Update custom field in Salesforce internally and externally - salesforce

In Salesforce, in Account component, I have a custom field called 'Timestamp'. This field is used for synchronization purposes with an external application. I need to achieve below scenarios with this field.
The field can be updated via Salesforce API. Here the field is updated with the external timestamp value (Now the 'Timestamp' value is different from 'Last Modified Time' in Salesforce).
If any Account related information is updated from Salesforce itself, then the field is updated with current time (Ideally equivalent to 'Last Modified Time' in Salesforce).
I tried Salesforce workflow rules for this but it only achieves the second scenario. For the first scenario it again updates the value with current time instead of the externally recieved value.
How to achieve this?
Thanks.

Related

Is there a way to add the current timestamp to a Google Data Studio report?

I created a simple report to track the funds raised for our primary school. Just a pie chart that picks data from a Google Sheets being maintained by the treasurer.
There is now a request to add a timestamp on the screen (the report is being shared by taking a screenshot and sharing in various social media platforms to report progress).
After some Googling I couldn't find a function that returns current time. Something like =now() in Sheets. However, it was recommended to try create the time in the source data.
So I created a field that stores the value of the current time in Google Sheets using this function:
=(now()-date(1970,1,1))*86400
I also set the Sheets to refresh every minute. The Sheets works perfectly.
On the Studio side I added a calculated field to display the time in my preferred format:
TODATE(Amount,'SECONDS','%H:%M:%S on %d %b %Y')
Again, this conversion works perfectly.
The problem is that the time refresh doesn't work on the report side. No matter how many times I refresh the data it still doesn't pick the updated time from the source. Yet the source sheet has the updated time.
As far as I can tell, the worksheet time update has to be triggered manually for the report to be updated.
That negates the whole purpose of the timestamp.
Sharing the report directly from Google Studio is not a practical option for now. Still, I have shared the report.
0) Summary
Use either:
#1 New Recommended Approach: Using Scorecards
#2 Original Suggestion: Using Tables
1) New Recommended Approach: Scorecards
It can be achieved using the CURRENT_DATETIME function (released on the 17 Sep 2020 Google Data Studio update to Dates and Times).
The below looks at three use cases using Scorecards which are aggregated by MAX or MIN (in the below scenario either aggregation would display the same Date Time); the fields will automatically update based on the chosen Data Freshness settings (for example, the Google Sheet used in this Report is set to refresh every 15 minutes) and can also be manually updated if required (by clicking on the refresh icon at the top of the report or using the shortcut keys Ctrl + Shift + E):
1.1) UTC
The default function would display a value based on UTC:
CURRENT_DATETIME()
1.2) Time Zone
A Time Zone could also be specified; for example, the below would display the the EST Time Zone:
CURRENT_DATETIME("EST")
1.3) Location
A location can also be specified, based on the TZ database name, for example, Colombo, Sri Lanka would be:
CURRENT_DATETIME("Asia/Colombo")
Added an Editable Google Data Studio Report and a GIF to elaborate:
2) Original Suggestion: Tables
The below looks at three use cases (outlined above) created using Tables.
Added an Editable Google Data Studio Report and a GIF to demonstrate:
There isn't a function to do that yet but hopefully will come soon (see:https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/78200216 which is assigned) however with a little careful design, you could achieve it using date rather than timestamp utilising a date filter.
If you don't have a date field in your data than you could simply set this to TODAY.
If you do have a date field then use the advanced date to set a start date of your field's earliest date and max date of TODAY.
You could then use some shapes / formatting to cover up what isn't needed.
Hardly ideal but maybe a stop gap?
There is a variable TODAY() that doesn't seem to be documented in their Function documentation but that works in calculated fields and may help you

Solr document disappears when I update it

I am trying to update existing documents in a (Sentry-secured) Solr collection. The updates are accepted by Solr, but when I query, the document seems to have disappeared from the collection.
What is going on?
I am using Cloudera (CDH) 5.8.3, and Sentry with document-level access control enabled.
When using document-level access control, Sentry uses a field (whose name is defined in solrconfig.secure.xml, but the default is sentry_auth) to determine which roles can see that document.
If you update a document, but forget to supply a sentry_auth field, then the updated document doesn't belong to any roles, so nobody can see it - it becomes essentially invisible! This is easily done, because the sentry_auth field is typically not a stored field, so won't be returned by any queries.
You therefore cannot just retrieve a document, modify a field, then update the document - you need to know which roles that document belongs to, so you can supply a properly-populated sentry-auth field.
You can make the sentry_auth field a "required" field, in the Solr schema, which will prevent you from accidentally omitting it.
However, this won't prevent you from supplying a blank sentry-auth field (or supplying incorrect roles), either of which will also make the document "disappear".
Also note that you can update a document that you do not have document-level access to, provided you have write-access to the collection as a whole, and you have the ID of the document. This means that users can (deliberately or accidentally) over-write or delete documents that they cannot see. This is a design choice, made so that users cannot find out whether a particular document ID exists, when they do not have document-level access to it.
See the Cloudera documentation:
http://blog.cloudera.com/blog/2014/07/new-in-cdh-5-1-document-level-security-for-cloudera-search/
https://www.cloudera.com/documentation/enterprise/5-6-x/topics/search_sentry_doc_level.html
https://www.cloudera.com/documentation/enterprise/5-9-x/topics/search_sentry.html

