Event notification is an important part of most business applications. When something important happens, you sometimes need one or more users to take a specific action. This intermediate- to advanced- level webinar teaches you all about event notification, contrasts the different Salesforce features you can use to implement it, and shows you practical examples of how to use those Salesforce features to suit your specific event notification use case. Key Takeaways :: Understand how use case requirements help you determine the appropriate Force.com feature to use for event notification. :: Implement and contrast event notification with Visualforce pages that poll, Visualforce pages that use the Force.com Streaming API, workflow rules, Chatter feeds and scheduled reports. Intended Audience :: This intermediate-level webinar is geared towards Force.com application developers and architects.

1. Alert! Event Notification Options for
Force.com Apps
October 16, 2013

2. Safe Harbor
Safe harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
This presentation may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. If any such uncertainties materialize or if any of
the assumptions proves incorrect, the results of salesforce.com, inc. could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking
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delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase our services should make the purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available.
Salesforce.com, inc. assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.
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3. Speakers
Steve Bobrowski
Architect Evangelist
@sbob909
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Josh Birk
Developer Evangelist
@JoshBirk

4. Follow Developer Force for the Latest News
@forcedotcom / #forcewebinar
Developer Force – Force.com Community
+DeveloperForce – Force.com Community
Developer Force
Developer Force Group
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5. Architect Core Resources page
developer.force.com/architect
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6. Have Questions?
§ We have an expert support team at the ready to answer your questions
during the webinar.
§ Ask your questions via the GoToWebinar Questions Pane.
§ The speaker(s) will chose top questions to answer live at the end of the
webinar.
§ Please post your questions as we go along!
§ Only post your question once; we’ll get to it as we go down the list.
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7. Recognize this scenario in life?
Something
happens
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Call to
action
Someone or
thing acts

8. Recognize this scenario in life?
Leaky
pipes
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Call
plumber
Plumber fixes
the pipes

9. Recognize this scenario in business?
Event
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Notification
Workflow

10. Recognize this scenario in business?
New Lead
created
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Salesperson
gets alert
Salesperson
calls Lead and
makes a sale

11. Optimal event notification design for business apps
Know your …
Requirements
Options
Use an option
that meets your
requirements
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12. Hot, Open Leads Scenario
Requirements
Implementation options
§ Notify both online & offline
users
§ Workflow rule
§ Notify users immediately
§ Database trigger with
email
§ Log all alerts
§ Respond to all alerts
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§ Chatter feed with email

13. Stick around, here’s what you’ll learn …
Requirements
Approaches & implementation options
Demos & source code
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14. Let’s get started …
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15. Know your requirements

16. Event importance can dictate requirements
How important
is an event?
Critical
Insignificant
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17. Event Notification Requirements: Importance
Requirement
Minimal Latency
Accountability
Response
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Critical
Yes
Yes
Yes
Insignificant
No
No
No

18. Event frequency can dictate requirements
How often does
an event occur?
Frequent
Infrequent
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19. Event Notification Requirements: Frequency
Requirement
Minimal Latency
Accountability
Response
#forcewebinar
Frequent
No
No
No
Infrequent
Yes
Yes
Yes

20. Requirements graph example
Determinant
Determinant
Requirement
Immediate
notification
Critical
Infrequent
Log
Mandatory
response
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21. Requirements example
Determinant
Determinant
Requirement
Deferred
notification
Insignificant
Frequent
No log
Optional
response
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22. Requirements graph example
Determinant
Determinant
Requirement
Immediate
notification
Critical
Frequent
Log
Optional
response
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23. Know your requirements

24. Force.com event notification requirements
Determinants
Requirements
• Importance
• Frequency
• Latency
• Accountability
• Resolution
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25. Improv + Discovery = Satisfied Customers
How improvistational theatre techniques can
improve your discovery skills
T.K. Horeis, salesforce.com, Cloud and Industry Architect
@TKHoreis
Steve Bobrowski, salesforce.com,
@sbob909

26. Know your
options

27. Force.com event notification approaches & options
Dynamic
Web
pages
#forcewebinar
Near
real-time
messages
Deferred
messages

