Running Test Classes From Apex Code

Salesforce provides a few objects for working with test classes directly from apex code.

It provides the ability to schedule test runs with a list of test classes and the ability to query the test result. Seems the main part which is not supported is the code coverage. The result contains only information regarding success/failure and errors in case of failure. For the code coverage, we will need to use another API (for example, tooling API). 

Basically, to set up a test run, all we need to do is to insert ApexTestQueueItem records. Each record indicate a test class that should be running. Creating several items in the same transaction will link them all under the same test.

In the following demo, I tried to keep it simple. Therefore, I'm using native apex without an API. I'm using a web components that allow me to select a list of test classes, set specific intervals and schedule it to run at a specific time.

Clicking the Run Test button set up a job to run which first creates the ApexTestQueueItem items and then set a second job to check the result in 5 minutes, as the tests run asynchrounsly. 

When the job running, it first checks if all the related ApexTestQueueItem items were completed. If it does, then it queries the result and reports any failure that was found during the test. If not all tests are completed, it set job to check it again in 5 minutes. 

• 5 minutes might be too low value if I'm running all tests, but for the demo purpose it is fine.

Another issue that you need to consider: the code using the standard object ApexClass to get a list of classes, but it cannot indicate if a specific class is a test class. In the code, I'm getting the class content and check if it contains the text @istest, but it is not 100% correct.

Also note that for the solution I'm a free app: Asynchronous Process Manager / Creator, which allow to easily set and monitor background jobs and it provides some other core components that are used and saves some efforts.

Can view the full code in git

How to Use Namespace in Web Component

Using namesapce in your org, which is must if you developing managed package, can cause some issues. Especially, when using objects/fields with their API names inside lightning web component (similar issues exist also in Visualforce pages...).

Consider the following example: I have org with namespace appsolu_utils and custom object Log_Message__c, therefore the object full name is: appsolu_utils__Log_Message__c

The object have custom fields: 

appsolu_utils__Subject__c 

appsolu_utils__Log_Type__c 

Now, writing simple apex code that retrieve the object records and return it as list:

public with sharing class ViewLogMessageController {    
    @AuraEnabled
    public static List<Log_Message__c> getAllLogs(){
        
        
        return [    SELECT Id, Subject__c,Log_Type__c
                    FROM Log_Message__c];
    }
}

As you can see we don't have to use the namespace in apex code (although we can)

Using this function in web component, and using the object fields in web component html file:

import { LightningElement, track } from 'lwc';
import getAllLogs from '@salesforce/apex/ViewLogMessageController.getAllLogs';

export default class ViewLogMessages extends LightningElement {

    @track logMessages;

    connectedCallback(){
        if(! this.logMessages){
            getAllLogs().then(
                result => {
                    console.log('result:: ' + JSON.stringify(result));
                    this.logMessages = result;
                }
            );
        }
    }
}

<template>
    <template if:true={logMessages}>
        <table>
            <thead>
                <tr>
                    <th>Type</th>
                    <th>Subject</th>
                </tr>
            </thead>
            <tbody>
                <template for:each={logMessages} for:item="msg">
                    <tr key={msg.Id}>
                        <td>{msg.Log_Type__c}</td>
                        <td>{msg.Subject__c}</td>
                    </tr>
                </template>
            </tbody>
        </table>
    </template>
</template>

However if I will load the component it will show table with empty values, and by looking at console log the issue is clear- the object/fields does have namespace, therefore the fields with values are: appsolu_utils__Subject__c,  appsolu_utils__Log_Type__c

In fact, if you will debug the server code you will notice that the namespace exists also there, only in the server Salesforce does some "magic" so you don't have to write it. The "magic" unfortunately doesn't happen also in the javascript/html code.

So how can we solve it?

Of course, it can be fixed by using the object + fields with there namespace in the web component code, but this will probably hit you back later, if you will create new dev org without namespace or different namespace and you will have to change all the places were the namespace is hardcode. Therefore, hardcoding the namespace should be the last option.

Other solutions?

1.Using wrapper class instead of the object/fields API names

Very common solution is to use wrapper class. I can modify the controller code to:

public with sharing class ViewLogMessageController {    

    @AuraEnabled
    public static List<LogMessage> getAllLogs(){
        List<LogMessage> logList = new List<LogMessage>();

        for(Log_Message__c log : [  SELECT Id, Subject__c,Log_Type__c
                                    FROM Log_Message__c]){
            logList.add(new LogMessage(log));
        }
        
        return logList;
    }

    public class LogMessage{
        @AuraEnabled
        public String Subject;
        @AuraEnabled
        public String Log_Type;

        public LogMessage(Log_Message__c log){
            Subject = log.Subject__c;
            Log_Type = log.Log_Type__c;
        }
    }
}

In the html file, just change the iteration reference to:

<template for:each={logMessages} for:item="msg">
    <tr key={msg.Id}>
        <td>{msg.Log_Type}</td>
        <td>{msg.Subject}</td>
    </tr>
</template>

And it will work. 

Disadvantages of this approach:

-Might be lots of code, as we will need such wrapper for each custom object

-Require maintenance when adding/modifying fields.

2.Stripe the namespace in the server

We can think of each record as a map of field=>value (which is actually the case), and convert the SObject record to a real Map. Only the key that will be used for the map, will be without namespace.

