Master-Detail and Lookup relationships in Salesforce

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In Salesforce, Master-Detail and Lookup relationships establish relationships between objects.

Here's an explanation of each:

Dependency and Data Integrity:

Master-Detail Relationship: Child records are tightly bound to parent records. If a parent record is deleted, all associated child records are deleted. This ensures strong data integrity and dependency between records.

Lookup Relationship: Child records can exist independently of parent records. Deleting a parent record does not automatically delete associated child records. This offers more flexibility but results in weaker data integrity than Master-Detail relationships.

Ownership and Control:

Master-Detail Relationship: The parent object owns the relationship, and the child object is subordinate. The child record inherits security and sharing settings from the parent record. Master-detail relationships are typically used for objects with a clear parent-child relationship where the parent owns the child's records.

Lookup Relationship: Both objects have equal ownership and control. Lookup relationships are often used when two objects have a more loosely coupled relationship and have no clear ownership hierarchy between them.

Roll-Up Summary Fields:

Master-Detail Relationship: Allows the creation of roll-up summary fields on the parent object to perform calculations (e.g., sum, count, min, max) based on related child records. These fields provide aggregated data from child records and are automatically updated when child records are created, edited, or deleted.

Lookup Relationship: This does not support roll-up summary fields that are out of the box. While you can achieve similar functionality using custom formulas or Apex triggers, additional development is required.

Security and Sharing:

Master-Detail Relationship: Child records inherit sharing settings, field-level security, and record ownership from parent records. Changes to sharing settings on the parent record automatically apply to child records. This simplifies security and sharing management.

Lookup Relationship: Child records do not inherit sharing settings or record ownership from parent records. Each record's security and sharing settings are managed independently.

Creation and Deletion Behavior:

Master-Detail Relationship: Child records must have a parent record specified upon creation. If a parent record is deleted, all associated child records are deleted automatically (cascade delete).

Lookup Relationship: Child records can be created with or without a parent record specified. Deleting a parent record does not delete associated child records unless specifically configured to do so through custom logic.




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