FlexDeploy provides broad and flexible support for migrating / deploying customizations across Salesforce Orgs. With enterprise DevOps platform features, a rich pipeline, and release automation features FlexDeploy provides a complete DevOps solution for Salesforce.

To name a few, FlexDeploy has support for:

• Easy deployment tool for Salesforce No-Code, Low-Code, pro programming, and hybrid App Dev

• Data Deployments

• All Metadata deployments across Salesforce Orgs.

• Partial deployment of Objects using Sub-components

• Org to Org Deployments, SCM to Org Deployments

• Rich Comparison - Org to Org, Git repot to Org, Supports full comparison, by object type and specific object level comparisons.

• Identify and commit changes to the Git repository

• Continuous Integration from Sandbox to Git repository, Git repository to Sandbox, Dev, and Production Orgs.

• Supports migration of profile permissions specific to components using Sub-components.

• Unit Test Automation

• Notifications and built-in Approvals, external approval delegation to change management systems like ServiceNow

• Fully Automated Pipelines and release management

• Test Automation with tools like Selenium, Tosca, HP UFT, Automation Anywhere, and more

• Code Scanning capabilities with PMD, Checkmarx

• Identify all the Profiles for the objects that are in the package and add the profiles automatically to your package.

• Dependency analysis

• Easy rollbacks

• Salesforce DX Ready

• Automatically replace environment specific values / properties using FlexDeploy Replacements before deploying

• SSO with Salesforce

Objective

The goal of the tutorial is to automate the deployment of Salesforce metadata customizations from one Salesforce Org (Sandbox or Development) to another Salesforce Org.  This automation will include:

• Identifying the Changes performed on the Salesforce Org and pushing changes to a Git Repository

• Building a package from the repository Git repository or Salesforce Org

• deploying the changes to other Salesforce Orgs.

Once the configuration is complete we will walk through the build and deployment life-cycle for managing Salesforce Changes

Checklist

Create Salesforce Project using Blueprint

The assumption is that you have FlexDeploy installed and ready for use. When logged into FlexDeploy, you will see the Home page. Click on the + icon on the top and click “Create Project” to create a new project.

The screen displays the list of blueprints supported by FlexDeploy. Search and click on Salesforce.

General Configuration

Fill in the values to create a new Salesforce project and click Confirm. We will walk through each property in the blow sections.

Project Info

Build Option

Select One of the Build options based on how you would like to source the content of files for the package creation.

Source Control

This section is only applicable if you select Build Option as SCM Repository. Click on the Source Repository dropdown. If you have already created a connection to your source code repository, select it from the list. Enter the sparse checkout folder, if any.

Otherwise, add one by clicking on “Create New Source Repository”. Enter the sparse checkout folders script, if any.

Create Source Control Repository (Git) Inputs Info

We selected the SCM type as GIT. The properties related to the GIT source control management will be displayed on the screen.

Click on Create New Credential to create a new credential password for the GIT password. Enter the credential Name which is a unique name to identify the password. In the secret text, enter the password and click on Save.

After saving the credential, click on Save again on the SCM instance. Do a Test Connection. The green color ticket mark will show that the connection is successful.

Enter the sparse checkout folder value, if any.

Build and Deployment Information

Leave the Endpoint selection as LOCALHOST as we will be executing the build and deploy operations on the same server as FlexDeploy.

If you are creating Creating project for the first time, you will not have the SF Cloud Account. You can create it.

Click on the Confirm. Set the Parent Folder path and click on Create and then Open Project.

We will be able to see the project created under the given Parent Folder path. That’s it. Configuration completed. 

We can see the Folder hierarchy at the top of the project.

Review Configurations

We need to review and adjust configurations for the Topology Overview, Project, and Cloud Account.

- Topology

Navigate to the Topology from the Menu. The Page with the Target Groups, Environments and Endpoints sections will be displayed. Choose a Target Group on the left. You will see a list of Environments on the right with colored circles representing each Target. 

Click on Salesforce Target Group and click on any Environment

- Target Properties

Clicking the environment row for Development allows modifying the Endpoint and properties.

