Top 5 Tips for Building Your First LWC

November 18, 2020 ~ Sara Morgan ~ Leave a comment

I am very honored to have been asked by 100daysoftrailhead.com to record a session about Top 5 Tips for Building Your 1st LWC. And with that, I wanted to write this post to summarize the tips that I featured in that presentation.

Tip # 1 – Hit the Trail

If you are brand new to Lightning Web Components, then you definitely want to begin by working through the Build Lightning Web Components trail on Trailhead. The trail several projects and modules and you do not have to work them all at once. But at the very least, you should complete the first one, Quick Start: Lighting Web Components.

Tip # 2 – Install the Salesforce Extended Expansion Pack

Better Option is to install the Salesforce Extended Expansion Pack

The official Salesforce docs tell you to install the Salesforce Extension Pack for Visual Studio Code. But, I suggest you also/or instead install the Salesforce Extended Expansion Pack, which you can do by Clicking the Extensions icon in the left toolbar of Visual Studio Code and then selecting Salesforce Extension Pack (Extended).

Select the Extended Expansion Pack though the Extensions icon in Visual Studio Code

This extension pack will include 4 additional JavaScript libraries that you will more than likely need. They are XML, ESLint, Prettier and Apex PMD.

Tip # 3 – Embrace the Command Line Interface (CLI) Help

Don’t fear the CLI – Embrace it! I know that the Salesforce Extensions offers a very nifty Command Palette tool, but that does not cover everything that the CLI offers. By using the built-in help features, you not only get access to the latest docs (and that you can be rest assured of), but you can learn a lot about what the CLI Offers.

To access the help feature, just type the following sfdx help from a Terminal Window in Visual Studio Code. This will bring up results such as the following:

Access the CLI help feature from Terminal window

To drill down into one of the topics, such as the force one, use the following:

sfdx force --help

From there you can drill down as far as you need to, such as this command for accessing info about creating a Salesforce DX project:

sfdx force:project:create --help

Tip # 4 – Use Base Lightning Components Whenever Possible

The Base Lightning Components that Salesforce offers not only make your life as a developer so much easier, they are highly performant than anything you might try to create yourself. So, you should check them all out and make sure to use them whenever possible.

The Component library offers a handy Lightning Mini Playground that you can use to access sample HTML and JavaScript directly.

The Component Library offers a handy Lightning Mini Playground feature

Tip # 5 – Reference the Code in the Sample App Gallery

The Sample App Gallery includes real-world code that were all designed by the incredible developers with the Salesforce developer relations group. They not only demonstrate new Salesforce features, but best practices for how to create Lightning web components.

As you begin the process, the most important one to checkout is the LWC Recipes one. This GitHub repo features very short code snippets that demonstrate how to perform certain key operations.

Bonus Tip – Check out My New Pluralsight Course

This month, I also released my latest Pluralsight course, “Salesforce Lightning Web Components: The Big Picture“. You can find out more about it in this post. Once you have completed that course, you might want to checkout, “Building Your First Lightning Web Component (LWC) for Salesforce“.

Salesforce Trailhead: Approach with Caution

October 30, 2020March 2, 2021 ~ Sara Morgan ~ 5 Comments

Proceed to the Salesforce Trailhead with caution

As a former member of the Trailhead team, I am hesitant to write this, but I think it is an important thing for people to be aware of. If you have been using Trailhead for longer than a year, then you need to be aware of these pretty serious limitations.

While you can retake challenges for badges and projects, you cannot do so for Superbadges. More importantly, once you complete a badge, you have no way of knowing that the content for that badge may have been significantly updated. As in, all the content you understood when you completed the badge, is no longer relevant.

As I am sure you are aware, Salesforce does major releases three times a year. When they do, they prepare comprehensive release notes and the Trailhead authors are instructed to review these notes and update their content as necessary. That part is great. What is not great is that you as a consumer of Trailhead content have no way of knowing that the content was updated (without revisiting EVERY badge you have earned to examine the content).

The badge itself just indicates that it was completed on a certain date. As in the image below of a badge I completed in 2015. This badge has since been significantly updated and the content that was once relevant when I completed the badge is VERY different.

Trailhead badge completed in 2015 that now has VERY different content

How do you know that you are aware of the latest features and updates to the platform? Well, it is up to you to pick through the release notes and then cross reference any Trailhead content that you may have completed. Nice, right?

Just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of this (what I consider to be) serious limitation. I hope the team is actively addressing it. I would say I know, but they don’t talk to me since I left the team.

New Pluralsight Course: Getting Started Customizing Salesforce with Lightning Aura Components

July 2, 2020August 14, 2020 ~ Sara Morgan ~ Leave a comment

I am very proud to announce the release of my latest Pluralsight course, “Customizing Salesforce with Lightning Aura Components“. This is actually a total re-write of my most popular course, “Customizing Salesforce with Lightning Components”, released in 2017. The key word change in the title is the addition of the word, “Aura“.

New Pluralsight Course, which includes working with VS Code and the CLI

This course is different because at the time that course was released, Lightning Components were not called Lightning Aura Components AND most importantly, the new modern toolset known as Salesforce DX was not yet available. There were also no Lightning Web Components available yet.

I personally believe that for many developers, transitioning to LWC would be much easier if they were to first learn to build simple Aura components using the new modern tools first.

In this course, all those great shiny new tools will be used to build very simple Aura Lightning Components. The original course used the online Developer Console, which is what Trailhead still uses in all their content about Aura Components. On Trailhead, the new tools are only used for Lightning Web Components.

