How To Use Triggers To Start Flows?

Salesforce, one of the most prominent Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms, continually evolves to offer its users a range of tools and functionalities to streamline their business processes. Two such essential tools within the Salesforce ecosystem are Triggers and Flows. These tools allow businesses to automate and enhance their operational workflows, ensuring data integrity, standardization, and efficient processing. This article provides an overview of Salesforce Triggers and Flows, elucidating their functionality and significance.

What will you learn:

• Understand the basics of Salesforce triggers and Salesforce Flows.
• Understand the benefits of using trigger-initiated Flows.
• Learn how to use triggers to start Flow efficiently.

Salesforce Triggers: Overview

Salesforce Triggers are pieces of Apex code executed before or after specific data manipulation language (DML) events, such as insert, update, or delete. They are used to perform custom actions, validations, or automations that cannot be achieved with the standard point-and-click tools in Salesforce.

What are Salesforce Flows?

Salesforce Flows, often referred to simply as “Flows”, are powerful automation tools that allow users to build complex business processes without writing code. They are visual, drag-and-drop tools that make designing processes easier for developers and non-developers. Here’s a deeper dive into Salesforce Flows:

1. User-Friendly Interface: Flows come with a visual designer that enables users to map out and visualize the entire process from start to finish.
2. Versatility: With Flows, users can automate various tasks such as data collection, data updates, record creation, and more. They can even call Apex classes when needed.
3. Types of Flows: Salesforce offers different kinds of Flows, including:

• Screen Flows: Used to create interactive user experiences with custom screens to gather or display information.
• Auto-Launched Flows: These are triggered automatically without user intervention. Other automation tools or processes can invoke them.
• Scheduled Flows: Set to run at specific intervals, like daily or weekly.

4. Integration with Platform Events: Flows can be set to listen to platform events and triggered when specific conditions are met.
5. Error Handling: Flows come equipped with built-in error handling mechanisms, allowing admins and developers to specify what should happen for errors or exceptions.

Using Triggers to Start Flows

Salesforce has revolutionized how businesses look at automation. While Salesforce Triggers and Flows are powerful automation tools, their combined strength can lead to more dynamic and robust automations. By initiating Flows from Triggers, we can harness the best of both worlds – the flexibility of programmatic logic with the user-friendly nature of Flows. Below, we’ll explore how to use Triggers to kick off Flows effectively.

Benefits of Trigger-Initiated Flows

1. Dynamic Execution: Leveraging Triggers allow Flows to execute based on specific conditions that might be complex or outside the straightforward criteria-based initiation of standard Flows.
2. Flexibility: Combine the precision of Apex code with the drag-and-drop features of Flow Builder. For example, use a trigger to identify a specific data change scenario and then a Flow for the subsequent data manipulation.
3. Optimized Performance: By using Triggers, one can minimize the execution of Flows only when necessary, leading to more efficient system performance.

Steps to Use Triggers to Start Flows

1. Prepare Your Flow:

• Start by designing your Flow in the Salesforce Flow Builder. Ensure the Flow is set as an ‘Auto-Launched Flow’ since it doesn’t require user interaction.
• Design the Flow to accept input variables. These can be populated by the Trigger, passing data directly from the record that initiated the Trigger.

2. Write the Trigger:

• Create a new Trigger for the desired Salesforce object.
• Define the conditions under which you want the Flow to start. This can be based on record data, related records, or other business logic.
• Use the Flow.Interview Apex class to initiate the Flow. Pass any required data from the Trigger to the Flow by setting the Flow’s input variables.

trigger ActiveAccountTrigger on Account (after update) {

    // List to capture accounts that have been activated

    List<Id> activatedAccounts = new List<Id>();

    // Iterate through the accounts in the trigger context

    for(Account updatedAcc : Trigger.new) {

        Account oldAcc = Trigger.oldMap.get(updatedAcc.Id);

        // Check if the account status changed to ‘Active’

        if(updatedAcc.Status__c == ‘Active’ && oldAcc.Status__c != ‘Active’) {

            activatedAccounts.add(updatedAcc.Id);

        }

    }

    if(!activatedAccounts.isEmpty()) {

        // Initialize the Flow

        Flow.Interview.AccountActivationFlow accountFlow = new Flow.Interview.AccountActivationFlow();

        // Pass the accountId input variable to the Flow

        for(Id accountId : activatedAccounts) {

            Map<String, Object> params = new Map<String, Object>();

            params.put(‘accountId’, accountId);

            accountFlow.start(params);

        }

    }

}

3. Test Your Automation:

• Always test your Trigger and Flow in a sandbox or developer environment first.
• Check to ensure the Flow executes under the desired conditions and the data passed from the Trigger to the Flow is processed correctly.

4. Deploy & Monitor:

• Once tested, deploy the Trigger and Flow to the production environment.
• Regularly monitor the system to ensure the Trigger and Flow are working seamlessly together without causing any unexpected issues.

Considerations

• Governor Limits: Remember, Salesforce enforces governor limits. Ensure your Trigger and Flow combination stays within these limits, especially in bulk operations.
• Debugging: Errors can occur either in the Trigger or within the Flow. Make sure to incorporate error handling and logging mechanisms.
• Maintainability: When using Triggers to initiate Flows, document the process. This helps ensure that any future developers or administrators understand the combined logic.

Conclusion

In the expansive realm of Salesforce automation, the collaboration of Triggers and Flows emerges as a game-changer. Triggers, with their precise event-driven capabilities, paired with the versatile visual workflow of Flows, empower businesses to craft bespoke automation solutions tailored to nuanced requirements. By using Triggers to initiate Flows, we effectively bridge the gap between programmatic logic and visual design, ensuring accuracy and user-friendliness.

If you are seeking guidance and looking for ways to step into the Salesforce ecosystem, explore our admin training Course to begin your Salesforce journey. And utilize the limited offers and certification courses available to build a successful career in Salesforce.