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I hope you will find this blog post helpful.
If you need any support with Salesforce, please do not hesitate to Contact Me.
An object in salesforce is like an entity or table which contains data in rows and columns.
The row can be a record or tuple & column can be a field or attribute. Objects are used to store information in table form in the Salesforce database.
If you are not familiar with databases, think about storing data in a spreadsheet (CSV). For example, the Below table shows student data:
In Salesforce, we can think database tables as objects, columns as fields, and rows as records.
The above spreadsheet data, the User can store in the Salesforce by creating and using objects such as below :
Salesforce provides some standard object that is already created for you, such as Account, Contact, Opportunity, and so on. Also, objects have built-in features i.e. User Interface, Security, Sharing model etc.
Table of Contents
Here we discuss object types, their features, and limitations. In Salesforce we have mainly two types of objects, standard and custom objects, apart from these, we will also discuss the external and big objects.
Standard objects are already created by Salesforce to use. Once you log into Salesforce, you can see the available standard objects. These include account, contact, opportunity, lead, campaign, and so on. The most commonly referred standard object is the Account Object. It is the object which stores the preliminary information about a customer, partner, competitor, or another organization.
Users cannot delete standard objects instead, salesforce allows users to create custom fields on standard objects.
The organization's data will always not fit into the existing standard objects. So we use custom objects for it. The objects created by users are called custom objects. Custom objects are the heart of any application.
Custom objects are very important to store different types of information in any organization. you can create custom objects according to requirements and manage org data easily. Custom objects are usually identified by a __c suffix.
Example of Custom Object: For example, a courier company can create a custom object to store the schedule and dispatch details for every week. So these objects store the data that is unique to the business.
External objects are similar to custom objects. but external object record data is stored outside of your Salesforce organization. They allow us to map the data that's stored outside your Salesforce organization. For example, You have data that is stored in the ERP system or any other place.
When you have to manage a huge amount of data then you should use Salesforce Big Objects. These objects manage billions of records of data without compromising performance.
Big objects are used to store and manage a massive amount of data in Salesforce. Users can archive or bring massive datasets from outside systems into a Big object to get a full view of your customers. A big object provides consistence performance whether you have 1 million or more records.
You can’t use standard features of Salesforce like triggers, flows, and processes on Big Objects. Big objects are usually identified by a __b suffix.
In Salesforce, Fields represent exactly the same as what the columns represent in CSV files or any relational databases. Basically, it uses to store data values of records that are required for a particular object. A record is a set of fields value.
In Salesforce there are two types of fields that is standard field and custom field.
Fields that are already present in Salesforce for standard and custom objects by default and cannot be deleted or edited.
Salesforce provides four standard fields in every custom object by default that are:
The Custom fields are added by the user according to the business requirements of any organization. They may or may not be required.
Users can add different kinds of data depending on the requirements with help of fields data type which is available on field creation.
Each field in Salesforce has a defined data type. When these fields are created in Salesforce, the User has to choose their data type such as Text, Text Area, Number, PickList, etc. In the above table, we categorized some of the fields' data type and their properties.
| Data Type | Property |
|---|---|
| Lookup Relationship | Create a relationship that links an object to another object. |
| Master-Details Relationship | Create a special type of parent-child relationship between two objects. |
| Checkbox | Allows users to select a True or False value. |
| Date | Allows users to enter or pick a date from a popup calendar. |
| Date/Time | Allows users to enter or pick a date with the current time from a popup calendar. |
| Allow user to enter email. | |
| Text | Allows users to enter any combination of letters and numbers. |
| Text Area | Allows users to enter up to 255 characters on separate lines. |
| Text Area (Rich) | Allows users to enter formatted text, and add images and links. Up to 131,072 characters on separate lines. |
| Formula | A read-only field that derives its value from a formula expression you define. |
| Currency | Allows users to enter a dollar or other currency amount and automatically formats. |
| Geolocation | Allows users to define locations. Includes latitude and longitude components. |
| Phone | Allows users to enter any phone number. |
| Picklist | Allows users to select a value from a list you define. |
| URL | Allows users to enter any valid website address. |
| Roll-Up Summary | A read-only field that displays the sum, minimum, or maximum value of a field in a related list or the record count of all records listed in a related list. |
| Picklist (Multi-Select) | Allows users to select multiple values from a list you define. |
Create Custom Object & Fields
Total Time: 10 minutes
Go to object manager in Setup
After going to set up, go to object manager then create a custom object.
Fill in custom object details & Save
Fill in all required details about the custom object and click on save. We have the following optional features while creating an object.
Allow reports: If we check this check box, then only these objects are available to create reports.
Allow Activities: If we check this check box, then we can create activities on this object.
