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The Build phase in DevOps is a critical component of the software development lifecycle, where the source code is transformed into deployable artifacts that can be integrated with other changes and deployed to various environments. This phase is central to ensuring the software is correctly integrated and ready for testing.
Continuous Integration (CI) in a Salesforce development is a crucial component of the software development cycle. This practice involves team members integrating their work frequently––often several times a day––ensuring that each integration is verified as soon as possible to detect integration errors as quickly.
This approach not only leads to significantly reduced integration problems but also enhances development speed, enabling teams to develop cohesive software more rapidly. It's well-documented that CI practices can dramatically reduce time-to-market, with many studies indicating improvements by up to 10 times.
This article delves into Continuous Integration within the Salesforce development ecosystem, highlighting the unique challenges of integration in this realm and exploring how Copado CI/CD can streamline these processes.
Continuous Integration is fundamental in Salesforce, streamlining the development process through regular and consistent integration of changes. This practice minimizes errors and accelerates the deployment cycle by allowing early detection and correction of issues.
The key components of CI include:
Critical for managing and merging changes made by different developers, Git started out in 2005 as an open source project by Linus Torvalds, best known as the creator of the Linux operating system. In the Salesforce world, Git-based version control systems like GitHub, GitLabs, Azure DevOps and Bitbucket are the norm. When we mention “Git” in this article, we refer to these products as a group.
Version Control Systems (VCS)–– known simply as Repos (repository)––are integral in managing code in Salesforce development.
How Repos Work: Artifacts within Salesforce are managed through commits ––developers make changes locally and commit these changes to the VCS once ready. It’s like saving a new version of a document, but here, the stakes are higher.
When developers are working as a team, things get tricky. Imagine two developers editing the same files at the same time. Normally, chaos. But not with Git. Git excels in merging these edits by identifying differences and integrating changes without losing any data. Think of it like two writers smoothly blending their edits into a single coherent narrative. . Git adds the new paragraph from one author in the correct place and changes the paragraph from the other author. Merge complete!
The Twist: What happens when two developers make changes to the same “paragraph”, or class of code?
Git flags this situation and creates what is called a Merge Conflict. This situation calls for a human to sort out what Git can’t automatically –– ensuring the final code version reflects the best of both contributions.
Git isn’t just for text. Whether it's Apex, JavaScript, or Python, Git handles all with aplomb, merging changes into a unified file seamlessly.
This dynamic ensures that Salesforce developers can work concurrently without disruption, making Git an indispensable tool in the CI landscape.
In Salesforce, managing metadata like custom objects, permissions, and page layouts is as crucial as code management. These components are stored as XML files in version control systems, presenting unique challenges due to their size and repetitive nature. Git struggles with merging large XML files because it's difficult to pinpoint changes in similar-looking blocks of text. Copado addresses this by parsing the structure of XML files, identifying changes more accurately than traditional text-based methods.
The next challenge in the salesforce commit process stems from the fact that many of the developers on Salesforce are Low Coders, sometimes called Awesome Admins. In fact more than 75% of development teams on Salesforce are a blend of low code and pro code developers. Unfortunately, Git is not designed for Low Coders. It uses a Command Line Interface (CLI) and relies on concepts that most Low Coders have never been exposed to. Admins log into salesforce, make the change and they’re done. What do you mean by “commit”? What’s that?
Copado DevOps streamlines metadata management within Salesforce using Custom Objects, like the “User Story.” This object features a user-friendly interface, equipped with a table and a Commit button –– simplifying the process for Low Code developers. Just add changes, click Commit, and Copado takes care of the rest. We even provide a capability to let you see the latest changes in the environment. Click. Click. Done.
This system ensures that changes seamlessly integrate through various stages up to production, across a complex environment involving multiple apps and stages — Developer, Integration, Test, Staging and Production.
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In Continuous Integration, the movement of changes between development and integration is just the beginning. Changes often traverse the pipeline multiple times, which could lead to recurring merge conflicts — traditionally resolved manually each time.
Fortunately, Copado can help here as well. Once a human performs the merge conflict resolution, we remember the steps and do it for you automatically in the later environments, saving a lot of time.
This proactive approach not only streamlines the process but also raises the question: Is it possible to get proactive about merge conflicts?
Yes. Copado’s “Overlap Awareness” feature alerts you when another developer tinkers with the same metadata. This feature is particularly useful in busy environments where multiple developers overlap, preventing the classic tug-of-war over code changes.
Automated Testing is an important part of CI as well. Ever heard of “Shift Left"? It’s all about catching glitches early in the Build Phase. Early testing means cheaper fixes. What’s in the testing toolkit?
Unit Tests and Code Coverage
Devs create unit tests that are embedded directly within the code, which are crucial for verifying the functionality during the development stages.
Salesforce has the ability to determine the percentage of code that is covered by Unit Tests. This is called “Code Coverage” and is typically only enforced on release to production, but that’s not shifting left. Rather than just meeting the minimum standards typically required for production, Copado encourages teams to set higher benchmarks for code coverage across every phase of the pipeline to catch issues early.
Static Code Analysis
Copado integrates PMD and Salesforce’s scanning tools to perform rigorous static code analysis. This analysis is essential not just for maintaining code quality and style but also for ensuring long-term maintainability as the code you write today might be modified by someone else tomorrow.
Even though many companies still rely on Pull Requests and manual peer review, to achieve CI, your teams should be automating as much of the review process as possible and SCA makes it easy to do so.
Security Testing
There are many types of security testing, but for the sake of brevity we will focus on two: Static Security Code Analysis and Open Source Software Compliance. The former scans the code for security vulnerabilities, while the latter checks open-source libraries for any known security risks. Both of these can save your organization a lot of potential grief and should be a standard part of your development practice. While Copado does not provide these tools, we partner with companies who do and provide all the hooks necessary to automate.
Functional Testing: This crucial phase ensures that the code behaves as it is supposed to from a users perspective. While unit testing can catch many issues, functional testing drives the software from the UI, just like a user, and is able to catch more bugs.
Regression Testing: Post-integration, new features might disrupt existing functionality. To mitigate this, regression tests are conducted regularly, assessing the impact of recent changes on established features, ensuring that all system components function harmoniously.
Test Orchestration with Copado: Copado streamlines this process with an advanced orchestration engine and quality gates, directing which tests are run and when. This capability eliminates reliance on external tools like Jenkins or Git Actions, keeping all testing within the secure confines of your environment. This integration ensures that both new and legacy features perform correctly, maintaining the integrity and reliability of the application.
As you can see from this brief overview, Continuous Integration in the Salesforce world requires a lot of thought and automation to truly integrate changes from a large team of developers multiple times a day. The productivity gains are well worth the effort though, especially when you have a tool like Copado CI/CD to orchestrate all of the processes. If your company is looking to improve the speed of delivery from idea to business value, investing in Continuous Integration is a very good choice.
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