So, if you want to learn about building Aura Components, while also embracing the new modern toolset, this course is perfect for you. And if you want to learn about Lightning Web Components (LWC’s), then you can check out the “Building Your First Lightning Web Component (LWC) for Salesforce” course that I released earlier this year.

Either way, you will be knowledgeable in all the latest that Salesforce has to offer. I personally believe that for some developers, transitioning to LWC would be much easier if they were to first learn to build simple Aura components using the new modern tools first.

This course includes a GitHub Repo that features all the code covered in the course. The material covered includes the following:

Understanding the Lightning Component Framework

Refer to the following blog post #1 . In this post/Pluralsight module), you will learn:

Who Should be Building Aura Components?
Where Can Aura Components Be Used?
Anatomy of an Aura Component Bundle
Creating an Aura Component Bundle

Creating Aura Components with the Salesforce CLI

Refer to the following blog post # 2 .

Using an Interactive Development Environment (IDE)
Getting Setup with an IDE
Understanding Salesforce DX (SFDX)
Creating an Aura Component in Visual Studio (VS) Code
Exposing Aura Components to Lightning App Builder

Working with Data

Refer to the following blog post # 3 .

Working with Controllers
Working with Apex and DML
Creating a New Open Cases Component
Using the CLI to Load Data to Scratch Org
Enforcing Apex Security
What About Caching and Usability?

Working with Record Forms

Refer to the following blog post # 4 .

Working with Record Form Base Lightning Components
Creating a New Quick Case Component
Creating Quick Actions

Working with Salesforce Mobile

Refer to the following blog post # 5 .

Working with the new Salesforce Mobile App
Using the Salesforce Mobile App QuickStart Page
Wrapping Up

New Upcoming Pluralsight Course on Customizing Salesforce with Lightning Aura Components

April 28, 2020April 28, 2020 ~ Sara Morgan ~ 4 Comments

I am VERY happy to announce that I am very close to releasing a new Pluralsight course called “Customizing Salesforce with Lightning Aura Components”. Well, kind of a new course.

It is a total re-write of my most popular course (so far), “Customizing Salesforce with Lightning Components: Getting Started“, which was released back in 2017. That was right before Salesforce DX was released and all the other modern developer tools that Salesforce now promotes (for very good reasons).

In this course, all those great shiny new tools will be used to build very simple Aura Lightning Components, as they are now called. The original course used the online Developer Console, which is what Trailhead uses in all their content about Aura Components. On Trailhead, the new tools are only used for Lightning Web Components.

Both courses use the new tools, like:

Salesforce DX

Salesforce Command Line Interface

Salesforce Extensions for Visual Studio Code

Starting next week, I will be releasing a series of weekly blog posts that will feature what content will be covered in each Pluralsight module, followed by an announcement of the courses release.

So, keep an eye out for that.

Not to be missed Developer Content on Trailhead

October 5, 2018 ~ Sara Morgan ~ Leave a comment

THLogo Ok, I know I work for Trailhead and so I am a little bit biased, but I just have to say that we released some incredibly awesome developer-based content in September. If you are a serious Salesforce developer that has been waiting for some juicy content from Trailhead, I think you will really like what we have out right now. This post highlights my favorites.

Got Slack?

A lot of teams do and they love it. If your team does, wouldn’t it be cool if you could integrate Slack with systems in your own company? Well you can. Using webhooks, you can bring notifications and data in from other systems and build your very own Slack app. You can even use AI services to create your own intelligent Slack bot.

To get started, check out this beginner module, Slack Development Basics. Once you know the basics, you can move on to working through the Build a Welcome Bot for Slack. In that hands-on project, you will use Node SDK’s and the Slack API’s to build a welcome bot that interacts with users that signup to your channel.

What about Heroku?

If you have not been playing around with Heroku, then you are missing out. Seriously! Heroku is such an incredible platform and EVERY Salesforce developer should be looking at how they can work with it to deliver incredible online experiences.

We have two new projects that you need to check out. If you are new to Heroku, then look at Quick Start: Build a Java App on Heroku, which is a simple three step project that will get your feet wet with creating, deploying and scaling a simple Java app on Heroku.

More experienced developers wanting to see a rich end-to-end solution will want to move straight to Develop a Heroku App that Integrates with Salesforce, which walks you through installing the Dreamhouse App to Heroku and then setting up Heroku Connect so that property data is synced both ways between your Salesforce org and Heroku app. You will even see how to implement continuous delivery through Heroku Pipelines and Flow.

Need to know more about JavaScript?

Every Salesforce developer should be trying to enhance their JavaScript skills since the Lightning platform is all about JavaScript. JavaScript Skills for Salesforce Developers is just what you need to learn the key JavaScript skills that you need to take your Visualforce pages and Lightning Components to the next level.

Think you know enough about Unit Testing?

I bet you could learn some more and I know just the module to help. This new module called Unit Testing on the Lightning Platform dives deep into topics such as positive and negative testing, using a mock and a stub, as well as permission-based testing. It even covers testing JavaScript with the Lightning Testing Service.

Finish it all off with Alexa

Ready for some fun? We have a super fun project that uses a new voice platform called Violet to build an Alexa-based app that links back to your Salesforce org. Quick Start: Violet will walk you through setting up an Alexa Skill that lets you plan a game night for your friends.

Have fun!!!