- Cloud Accounts

Click on the Integrations under Topology and then Cloud. Add all the Salesforce Orgs and go back to Topology Overview and map the Salesforce Account for the environment. You would need the User Name, Password, and API Security Token to start with. All other information is optional.

Refer to Cloud Accounts documentation for more information on configuring Cloud Accounts.

- Project Configuration

Go back to the Projects Menu and click on the Configuration tab to review each section and update as needed. In most cases, no need to update any of these. If you have multiple SCM branches, you need to add them under Source Control and Branches.

That completes the one-time configuration. The next section is your daily execution.

Execution

This section explains how to Identify and Review Changes by comparing the Salesforce Orgs, Creating a Package, and then Deploying the Package to other environments. These can be completely automated using CI and CD pipelines in FlexDeploy if needed.

Identify and Review Changes

Click on the Salesforce Org Management tab. There are three sub-tabs.

• SCM to Org (Only available if SCM-based project)

• Org to Org

• Package to Org

Go to the SCM to Org tab to compare the changes between your Git repo branch and any of your Orgs.

There are 3 different options for searching / comparing.

1. Click on the Compare button itself to list all the files and pick one or many files to compare.

2. Click on Object Type to select and quickly compare based on the Object types like Apex Class, Custom Object, etc.-

   • You can also compare multiple object types by selecting the Compare Multiple Object Types option and then choosing the specific object types you wish to compare.

3. Click on Full Compare to do a full comparison of your Git repo and your Salesforce Og.

When you click on the Compare button itself, you will see a list of files. You can search and select one or many to Compare.

Since we made changes to the case object in the Salesforce org and want to pull that changes to the SCM, we searched for the case and then select the desired metadata i.e custom object (Case), and click Compare.

FlexDeploy compares the metadata selected in the Git repository branch with Salesforce Org.

Once you expand, the compare results will display and it will denote what exactly changed. You can click on the maximize icon to expand to full screen.

You can review each change and who and when they made the change. Once the review is completed, select the file by clicking on the File Name and then click on Commit button.

You can Select an existing package to add these files to or create a new package and add it. Once you enter the commit message, click on the Commit button.

Now The metadata file is selected and committed to the git repository, click on the Packages screen.

From this Packages screen, either a package can be created and add files to the package.

Create a Package

On the package screen, click on Create button to create a new package.

Enter the package name and add files.

Click on Add Files to add the files that are populated from the SCM repository. We can also create new files at the package level.

Click on the file name directly to add the file to the package. Else, use the filter file option to search for the specific file and select that to add to the package. Click on save.

Alternatively, the file can be selected and added to the package by the git revision by clicking on the By Revision tab and selecting the commit Id.

We can see the files added to the package under the package file screen.

Add Profiles and Permissions

FlexDeploy simplifies the deployment of Salesforce Profiles and Permissions, treating them like any other Salesforce Object type. It allows you to choose specific portions of the Profile or Permission and migrate them to different organizations using Subcomponents. Taking it a step further, FlexDeploy offers a straightforward method to identify all associated changes in Profiles and Permissions. With a simple button click, you can add these changes to your package by clicking on the Dependency >> Add Profiles and Permissions and selecting desired Branch to your package.

Add Test Classes

FlexDeploy's another notable feature by automatically recognizing Test Cases associated with files in your packages and seamlessly incorporating them into your deployment process. This functionality involves identifying all the Test Classes related to the Apex Classes within your package and including them as part of your deployment package. This streamlined approach ensures that your test cases are effortlessly integrated into the deployment workflow, enhancing the efficiency of your development process.

Deploy Subcomponents

Most useful feature of FlexDeploy for Salesforce is deploying part of the object. Like migrating single Alert in a Workflow instead migrating complete Workflow object. You will see an additional Add Subcomponents option for file types that support subcomponents. When you click the Add Subcomponents option, FlexDeploy will find all supported subcomponents for the selected file. This allows users to migrate only certain parts of a specific file. From this popup, you can preview and select any subcomponents to add to your package.