28. Force.com event notification approaches & options
Dynamic
Web
pages
#forcewebinar
Near
real-time
messages
Deferred
messages

29. Dynamic, auto-refreshing Web page
Characteristics
§ Teams of users are
online & watching
§ Missed events tolerated
§ Refreshes happen often
§ Receipt of event
notification not required
Stock ticker
#forcewebinar

30. Dynamic, auto-refreshing Web page
Force.com implementation options
Auto-refreshing …
§ Visualforce page
§ Report (browser plugin)
§ List view (browser plugin)
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31. Force.com event notification approaches & options
Dynamic
Web
pages
#forcewebinar
Near
real-time
messages
Deferred
messages

32. Near real-time messages
Characteristics
§ Users cannot always be online
watching pages
§ Near real-time notification
§ Missed events not tolerable
§ Proof of individual event notification
required
§ Relatively few events, low noise
#forcewebinar
Messages
Events

33. Near real-time messages
Force.com implementation options
§ Workflow rule
– Email
– Outbound message
Messages
§ Chatter feed with email
§ Chatter feed trigger
Events
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34. Force.com event notification approaches & options
Dynamic
Web
pages
#forcewebinar
Near
real-time
messages
Deferred
messages

35. Deferred messages
Requirements
§ Users cannot always be online
watching pages
§ Deferred (significantly) event
notifications tolerated
Message
§ Missed events tolerable
§ Receipt of individual event
notification not required
§ Data set is potentially large
§ Potentially many events
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Events

36. Deferred messages
Force.com implementation options
§ Scheduled reports
Message
Events
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37. Force.com event notification approaches & options
Dynamic Web
pages
Near real-time
messages
Deferred
messages
• Visualforce pages
• Reports
• List views
• Workflow rules
• Chatter feed email
• Chatter feed trigger
• Scheduled reports
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38. Enough theory …

39. Show me how!

40. Demos: Hot, Open Leads, every which way
Workflow rule
Dynamic Visualforce page
Scheduled report
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41. Implementation 1: Dynamic Web page
Visualforce page

42. The Observer Pattern: Push vs. Pull
Update
Lead
push
pull (polling)
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43. Implementation 1a: Polling with Apex actionPoller
Visualforce page
With <apex:actionPoller>
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Controller
(Apex)
Force.com
database

44. Implementation 1a: Page
<apex:page showHeader=”true" controller=”leadListController" tabstyle="lead"
sidebar="false">
<apex:form >
<apex:pageBlock >
<apex:pageBlockTable id="leadList" value=”{!leads}" var="l">
<apex:column headerValue="Name">
<apex:outputLink value="/{!l.id}">{!l.Name}</apex:outputLink>
</apex:column>
<apex:column value="{!l.state}"/>
<apex:column value="{!l.company}"/>
<apex:column value="{!l.email}"/>
</apex:pageBlockTable>
<apex:actionPoller action=”{!pollAction}" reRender="leadList" interval="15"/>
</apex:pageBlock>
</apex:form>
</apex:page>
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45. Implementation 1a: Controller
public with sharing class leadListController {
Transient Lead[] leads;
String query = 'SELECT Id, Name, State, Company, Email, LastModifiedDate FROM
Lead WHERE Status = 'Open - Not Contacted'
AND Rating = 'Hot' ORDER BY
LastModifiedDate DESC LIMIT 100';
public Lead[] getLeads() {
leads = Database.query(query);
return leads;
}
public PageReference pollAction() {
leads = Database.query(query);
return null;
}
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46. Traditional polling implementation: Pros & cons
Pros
Cons
§ Easy
§ Wasteful
§ Partial page refresh
§ Consumptive
§ WHERE clause in query
§ View state
§ Transient controller
variable
§ No API calls
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47. Implementation 1b: Streaming API
Push
topic
Force.com
database
#forcewebinar
push
Visualforce page
“subscriber” to the push topic