Preventing 'The data has been changed' error when using Me.Refresh with ODBC linked tables

In my Access application's data entry form I'm using Me.Refresh to show the user the new value of a calculated field based on data they entered in a non-calculated field. The purpose is to give them the deadline for doing a job next.
This Access app is using linked SQL Server 2012 tables via ODBC. The calculated field is in the underlying SQL Server table, not part of the Access Record Source query because I want to store the calculated value in the actual data, not just as an interface element.
The calculation is very simple:
nextjob = jobdate + 79
So I have the field for jobdate set to run Me.Refresh after update. All well and good.
The problem is that if the user updates jobdate, triggers the refresh by moving to another field, then returns to the jobdate field and changes the date they entered Access throws a "The data has been changed by another user" error.
I tested the method using native Access tables and the problem does not occur. However the data needs to stay on the server, so moving to native tables is not a solution for me.
There are several possible solutions.
1- If it's always jobdate + 79, don't store it at all, use a view that has the calculated field.
2- Use Me.Requery instead of Me.Refresh. If the form shows multiple records, you must navigate back to the current record, you can use Me.Bookmark for that.
3- Move the calculation into the Access frontend - make nextjob an ordinary column and set it in the form, so it isn't another user (the server) that updates the data.

Salesforce - how can I search for all Opportunity custom fields that are empty (never been populated) for every Opportunity record?

I need to search for any opportunity's custom field that are empty for every record, so that I can delete those fields that are not used by the users. Can I do this by report or by DevConsole, with some query?
I think there are three options that would work best:
Data Loader
Use their Data Loader to export all of your opportunities into a CSV. Load it up in Excel or some other software of your choice and manually dig through the columns ending in __c looking for at least one value.
SOQL
You could manually write a SOQL query that looks at each field (e.g. SELECT Id FROM Opportunity WHERE YourCustomField1__c != null and repeat for each field)
SOQL (Dynamic)
If you're willing to get your programming hands dirty you could make a describe API call to fetch all the fields on the opportunity object. Once you know all the fields you could find fields that end in __c again and write a dynamic SOQL statement to hit the API with.
The Field Trip app (free in the AppExchange) will do this for you. Here's a link:
https://appexchange.salesforce.com/listingDetail?listingId=a0N30000003HSXEEA4
Run it for an object and it gives you a report that lists all the field and tells you what % of records are filled in for each field. My organization has been using it for several years now.
I'm not connected with Qandor. I'm just a satisfied user.

Generate invoice with Salesforce

I am new in Salesforce and I would like to know how to generate an invoice.
I think to different solutions and I don't know if there are possible, time-consuming, difficult...
A service has different steps.
The service must be invoiced when the step is "completed". a new record have to be added in the table "Invoice" and a link to the invoice document (PDF or Word format)
For the moment, I think to use the section "Note and Attachment Fields". but perhaps that the object "document" is better...
Invoice Creation: I can use the standard button to create a new record but I would like to create it automatically when the status of the file is changed to "completed" for example.
1.I have read the workflow description but I am not sure that it could be use to create automaticaly a specific record in a table.
2.I have also thought to use a button that could fill in the fields and create the record. I fand information to update field with onclick javascript code. But I don't know how to add a record.
Electronic invoice: how can I generate the invoice in PDF or Word format ? and make it available from the record "Invoice n°10" ?
For exemple, the record "Invoice_10" would have an attachment field that contain a link to the document "Inv_010.pdf". The user could open the document from the link.
You might also consider using the standard quote object for your purpose. It comes with a neat PDF generator that is easy to set up. If you set it up right you can (ab)use the quote functionality for creating invoices related to an opportunity. Customizing the New Quote button would allow you to enable this functionality only after the opportunity is closed (using JavaScript). Regarding MS Word generation I recommend DocMocracy: http://www.cloudgizmos.com/salesforce-sfdc-word-excel-document-generator since it is really cheap and you can create read-only word documents.
To answer your first question, you want to write an Apex trigger — run it on your service object (sounds like Opportunity) after insert, and after update, and if the status has been changed to completed then generate your invoice record.
As for generating a PDF invoice you can do this by creating a Visualforce Page and using the renderAs="pdf" attribute in the <apex:page> tag. Storing it against a record will be a bit more tricky, though I suggest you look at examples of how you can attach a Visualforce PDF to an email, you can likely use the same blob object (which stores the content) as a document in Salesforce.
There is already an application: Invoices for Salesforce listed on the Appexchange that automatically creates invoices - records and PDF, straight out of your sales data. The application includes an invoice template editor that gives you complete freedom to design your invoice documents. In addition, the application can automatically deliver the invoices via email, or can group the invoices in files for batch printing in case you need to send them by post or fax.
Check it out: http://www.invoicesforsalesforce.com

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