Base Subcomponent Deployment

In addition to subcomponent deployment, FlexDeploy supports the deployment of the base components for objects, such as Custom Objects and Profiles, even when the complete component is not already present in the target org. This feature allows users to deploy the base structure of an object, bypassing the need to migrate the entire object, even when the object itself is new and not previously existing in the target environment.

This is particularly beneficial when users wish to deploy only specific aspects of an object. For example, if a Custom Object in a Sandbox environment contains over 100 fields that are not required in the UAT or Production environments, users can opt to deploy only the essential fields or components instead of the entire object. This approach allows for a more tailored and efficient deployment process.

Support of Destructive Packages

This functionality aids in maintaining the cleanliness of your Org by facilitating the removal of retired or unnecessary components. With FlexDeploy, this process is remarkably straightforward. You can effortlessly mark one or multiple files in any package as destructive, prompting their deletion from the Org. The migration of these deletions involves appropriate approvals, ensuring visibility and auditability. To mark a file as destructive, simply right-click on it within your package and select the Destructive option. FlexDeploy will then automatically generate a destructive package for the marked files, streamlining the entire process.

Building Package

Click on the Execution tab to submit the build request for that package. Click on Build.

The Build Request Form is displayed. Click on the “Submit” button for the build to execute.

Here you can make note of build execution details for our package. To view more detail, click on the generated Execution Id.

On the Steps tab, we see the execution details of our build workflow. 

After the build completes we can see the artifact on the Artifacts tab, and see details of the files within it on the Files tab.

Deploying Packages

In the previous module, we performed builds of one package.  In this module, we will perform deployments of that package into the Development Environment.

To submit the deploy request for a package, first, click on the Execution tab of the Tutorial Package Project. Click on the icon as shown in the image below will launch the deploy request form for that project version 1.0.1.

Select the environment and click on Submit button to submit the deployment for the package Tutorial Package.

We can see all the files that we selected got successfully deployed to the Dev Environment.

Congratulations, you have completed the Salesforce deployment! 

Next, configure your Release and Pipeline to migrate changes through environments with quality gates.

Org to Org Compare

To compare changes between your Source Salesforce Org and any Target Salesforce Org, navigate to the Salesforce Org Management screen and select the Org to Org tab.

In the Org to Org Compare section, you have three options for comparing and searching:

1. Compare Button: By clicking on the Compare button, you'll be presented with a list of files. You can then search and select one or multiple files to compare.

2. Object Type: Alternatively, you can click on Object Type to quickly compare based on specific Object types such as Apex Class, Custom Object, etc.

3. Full Compare: You can also opt for a full comparison of your Source Org and Target Org by clicking on Full Compare.

Let's consider a scenario where you've created an Apex Class in the Source Org and wish to push it to the Target Org:

Click on the Compare button and select the desired metadata (e.g., Apex Class: CreateContacts.cls) to compare.

FlexDeploy will then compare the selected metadata from the Source Org with that of the Target Org. The compared results will be displayed, indicating any changes made, including modifications to the file content.

If the file exists in the Source Org but not in the Target Org, it will denote View SANDBOX Content, indicating that the change originated from the Source Org. From View SANDBOX Content - the SANDBOX is the Salesforce Account Code, which is Source Org in this case.

Conversely, if the file exists in the Target Org but not in the Source Org, it will display View PROD Content, indicating that the file is available in the Target Org but not in the Source Org. From View PROD Content - the PROD is the Salesforce Account Code, which is Target Org in this case.

Select the file and use the top left drop-down menu to add it to a Package. You can either select an existing package or create a new one. After selecting the package, click on Add to Package.

The metadata file is now selected and added to the package. Navigate to the Package Option to review the added file in the Package Files section.

For Build and Deployment purposes, follow the same steps mentioned above to ensure a smooth process.

Dependency - Add Profiles and Permissions (Org to Org)

If you setting up your project with the Salesforce Org to Org option (without SCM), you'll notice some differences in the Dependency feature. FlexDeploy simplifies the process of identifying all associated changes in Profiles and Permissions. By clicking on the Dependency >> Add Profiles and Permissions button, you can easily add these changes to your package by selecting the desired Salesforce Org.