48. Force.com Streaming API factoids
§ Push on CREATE or UPDATE
§ Push topic queries cannot:
– Use relationships (join data)
– Aggregate data (SUM, AVG, etc.)
– Reference formula fields
– Other limitations
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49. Implementation 1b: Streaming API
Insert
Update
Delete
Lead
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trigger
Push
topic
HOL__c
Visualforce page
“subscriber” to the push topic

50. Implementation 1b: Intermediary object
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51. Implementation 1b: Push topic
PushTopic pushTopic = new PushTopic();
pushTopic.Name = 'HOL';
pushTopic.Query = 'SELECT Id, Name, Action__c, Lead_Name__c,
Company__c, State__c, Email__c, Lead__c FROM Hot_Open_Lead__c';
pushTopic.ApiVersion = 28.0;
pushTopic.NotifyForOperations = 'All';
pushTopic.NotifyForFields = 'Referenced';
insert pushTopic;
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52. Implementation 1b: Controller
@RemoteAction
static public Lead[] getHotLeads() {
String query = 'SELECT Id, Name, State, Company, Email,
LastModifiedDate FROM Lead WHERE Status = 'Open - Not
Contacted' AND Rating = 'Hot' ORDER BY LastModifiedDate
DESC';
Lead[] leads = Database.query(query);
return leads;
}
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53. Implementation 1b: Static Resources
<apex:includeScript value="{!$Resource.cometd}"/>
<apex:includeScript value="{!$Resource.jquery}"/>
<apex:includeScript value="{!$Resource.json2}"/>
<apex:includeScript value="{!$Resource.jquery_cometd}"/>
<apex:includeScript value="{!URLFOR($Resource.jquery_ui,'/
jquery-ui-1.10.3/ui/jquery-ui.js')}"/>
<apex:includeScript value="{!$Resource.underscore}"/>
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54. Implementation 1b: Load Initial Table
var template = $("#holList").html();
leadListController.getHotLeads(function(res,mes) {
hotLeads = res;
$("#leadTable").html(_.template(template,{items:hotLeads}));
});
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55. Implementation 1b: Script Template
<tbody>
<%
%>
<%
%>
</tbody>
// repeat items
_.each(items,function(item){
<tr id="lead-<%= item.Id %>" class="dataRow">
<!-- use variables -->
<td><a href="/<%= item.Id %>"><%= item.Name %></a></td>
<td><%= item.State %></td>
<td><%= item.Company %></td>
<td><%= item.Email %></td>
</tr>
});
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56. Implementation 1b: Respond to Streaming API
// Connect to the CometD endpoint
$.cometd.init({
url: window.location.protocol+'//'+window.location.hostname+'/
cometd/24.0/',
requestHeaders: { Authorization: 'OAuth {!$Api.Session_ID}'}
});
// Subscribe to the push topic
$.cometd.subscribe('/topic/HOL', function(message) {
updateHotLeads(message);
});
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57. Live demo

58. Long polling implementation: Pros & cons
Pros
Cons
§ Minimal page refreshes
§ Requires some code
§ Partial page refreshes
§ Complex use cases require
some thought
§ No view state
§ Easy on the database
§ Centralized logic
§ Overcomes Streaming API
challenges
#forcewebinar

59. Implementation 2: Near-real time messaging
Workflow rule
Messages
Events

60. Live demo

61. Workflow rule: Pros & cons
Pros
Cons
§ No code
§ Could get noisy
§ Near real-time messages
§ Accountability (logs)
#forcewebinar

62. Implementation 3: Deferred messaging
Scheduled report
Message
Events

63. Live demo

64. Scheduled report: Pros & cons
Pros
Cons
§ No code
§ Lag time
§ No noise
§ Missed events
§ Accountability (logs)
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65. Summary

66. Source code
§ Github repo: http://bit.ly/1hR3aMw
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67. Article
Access article link on
developer.force.com/architect
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68. Even more stuff …

69. Architect Core Resources page
developer.force.com/architect
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70. Q&A
Steve Bobrowski
Architect Evangelist
@sbob909
#forcewebinar
Josh Birk
Developer Evangelist
@JoshBirk