Track Field History: If we check this check box then only we are to track fields. We can track up to 20 fields for a single object.
In development: If we check this check box, this object is still in development mode. This object is not available for deployments.
Deployed: After selecting this check box then only it will be available for deployment.
Object created
Object successfully created and on the left side, you can find its properties.
To add fields in the object
To add fields in an object, Go to object manager and find an object, Now open it and select Field & Relationships
Click on New To Create Field
Click on New to create Field and select the field data type that you want to create.
Fill Field Details
Fill in all required field details
Set Field Level Security & Save
User can Set Field Level Security on each profile and specifies which profile can see this field.
Field Created
The field created successfully.
Relationships make a connection between two objects. It is used to link objects and help to display data about their related objects. To establish a connection between two objects, we have to use relationship fields such as Lookup or master-detail relationship.
In Salesforce, To create a relationship we use the concept of Primary Key and Foreign Key. Primary Key resides on the table which is one in a many-to-one relationship and Foreign Key resides on the table which is many in a many-to-one relationship.
The field is created on the many side object and it is related to the one side object. Before you begin creating relationships first determine the type of relationship that suits your needs.
For Example :
Faculty ⇒ student (Lookup)
Course ⇒ student (Master-detail)
In Salesforce, mainly two types of relationships Master-Detail and Lookup Relationship.
Master-Detail relationship is used when we want a parent-child relationship or want to control the display of detailed records based on the value in the master record. For example, In college, a student is always linked with the course. if we remove the course then all the related students are also removed. Such a dependency can be achieved through Master-Detail Relationship.
The lookup relationship is used to link two objects together. Lookup relationships is similar to master-detail relationships, but it used when objects are only related in some cases. It is a loosely coupled relationship among Salesforce objects, which means even if a parent record gets deleted, the child records remain in the system. Lookup is mostly used in commonly shared data between two objects.
For example, imagine a scenario of a relationship between students and faculty. if any faculty remove then no effect on its related student because any other faculty will be allotted to those students. so such type of relationship comes under the lookup.
Self-relationship
Hierarchical relationship
External lookup relationship
Indirect lookup relationship
| Lookup relationship | Master-detail relationship |
|---|---|
| Loosely coupled. | Strongly coupled. |
| The roll-up summary field is not available. | The roll-up summary field is available. |
| A parent record is not required when creating a child record. | A parent record is required in order to save a child record. |
| Lookup fields are not required on the page layout of the detail record but if you make them a required field, it is advised! | Master-detail field is always required on the page layout of the detail record (because of the point above). |
| Standard object records can be on the detail side of a custom object in a lookup relationship. | Standard object records cannot be a child. |
| By default record ownership of child, records are not controlled by the parent. | The parent controls the record ownership of child records. |
| You can have a child record without a parent. | You cannot have a child record without a parent. |
| You can have a maximum of 40 lookups on an object. | You can have a maximum of two master details on an object. |
| No cascade delete by default. | Cascade delete by default. |
Salesforce provides multiple types of relationships to connect two objects together. You may be familiar with the two main relationships as master-detail and lookup relationships. These allow users to create a parent-child relationship which is sometimes referred to as one-to-many relationships which means there is one parent and multiple child records. But, what happens when we need to create many too many relationships?
In this case, we need to create a junction object to establish many to many relationships between two objects. To create a junction, first, we need to create a custom object which establishes a connection with those two objects via master-detail or lookup relationship.
Example of Junction object :
We have an example of two standard objects Opportunity and product. Both objects has many to many relationship. An opportunity can have more than one product as well as a product can be added to more than one opportunity. So this type of scenario establishes by the junction object.
As shown below image a junction object (opportunity product ) is created for opportunity and product.
Salesforce Record Types allow us to create functionality on records that display different picklist values and page layouts to users. The record type is like object slicing, which that means with the help of Record type objects can divide into multiple forms.
Administrators can add record types with profiles so that different types of users can see different picklist values and page layouts on the record’s detail page.
A profile can have only one-page layout but, if we want to add multiple page layouts on the profile then we can do it with the help of Record type.
In conclusion, Salesforce objects are the building blocks of the Salesforce platform, and they can be divided into standard objects, custom objects, external objects, and big objects.
A field is a specific element within an object that stores a specific piece of data. Fields can be standard or custom, and they have different data types. To create a custom object and field, you can use the object manager in Setup.
There are also different types of relationships between objects, such as Master-Detail and Lookup, which can be created through the object manager. Other terms related to Salesforce objects include junction objects and record types, which can be used to further customize the data stored within the platform.
Overall, Salesforce objects and fields play an essential role in organizing and managing data within the Salesforce platform.
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