Apex Managed Sharing

Apex managed sharing allows Apex code to add, edit, and delete record sharing rules. This is the third and most advanced type of record sharing provided by Force.com. It provides the Apex developer with full control of record sharing. Apex managed sharing uses the same infrastructure as the other two types of record sharing, discussed in Chapter 3, “Database Security,” and briefly reviewed here:

Force.com managed sharing—These are record sharing rules maintained by Force.com. A native user interface enables administrators to add, edit, and delete these rules. Rules are based on user, group, or role membership and defined individually on each object. They are configured in the Administration Setup area, Security Controls, Sharing Settings.

User managed sharing—Users who own records can grant permission to additional users from the native user interface. This is a manual process. The owner visits a record to share and clicks the Sharing button to add, edit, or remove its sharing rules.

This section is divided into two parts, described next:

Sharing objects—Sharing objects are where Force.com stores record sharing rules. The fields of sharing objects are described, as well as restrictions on their use.

Creating sharing rules in Apex—This walks you through the infrastructure behind sharing rules, finishing with a code sample to add a sharing rule in the Services Manager sample application schema.