New Release

HTTP Callout in Salesforce Summer 23 – POST (Beta) – 3/3

Now, you will build the flow you will host on the community (digital experience) site.

Important note: We will set this flow up to run at the System context without sharing under the Advanced Flow settings.

This simple flow gets an opportunity using the record Id as input and displays critical field values on the screen. Note that a decision is built to handle no or invalid recordId input.

Here is what the Display Text component looks like in the Screen Element.

Once you complete your flow and activate it, create a public community (digital experience) site and add your flow to the main page. Several steps must be followed to set up guest user access properly. We will not go into these steps in this post. Comment below if you need a follow-up post with detailed steps, please.

Once you set up your community, you can pass the recordId as a URL parameter to your flow to see the Opportunity record field values on your screen. You see the long URL in the browser address bar below.

Now, set up a simple record-triggered flow to populate the URL (long URL) field on the Opportunity record. Here is how you do it.

Now set up another record-triggered flow to send an email with the short URL to the owner of the record.

Your email action looks like this in Summer 23 (Yay!).

Your email body text template will look like this.

Your email will look can be seen in the image below. You may think it is silly to shorten the URL by looking at this since we can hide it in an HTML email. That is correct, however, the actual value add is when you need to text (SMS) the link. Short URL looks much better.

After debugging and activating all your flows, you can create a new Opportunity like the one below. Hint: Cloning and modifying a few field values work well when testing.

Voila: Your long URL and short URL are populated, and the email was sent to the record owner’s email inbox.

Enjoy

Note: These posts were written as a result of a collaboration between Josh Dayment and Andy Engin Utkan. I want to thank Josh Dayment for his relentless efforts and countless trials to get this demo to work.

Related Links:

Create HTTP Callout – POST 1/3

Create HTTP Callout – POST 2/3

Create HTTP Callout – GET

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New Release

HTTP Callout in Salesforce Summer 23 – POST (Beta) – 2/3

In the flow builder, you must add an action element for the HTTP Callout.

Before you do that, let’s set up the Named Credential the Callout needs.

In setup, go to Named Credentials, select the second tab for the External Credentials, and click on New.

Set up your External Credential as follows.

Per Bit.ly API documentation, your header must pass the Access Token to the Bit.ly API. Generate your Access Token on Bit.ly, as seen below.

Your Access Token will be saved in Principals under Named Credentials. Set it up as follows.

Paste the Access Token form Bit.ly into the value field.

Now your Principle is ready to be used.

The Bit.ly API expects the Access Token to be passed in the header. This is the header section that you will need to set up.

Create your first custom header as follows.

One more custom header is needed. Set it up exactly like in the image below.

Now you are ready to complete your Named Credential setup.

Having set up all parameters the HTTP Callout needs, go to your flow to create the action. Insert an action element and click on “Create HTTP Callout”.

Give it a Name and choose the Named Credential you created. Click Next.

Set up the following parameters.

Get your example request and response JSON here: https://dev.bitly.com/docs/tutorials/shorten-customize-links/

Paste the JSON and click on Review. Hit Done.

Do the same thing for the response. This will create the Apex Defined Variables.

You should see two checkmarks after you click on Done above. Once you complete these steps, your HTTP Callout will be ready.

Now let’s set up the remaining flows and the community (digital experience) site.

Please continue to the third post by clicking here.

Related Links:

Create HTTP Callout – POST 1/3

Create HTTP Callout – POST 3/3

Create HTTP Callout – GET

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New Release

HTTP Callout in Salesforce Summer 23 – POST (Beta) – 1/3

HTTP Callout in Spring 23 got many people excited. The blog post and the video by Josh Dayment and I drew quite some attention. We heard one criticism for this functionality: the solution was incomplete without the POST method.

With Summer 23, the Salesforce Flow Product Team not only moves the GET method to GA, but also gives us the POST method in Beta.