See the updated code, where I'm removing the namespace in the server with a code that can be reused for any object type:

public with sharing class ViewLogMessageController {    
    @AuraEnabled
    public static List<Map<String, object>> getAllLogs(){
        
        ApexClass cls = [SELECT NamespacePrefix FROM ApexClass WHERE Name = 'ViewLogMessageController'];
        String namespace = String.isBlank(cls.NamespacePrefix) ? '' : cls.NamespacePrefix + '__';

        List<Log_Message__c> logList = [    SELECT Id, Subject__c,Log_Type__c
                                            FROM Log_Message__c];
        
        return getListAsMap(logList, namespace);
    }


    //Get object as map. This is needed as in lwc the name getting with namespace, therefore need to convert it to map before sending response
    public static Map<String, object> getObjectAsMap(sObject rec, string namespace){
        Map<String, object> mapData = new Map<String, object>();

        map<String, Schema.SObjectField> fieldMap = Schema.getGlobalDescribe().get(rec.getSObjectType().getDescribe().getName()).getDescribe().fields.getMap();

        for(String field : rec.getPopulatedFieldsAsMap().keyset()) {
            //If it is not reference get the field value
            //if it is reference then either lookup with field or list of records
            if(! field.endsWith('__r')){
                mapData.put(field.replace(namespace, ''), rec.get(field));
            }
            else if(fieldMap.containsKey(field.replace('__r', '__c'))){
                mapData.put(field.replace(namespace, ''), getObjectAsMap(rec.getSObject(field), namespace));
            }
            else{
                mapData.put(field.replace(namespace, ''), getListAsMap(rec.getSObjects(field), namespace));
            }
        }
        
        return mapData;
    }

    public static List<Map<String, object>> getListAsMap(List<sObject> recList, String namespace){
        List<Map<String, object>> listData = new List<Map<String, object>>();

        for(sObject rec : recList){
            listData.add(getObjectAsMap(rec, namespace));
        }

        return listData;
    }
}

At the beginning of the method getAllLogs I'm using query to find current org namespce, it is probably good idea to store it in metadata/label and save this query.

After that I'm calling method getListAsMap which convert the list of records to list of maps. 

3.Remove the namespace in the javascript code

Similar to the second approach, only here we will remove the namespace in the javascript code.

In such solution the apex code, remain as the original code

public with sharing class ViewLogMessageController {    
    @AuraEnabled
    public static List<Log_Message__c> getAllLogs(){
        
        
        return [    SELECT Id, Subject__c,Log_Type__c
                    FROM Log_Message__c];
    }
}

But in the javascript will implement few changes. First, I'm storing the namespace in custom label and import it. Later, I 'm using it to remove the namespace from each field in the result

import { LightningElement, track } from 'lwc';
import namespaceLabel from '@salesforce/label/c.Namespace_Prefix';
import getAllLogs from '@salesforce/apex/ViewLogMessageController.getAllLogs';

export default class ViewLogMessages extends LightningElement {

    @track logMessages;

    label = {
        namespaceLabel
    }

    connectedCallback(){
        if(! this.logMessages){
            getAllLogs().then(
                result => {
                    let namespace = this.label.namespaceLabel == 'na' ? '' : this.label.namespaceLabel;
                    this.logMessages = [];

                    for(let log in result){
                        let logItem = {};

                        for(let field in result[log]){
                            logItem[field.substring(field.indexOf(namespace) + namespace.length)] = result[log][field];
                        }

                        this.logMessages.push(logItem);
                    }
                }
            );
        }
    }
}

Note that in both method the conversion should happen also in the other direction - if the web component send the data back to the server to be saved then the wrapper/map should be converted back to custom object.

Also notice that you might get namespace issues in other areas in your web component. For example, using Navigate to object home tab, won't work if it is missing the namespace

this[NavigationMixin.Navigate]({
    type: 'standard__objectPage',
    attributes:{
        objectApiName: 'Log_Message__c',
        actionName: 'home'
    }
});

To solve this case, you can store the namespace either in metadata/label, retrieve it in the javascript and use it whenever you referencing the object name

this[NavigationMixin.Navigate]({
    type: 'standard__objectPage',
    attributes:{
        objectApiName: (namespace + 'Log_Message__c'),
        actionName: 'home'
    }
});

Approval Process Reminders

Few years ago I published code for approval process reminders, recently I modified this code with some alignment/improvements + convert the relevant UI to web component.

The main request is that if approval process is pending on the same person for more than X hours a reminder should be sent to this person (+potential other recipients), and then after every X hours additional reminder should be sent until the approval received.

For the updated solution I'm using my free app: Asynchronous Process Manager / Creator, which allow to easily set and monitor background jobs and it provide some other core components that being used and save some efforts.

For the reminder process using the following components (all available in git): 

• Custom object: Approval Process Reminder- Setup for specific approval process
• Custom object: Approval Reminder Record- Reference for specific record that is pending approval
• Custom tab: Manage Approval Reminders- shows the current reminders setup + option to modify each.
• Web Component: ManageApprovalProcessReminders - used in the tab
• Few apex classes for the server side processing
• ManageApprovalProcessReminderCotroller - main logic for the web components
• ApprovalProcessReminderService - logic for sending alert
• ApprovalReminderBatch - batch process that run over all active process and search for pending approval processes

How to install:

1.Install free app Asynchronous Process Manager / Creator

2.Go to tab MBA Settings and click Start Scheduler 

3.Install the Approval Process Reminders or get from the code from Git

4.Set up your approval reminder as in the demo.

Considerations/Limitations:

• The process assume you won't have hundreds of records pending approval under the same process. If you do have you might need to do some code refactoring to support that.
• The process doesn't support Queues, only users. If your approval assigned to queue, you might need to apply some changes, depending on what you expect to happen.
• The approval process data (ProcessInstance) is a setup data that cannot be created in test classes. Therefore the tests trying to use the first existing approval process. If your org doesn't have any approval process code coverage might be lower, but still should be enough for installing.
• When starting the process you can configure the minutes interval. Although you can set lower minutes value, I recommend to have at least 30 minutes interval.
• Some users in the company will dislike you :-)