All you Need to Know About Flows in Salesforce
In Salesforce, a flow is a tool for automation. In other words, it gathers data or information and uses it for processing. In the Salesforce user interface, there is a tool called Flow Builder that is used to create customized flows. Flow Builder can simply design logic and do tasks that can be performed by any programming language. Any record that has been sent into the flow can be created, edited, and deleted by the flow.
Types of Flows
There are five types of flows in Salesforce:
Screen Flows
Screen flows are the flows that consist of a user interface. By which the user can provide their own input values. These flows can be used as an action or can be implemented as an element on a Lightning page.
Schedule-Triggered Flows
Schedule-Triggered Flows run in the background at a specified time. When a record is created, edited, or destroyed, these types of flows work in the background.
Don't forget to check out: What are Flows In Salesforce in 2023?
Auto-launched Flows
Auto launched Flows are the flows that are used to run automated processes. We can run auto-launched flows from process builder, apex class, or from platform events. Auto launched Flows are the flows that enable us to perform complicated backend processing without the user's knowledge. There is no interface for users to engage in auto-launched flows. That’s why they are also known as headless flows.
Record-Triggered Flows
Record-Triggered Flows are the flows in which the flow launches automatically. These flows run automatically when a record is created, updated, or deleted. They are like schedule-trigger flows. The difference is that schedule-trigger flows run only at a specified time. While the record-triggered flows run when a record is created, updated or deleted. In salesforce, till now apex trigger is used to do this kind of automation. Now the best part is, it can be done with the help of Flow.
Platform Event-Triggered Flows
Platform event-triggered flow is the type of flow that is activated when we get a platform event message. Platform event-triggered flows are used to launch and control the platform events. Platform events-triggered flows let you perform all of your automation in one place.
Check out another amazing blog by Sejal here: Record-Triggered Flows in Salesforce - A Short Guide
When Should We Use Flows?
Any record that has been sent into the flow can be created, edited, and deleted by the flow. Data in a flow can be obtained without records being linked. For a group of records, a specific amount of time can be set for the flow to run. The workflow rule's field update function cannot function on related object fields; it can only update the fields of the triggering record. Data from the same record that initiated the process, as well as records with lookup or master-detail relationships, can be updated using Process Builder. Process Builder can be used to create or edit records, but it cannot be used to delete records. Additionally, records not connected to the triggering record cannot be queried by the process builder.
When Should We Not Use Flows?
- If there is any complex logic that can be controlled more effectively through programming, we'll pick Apex over flows.
- The number of flows we can construct depends on the Salesforce edition we choose. There is a five-process and five-flow maximum in each organization for the Essentials and Professional editions.
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