Are You Using the Cut Functionality?

I use the flow canvas in autolayout mode. 🤖

Before the last release, I went back to freeform whenever I added a decision element in the middle of my flow. When you do that, you get a decision element with multiple empty outcomes, all leading to the next element in flow. 🤦♂️

That means you need to rearrange your elements: a few of the existing elements need to go under various outcome branches, and often a few new ones need to be added. I tried reconnecting the outcome branches to the existing elements to get what I wanted, but this did not work very well in most cases. 😤

I went to freeform to delete connectors and reconnect them the way I wanted. Sometimes I could go back to autolayout; some other times, this did not work. In those cases, I had to continue in free form.

Now we have a new powerful tool in the autolayout mode; cut element functionality. I am not positive you all use this. Therefore, I wanted to make sure I remind you that it is there for you to use. ✂️

Instead of playing with the connectors and rearranging them you can now point to an existing element in your flow, cut it, and then paste it on one of the decision paths. 📢

Some of you may say, we had copy and paste, what is the big deal? This is partially true. You can use copy and paste to create a copy of the current element, but copy and paste renames the element and its components because the original ones are still on the flow canvas. The names have to be unique. Even if you delete the original one, you end up with an unnecessary renaming job you have to complete. 😫

If you have yet to try cut and paste elements, give it a try now. And if you are still using freeform, give autolayout a try; you will like it. I hardly ever go to free form now. 🙏

This post was originally made to LinkedIn on November 14th, 2022.

Read the previous post: Do We Know How Scary Flows Are?

Newsletter

New Features of Summer 22 (continued)

Hello folks,

Summer 22 is arriving soon, and the second part of my quick tour is here.

In the last issue of the newsletter, I showed you a few changes that will be released soon. Let’s continue.

Screen flow enhancements:

1-Collapsible headings for sections: We received the functionality of multicolumn sections in screen flows a few releases ago, and I love them. With this release, we get a header, which makes the section collapsible.

2-Dynamic Forms (Fields – Still Beta) supports Name and Address Fields: Fields functionality is a very promising functionality that now supports Name (Salutation, First Name, Last Name) and a full Address. I don’t understand why this is still in beta, though.

3-Dynamic Forms Address automatically populates address: When you combine the new Address field with the Google Typehead functionality, you give the user the power to populate the address fields automatically.

Some other notable enhancements:

1-Orchestrations are deployable via change sets now.

2-Associated flows can be opened from within the Orchestration via a link.

3-You can order triggered Orchestrations with Flow Trigger Explorer exactly as you do with flows.

I want to add that dragging items on the Flow Trigger Explorer changes your flow’s running order parameter setting. The screen shows you a confirmation screen explaining the change.

The big news of this release is the addition of the No-Code Flow Testing (Beta), though. I am super excited about this, but I will take my time to review it before going into more detail.

I am heading to Texas Dreamin’. I will present there on the Flow Trigger Explorer and the Orchestrator. Come to my session if you will be there. If you won’t be there, no worries; I will present similar content soon virtually. Stay tuned.

Enjoy.

P.S. Originally published on 04/26/2022.

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Newsletter

3 New Features of Summer 22

Hello folks,

Summer 22 is arriving soon, and I am here to give you a quick tour of the new functionality coming your way.

But before I do that, I would like to share that I wrote a brand new post for Salesforce Ben. It was published a week ago, and it is still the number one post on the site. Please read my post titled “7 Foundational Skills Before Learning Salesforce Flows” here.

The format of this post will include pictures more than words. Let me show you screenshots of what is coming. This release is loaded again with flow enhancements:

1-Flow Trigger Explorer supports manual reordering of triggered flows. You can create a new flow right from this dialogue. This action will prefill the start element for you. RT Orchestrations are also supported, which I have not seen or tested yet. When you open Flow Details and Versions on the right-side panel, you see all flow versions. You can open each version via a link and activate the version you want on this side panel. This functionality is better than the existing alternative in my humble opinion.

2-RT Automation got some serious love in this release. Now we can build complex formulas in our start entry criteria. Let me test and tell you how debugging works later. We get assistance via field and function pickers when building the formula. You can go crazy now with field values, prior field values, and functions.

The formula builder checks syntax similar to the formula field builder of the object manager. If you are sloppy with your work, you will get a red error message when you check syntax via this button. The formula resource builder did not get any love though, as far as I know.

3-Low-code flow testing comes to life. On your flow canvas, you will see a “View Tests” button on the upper right side. You will have to agree to the terms when you click on it because the functionality is in beta as of Summer 22. Then, you click create, and you start building your test.

I played around with the test builder a little bit. Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about the functionality. I saw this error message very frequently. At least for now, I can easily say this functionality deserved the beta badge.

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Are You Using the Cut Functionality?