The use case we picked for this demo is based on a real-life client requirement. The client wants to shorten the long URL links before they send them to customers via email or text. Text (SMS) requirement is very important because we cannot hide the long URL behind a short label there since SMS does not support rich text. I don’t have texting set up in my preview Org, therefore, I will demo this using email.

The solution consists of many parts. The list is as follows:

  • Bit.ly is the service that supports an API with a POST method to shorten URLs. We will need an account with Bit.ly. The good thing is they allow us to use the service for free until we reach a certain number. (1)
  • A record-triggered flow with an async path that uses the HTTP callout to Bit.ly to shorten the URL (2)
  • A public digital experience (community) site that houses a screen flow to display the critical field values for the Opportunity (3)
  • A screen flow that runs at system context without sharing to show the critical Opportunity field values on the community site. (4)
  • A simple record-triggered flow to create the long URL on the record (this can also be a formula field) (5)
  • A simple record-triggered flow that generates the email with the short link. (6)

And a few custom fields on the Opportunity object: URL (long) and Short URL text fields and a Short URL Requested checkbox field.

First, we go to Bit.ly to create a free account. They have API documentation available. However, I cannot say the documentation is very clear. Here is the relevant settings page we need to create the access token for the API.

*I wiped my values from the screenshot; you will need to copy yours by going to this screen.

We will come back to this later.

Let’s walk you through the flow that will execute the HTTP Callout.

Create these custom fields on the Opportunity object:

URL (Text)

Short URL (Text)

Short URL Requested (Checkbox)

Then create the HTTP callout async record-triggered flow.

This is how the flow looks after it is completed.

Set up the start element as follows.

Build an assignment element to assign field values. You will assign the input parameters Bit.ly API needs to the Apex defined variable that the “Create HTTP Callout” builder provides us. Initially, enter a fixed URL here, such as SalesforceBreak.com, until you can get the flow to work without issues.

Get your group Id from Bit.ly from your browser address bar when you display this screen here.

The only input parameter that the callout action needs is the Apex defined variable.

The short URL is again inside an Apex defined variable under 2XX>link. We will update this value to the short URL custom field of the Opportunity record.

But you can do all this after properly creating your HTTP callout action. And that requires a few steps.

Read the next post to learn how the HTTP Callout action is set up.

Please continue to the second post by clicking here.

Related links:

Create HTTP Callout – POST 2/3

Create HTTP Callout – POST 3/3

Create HTTP Callout – GET

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Video

Diagramming Salesforce Solutions – Matthew Morris – Video

Matthew Morris, Salesforce Innovation Director at Capgemini, presented about “Diagramming Salesforce Solutions” for the Jacksonville Florida Architects Trailblazer User Group on 10/13/2022.

I would like to thank Matthew Morris for this wonderful presentation. Please find the YouTube video and the presentation file in pdf format below.

This topic was presented originally by Matthew at London Calling 2022, the community-led event in the UK; therefore, I would like to give them a well-deserved shout-out as well.

Youtube video:

Presentation slides:

Enjoy

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Flow Tips Newsletter, Uncategorized

Winter 23 Flow Formula Editor – Salesforce Flow Tips Newsletter

Hello folks,

Let’s get started with the Winter 23 Flow enhancements, shall we? Who doesn’t like to save time and effort?

One of the biggest improvements is the formula resource editor with the instant syntax check button.

This functionality first came for the start element and the collection filter in the previous releases. Now we get the same editor across the board in the flow builder.

No more writing a formula, saving the flow, and crossing your fingers hoping it won’t yield an error message.

You can check for errors as you build your formula on the same screen using the Syntax Check button.

One disclaimer is that I saw some inconsistent behavior in my preview Dev Org:

Some of the collection filter formulas I built that I thought should pass, did not pass the syntax check. But we still have time until the release. I am sure it will be ready by then.

