Dynamic Apex in Salesforce

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Dynamic Apex in Salesforce refers to the ability to construct and execute code dynamically at runtime, rather than having it defined statically at compile time. This feature allows developers to build more flexible and adaptable solutions that can respond to changing requirements or conditions during program execution.

Dynamic Apex enables developers to create more flexible applications by providing them with the ability to:

Access sObject and field describe information-

Metadata information about sObject and field properties includes details about operations supported by sObject types (such as create or undelete), name and label of sObjects, fields and child objects. Field information contains details like default value presence, calculated field status, and field type

Apex provides two data structures and a method for sObject and field describe information:

Token—a lightweight, serializable reference to an sObject or a field that is validated at compile time. This is used for token describes.

The describeSObjects method—a method in the Schema class that performs describes on one or more sObject types.

Describe result—an object of type Schema.DescribeSObjectResult that contains all the describe properties for the sObject or field. Describe result objects are not serializable, and are validated at runtime. This result object is returned when performing the describe, using either the sObject token or the describeSObjects method.

Example

// Create a new account as the generic type sObject
sObject s = new Account();

// Verify that the generic sObject is an Account sObject
System.assert(s.getsObjectType() == Account.sObjectType);

// Get the sObject describe result for the Account object
Schema.DescribeSObjectResult dsr = Account.sObjectType.getDescribe();

// Get the field describe result for the Name field on the Account object
Schema.DescribeFieldResult dfr = Schema.sObjectType.Account.fields.Name;

// Verify that the field token is the token for the Name field on an Account object
System.assert(dfr.getSObjectField() == Account.Name);

// Get the field describe result from the token

dfr = dfr.getSObjectField().getDescribe();

Using sObject Tokens

// Create a generic sObject variable s
SObject s = Database.query('SELECT Id FROM Account LIMIT 1');

// Verify if that sObject variable is an Account token
System.assertEquals(s.getSObjectType(), Account.sObjectType);

// Create a list of generic sObjects 
List<sObject> sobjList = new Account[]{};

// Verify if the list of sObjects contains Account tokens

System.assertEquals(sobjList.getSObjectType(), Account.sObjectType);

For more information, see- 

DescribeSObjectResultClass
DescribeSObjectResult.fields()

Using Field Describe Results

Schema.DescribeFieldResult dfr = Account.Description.getDescribe();
Schema.DescribeFieldResult dfr = Schema.SObjectType.Account.fields.Name;

Accessing All Field Describe Results for an sObject

Map<String, Schema.SObjectField> fieldMap = Schema.SObjectType.Account.fields.getMap();

Describing sObjects Using Schema Method

// sObject types to describe
String[] types = new String[]{'Account','Merchandise__c'};

// Make the describe call
Schema.DescribeSobjectResult[] results = Schema.describeSObjects(types);

System.debug('Got describe information for ' + results.size() + ' sObjects.');

// For each returned result, get some info
for(Schema.DescribeSobjectResult res : results) {
    System.debug('sObject Label: ' + res.getLabel());
    System.debug('Number of fields: ' + res.fields.getMap().size());
    System.debug(res.isCustom() ? 'This is a custom object.' : 'This is a standard object.');
    // Get child relationships
    Schema.ChildRelationship[] rels = res.getChildRelationships();
    if (rels.size() > 0) {
        System.debug(res.getName() + ' has ' + rels.size() + ' child relationships.');
    }

}

Describing Tabs Using Schema Methods

// Get tab set describes for each app
List<Schema.DescribeTabSetResult> tabSetDesc = Schema.describeTabs();

// Iterate through each tab set describe for each app and display the info
for(DescribeTabSetResult tsr : tabSetDesc) {
    String appLabel = tsr.getLabel();
    System.debug('Label: ' + appLabel);
    System.debug('Logo URL: ' + tsr.getLogoUrl());
    System.debug('isSelected: ' + tsr.isSelected());
    String ns = tsr.getNamespace();
    if (ns == '') {
        System.debug('The ' + appLabel + ' app has no namespace defined.');
    }
    else {
        System.debug('Namespace: ' + ns);
    }
    
    // Display tab info for the Sales app
    if (appLabel == 'Sales') {
        List<Schema.DescribeTabResult> tabDesc = tsr.getTabs();
        System.debug('-- Tab information for the Sales app --');
        for(Schema.DescribeTabResult tr : tabDesc) {
            System.debug('getLabel: ' + tr.getLabel());
            System.debug('getColors: ' + tr.getColors());
            System.debug('getIconUrl: ' + tr.getIconUrl());
            System.debug('getIcons: ' + tr.getIcons());
            System.debug('getMiniIconUrl: ' + tr.getMiniIconUrl());
            System.debug('getSobjectName: ' + tr.getSobjectName());
            System.debug('getUrl: ' + tr.getUrl());
            System.debug('isCustom: ' + tr.isCustom());
        }
    }

}

Accessing All sObjects

Map<String, Schema.SObjectType> gd = Schema.getGlobalDescribe();

Accessing All Data Categories Associated with an sObject

public class DescribeDataCategoryGroupSample {
   public static List<DescribeDataCategoryGroupResult> describeDataCategoryGroupSample(){
      List<DescribeDataCategoryGroupResult> describeCategoryResult;
      try {
         //Creating the list of sobjects to use for the describe
         //call
         List<String> objType = new List<String>();

         objType.add('KnowledgeArticleVersion');
         objType.add('Question');

         //Describe Call
         describeCategoryResult = Schema.describeDataCategoryGroups(objType);
   
         //Using the results and retrieving the information
         for(DescribeDataCategoryGroupResult singleResult : describeCategoryResult){
            //Getting the name of the category
            singleResult.getName();

            //Getting the name of label
            singleResult.getLabel();

            //Getting description
            singleResult.getDescription();

            //Getting the sobject
            singleResult.getSobject();
         }         
      } catch(Exception e){
      }
      
      return describeCategoryResult;
   }

}

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