Sf Apex Development

Salesforce Apex & Solution Architecture

Write production-grade Apex code with correct governor limit awareness, proper bulkification, sharing model compliance, and comprehensive test coverage. Design end-to-end solutions combining Apex, Visualforce, Flows, and Quick Actions.

Before Writing Any Apex

1. Determine the sharing context. Use with sharing by default. Only use without sharing when explicitly justified (e.g., guest user data access, system-level operations). Use inherited sharing for utility classes. Read reference/apex-fundamentals/apex-fundamentals.md.

2. Check governor limits. Know the transaction limits before designing:

   Limit	Number
   SOQL queries	100 (200 async)
   DML statements	150
   Records retrieved (SOQL)	50,000
   Records processed (DML)	10,000
   CPU time	10,000 ms (60,000 ms async)
   Heap size	6 MB (12 MB async)
   Callouts	100
   Single emails per transaction	10
   Single emails per day (org)	5,000

3. Plan the architecture. For anything beyond a simple trigger or class: Read reference/solution-architecture/solution-architecture-patterns.md.

PDF Generation via Visualforce

When generating PDFs from Salesforce:

1. Create a Visualforce page with renderAs="pdf" and use applyBodyTag="false" and applyHtmlTag="false" for full layout control
2. Use inline CSS only — external stylesheets don't reliably render in PDFs
3. Generate the PDF blob in Apex via PageReference.getContentAsPDF()
4. getContentAsPDF() counts as a callout — no DML before it in the same transaction
5. Save as ContentVersion + ContentDocumentLink to attach to a record

Read reference/visualforce-pdf/visualforce-pdf-generation.md for complete code.

Email with PDF Attachment

When sending emails with PDF attachments:

1. Use Messaging.SingleEmailMessage with Messaging.EmailFileAttachment
2. Use setTargetObjectId() (Contact/Lead ID) for merge fields and activity logging, NOT setToAddresses() (which doesn't log activities)
3. Use org-wide email addresses for professional sender identity
4. Always check Messaging.SendEmailResult — sendEmail() doesn't throw on failure
5. Limit: 10 SingleEmailMessage per transaction, 5,000 per day per org

Read reference/email-services/email-with-attachments.md for complete code.

Quick Action → Screen Flow → Apex Pattern

The standard pattern for user-initiated Apex actions:

1. Quick Action (type: Flow) on the custom object launches a Screen Flow
2. Screen Flow receives recordId automatically, collects user input
3. @InvocableMethod Apex class does the heavy lifting
4. Flow displays success/error to the user

This pattern separates UI (Flow) from business logic (Apex) and is the recommended approach for actions like "Send PO Email," "Generate Invoice," etc.

Read reference/quick-actions/quick-actions-and-screen-flows.md for quick action setup and reference/apex-fundamentals/invocable-methods.md for the Apex side.

Purchase Order PDF Workflow

The complete end-to-end pattern for the PO email workflow:

Quick Action → Screen Flow (select Contact) → Invocable Apex:
  1. Query Purchase Order + line items
  2. Generate PDF via PageReference.getContentAsPDF()
  3. Create SingleEmailMessage with PDF attachment
  4. Send email to selected Contact
  5. Log as Task (setSaveAsActivity=true)
  6. Stamp PO: "Digital Authorization from {Authorizer_Name__c}"

Read reference/solution-architecture/purchase-order-pdf-workflow.md for complete working code for every component.

Invocable Methods

When calling Apex from Flow:

• Use @InvocableMethod with List<Request> input and List<Result> output
• Always use the inner class pattern (Request / Result with @InvocableVariable)
• The method MUST handle List<> — Flow batches multiple interviews into one call
• Invocable methods share the calling flow's governor limits (same transaction)
• Use callout=true if the method makes HTTP callouts or calls getContentAsPDF()

Read reference/apex-fundamentals/invocable-methods.md.

Apex Testing

• Minimum 75% coverage required for production deployment, aim for 90%+
• Use @TestSetup for shared test data creation
• Use Test.startTest() / Test.stopTest() to reset governor limits
• Assert specific outcomes: System.assertEquals(expected, actual, 'message')
• Test bulk scenarios (200+ records)
• getContentAsPDF() returns empty blob in tests — assert no exception, not content
• Messaging.sendEmail() in tests doesn't deliver — check SendEmailResult only

Code Style

When generating Apex for this developer:

• Comments: // with one space, disembodied narrator tone
• Every method: document params and return value
• Debug statements: at key decision points
• No single-line conditionals except ternary ?. Always use if { with the body on a new line and the closing } on its own line. Never if (x) doThing();
• Sharing: with sharing by default, document why if without sharing
• Bulkification: all triggers and invocable methods handle collections
• Variable names: meaningful in context, not temp or data
• Valid Apex: not Java. System.debug() not System.out.println()

Reference Docs

Read the relevant reference doc BEFORE generating code:

Clean Code Book Reference

Distilled chapter notes from Clean Code by Robert C. Martin (Prentice Hall, 2008). ⚠ Important: Salesforce platform requirements ALWAYS override Clean Code principles when they conflict. DML must come before callouts. No SOQL/DML in loops. Bulkification beats "small functions that do one thing." Every chapter doc has a Salesforce/Apex Caveats section listing these conflicts.

DevOps Book Reference

Distilled chapter notes from Mastering Salesforce DevOps by Andrew Davis (Apress, 2019):

Checklists