Now content announcements:

  • I am super excited that my session proposal has been accepted for Florida Dreamin’ 2022. I will be presenting there for the third year in a row. My session is titled: “Flow Design & Mapping: From Idea to the Flow Canvas“. It will be super interesting, I promise you. Come and see it: Register for the event here.
  • Last week, I presented the new Winter 23 Flow functionality at a virtual Jacksonville Salesforce Saturday event. I tried out the new enhancements live and recorded the event. Watch Winter 23 Flow Features – Salesforce Saturday here.

Enjoy.

P.S. Originally published on 08/30/2022.

Read the previous issue of the newsletter here.

Subscribe to the weekly educational Salesforce Flow Tips newsletter here.

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Flow Tips Newsletter

Start Element Formulas – Salesforce Flow Tips Newsletter

Hello folks,

How cool are the brand new start element formulas?

One of the best use cases for it is the Record Type criteria. You can now check for the RecordType.DeveloperName or the RecordType.Name in your start element. This was not possible before. You either had to hardcode the RecordType.Id or defer the criteria to a decision element, making the flow less efficient.

What else can we do with start element formulas?

When you want to trigger your flow in case the triggering object record is created or updated, and you want to build sophisticated criteria, then the formula entry conditions are ideal for this purpose.

A popular use case is the auto-naming of records when a new record is created. For example, you can append the Industry picklist value to the Account name using a before-save flow.

Here is the formula resource that does that:

The difficulty is when you want to trigger such flow on create and update. If you don’t build your flow carefully, you will append the same thing to the name multiple times based on multiple updates. You will need to check whether the auto-name logic ran before if you want to avoid this outcome.

Here is the start element formula that ensures that:

I recommend you go and play with this functionality yourself if you haven’t already. You will like it. It is super powerful.

This is the only area where we have a function, a logical operator picker, and a syntax check button within flow.

If you have comments on this topic, please join the discussion on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Enjoy.

P.S. Originally published on 07/18/2022.

Read the previous issue of the newsletter here.

Subscribe to the weekly educational Salesforce Flow Tips newsletter here.

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Flow Tips Newsletter

Standard or Custom Object? – Salesforce Flow Tips Newsletter

Hello folks,

Recently, I posted polls on Twitter asking about standard objects: What cloud license does each standard object come with? The answers to these questions are widely unknown. You will see that only about half of the respondents got the answer right.

As a response to these posts Emily McCowan, an Architect, posted this writeup and clarified some of the confusion around this topic. Please read it, it is very good.

You may know the data model very well. You will also need to know what standard objects come with your license to decide whether to use them when the need arises.

Enjoy.

P.S. Originally published on 07/08/2022.

Read the previous issue of the newsletter here.

Subscribe to the weekly educational Salesforce Flow Tips newsletter here.

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Flow Tips Newsletter

The Importance of the Data Model – Salesforce Flow Tips Newsletter

Hello folks,

I wrote this several times before:

If you want to attempt Actions and Related Records flows, you need to know the schema very well. This can be easily done with the schema builder in your Org.

There is another good way for reviewing the data model. The Architect’s site by Salesforce has the data model diagram posted for the most popular Clouds. You can go there and view and download the diagrams in pdf, png and Lucidchart format:

Click here for the Architect’s Site by Salesforce.

You can see the Sales Cloud example image from the Architect’s site above. Please click on the image to see a bigger version.

Enjoy.

P.S. Originally published on 06/27/2022.

Read the previous issue of the newsletter here.

Subscribe to the weekly educational Salesforce Flow Tips newsletter here.

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Uncategorized

I Wrote For Salesforce This Week – Process Automation – Salesforce Flow Tips Newsletter

Hello folks,

I wrote for the Salesforce Admins Blog this week.

What is Process Automation?

How do you acquire this crucial skill?

Read my Process Automation blog post on the Salesforce Admins website by clicking here.

Enjoy.

P.S. Originally published on 06/23/2022.

Read the previous issue of the newsletter here.

Subscribe to the weekly educational Salesforce Flow Tips newsletter here.

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