging.SingleEmailMessage email = new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage();
email.setToAddresses(new List<String>{'demo@sf.com'});

email.setPlainTextBody('Sample body');
email.setSubject('Sample subject');

List<Messaging.SendEmailResult> results = Messaging.sendEmail(new List<Messaging.SingleEmailMessage>{ email });

for (Messaging.SendEmailResult sr : results) {
    if (!sr.isSuccess()) {
        List<Messaging.SendEmailError> errors = sr.getErrors();
        String errorString = String.join(errors, ', ');
        throw new AuraHandledException(errorString);
    }
}

Sending files with Email

Now assume that we have an order record in Salesforce, and multiple files have been uploaded in Files related list. And we would like to mail a recipient attaching all these files. There is a method setEntityAttachments() on SingleEmailMessage class which accepts an array of ContentVersion Ids.

Make sure that you pass the ContentVersion Ids as a list of String 😐

Messaging.SingleEmailMessage email = new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage();
email.setEntityAttachments(entityAttachmentIds);

Save Email as an activity

What if you would like to mail to a recipient but at the same time save the email record as an activity? For this, use setSaveAsActivity() and setWhatId() methods as below:

Messaging.SingleEmailMessage email = new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage();
...
...
...
email.setEntityAttachments(new List<String>(contentVersionIds));
email.setSaveAsActivity(true);
email.setWhatId(orderId);

Replace Merge fields in Email Template

Now assume that you have already defined an email template, and there are merge fields (placeholders) both in the body and subject of the email template. When you send the email, these merge fields should get replaced with the Salesforce data from the record. Use renderStoredEmailTemplate() of Messaging class as below:

EmailTemplate emailTemplate = [SELECT Id, Body, Subject FROM EmailTemplate WHERE DeveloperName = :emailTemplateName LIMIT 1];

Messaging.SingleEmailMessage email = new Messaging.SingleEmailMessage();

email.setPlainTextBody(Messaging.renderStoredEmailTemplate(emailTemplate.Id, UserInfo.getUserId(), recordId).plainTextBody);
email.setSubject(Messaging.renderStoredEmailTemplate(emailTemplate.Id, UserInfo.getUserId(), recordId).getSubject());

Remember that executing the renderStoredEmailTemplate() counts toward the SOQL governor limit as one query. This is described more in detail here.

There is a lot of information provided in Salesforce documentation, so do refer the Messaging and SingleEmailMessage classes.

And finally, a full fledged example of sending email using Salesforce Apex: https://gist.github.com/iamsonal/3ccd44b319724f4d03cdb4df0bde54d0

Custom Salesforce Lightning component to Share Records Manually

There are cases where user manually share records with other users. However, users with whom a record is shared neither gets a notification, nor an email alert. How are users supposed to know a record has been shared with them?

The Share tables also do not support triggers. The only way to handle this use case is to schedule an Apex job and periodically query the table for new shares since the last check.

This is a custom component developed both in Lightning Aura and LWC (the main modal is in Aura, while the supporting components are in LWC). As soon as a record is shared manually with a user, he/she will be notified by email and a Salesforce notification. Currently, this works for practically all the Salesforce standard objects, including Accounts. Additionally, if you want to remove the share entries for a certain record, click the remove icon on the RHS of the table. To utilize this component, make sure to construct a Quick Action.

Since I haven't worked with Aura in a while, I blended LWC and Aura to render this component when it could have been rendered with only LWC. This component can be extended to work with custom objects as well.

To select multiple users, I’ve used a lookup component created by Philippe Ozil. Thanks to him.

Finally, the repo link for this component: https://github.com/iamsonal/share-records

Reviewing and evaluating different integration patterns available within Salesforce

Approach

Data integration is used to synchronize data between two or more systems. It can be described as combining data from different sources into one cohesive view. The outcome of data integration should be trusted data that is meaningful and valuable to the business process.

Process integration combines business processes from two or more systems to complete a given process task. Process integration requires more robust systems and extended transaction timing to complete the integration.

Virtual integration is used to search, report, and update data in one or more external systems. This type of integration requires real-time access and retrieval of data from the source system.

Timing

Synchronous communication is when one system sends a request to another system and must wait for the receiving system to respond. Synchronous timing is generally expected in real time.

Asynchronous communication occurs when one system sends a request to another system and does not wait for the receiving system to respond. Asynchronous timing does not require real-time communications.

Source, Target, and Direction

Each integration must have a source or sending system and a target or receiving system. Direction can be more than a pointer. Integration can be unidirectional (one-way), bidirectional (two-way), omni-directional (broadcast or one-to-many), etc.

Calling Mechanism

Salesforce has several ways to initiate integrations, including triggers, controllers, workflows, processes, flows, platform events, and batch processes.

• Apex callouts
• Bulk API
• Canvas
• Chatter REST API
• Email
• External objects
• Metadata API
• Middleware
• Outbound messages
• Platform event
• Push notifications
• RESTful API
• SOAP-based API
• Streaming API
• Tooling API

Error Handling and Recovery

Integration patterns react to errors and perform rollbacks in different ways. The approach used to manage error handling and recovery is critical in selecting and managing a given integration pattern.

Idempotent Design Considerations

An operation is idempotent when it produces the same result whether you execute it once or multiple times. The most common method of creating an idempotent receiver is to search for and track duplicates based on unique message identifiers sent by the consumer.

Security Consideration

Salesforce recommends two-way SSL and appropriate firewall mechanisms to maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of integration requests.

State Management

The use of primary and unique foreign keys allows different systems to maintain the state of data synchronization. If Salesforce is the master, the remote system must store the Salesforce ID, and if the remote system is the master, Salesforce must store the unique remote ID.

Integration patterns supported by Salesforce.

Request and Reply: As a requesting system, Salesforce invokes a remote system call for data and waits for the integration process to complete.

Fire and Forget: As a requesting system, Salesforce invokes a remote system call for data, is acknowledged by the remote system, and does not wait to complete the integration process.

Batch Data Synchronization: Either Salesforce or a remote system invokes a batch data call or published event to synchronize data in either direction using a third-party ETL solution or Salesforce Change Data Capture.

Remote Call-In: As a target system, Salesforce receives a remote system call to create, retrieve, update, or delete data by a remote system.

UI Update Based on Data Changes: As a requesting system, Salesforce listens for a PushTopic (CometD protocol) and updates the user interface (UI) to represent the received change.

Data Virtualization: As a requesting system, Salesforce establishes a virtual connection using Salesforce Connect to create an external object to access real-time data.