Summary

Batch processing in Force.com enables you to query and modify data in volumes that would otherwise be prohibited by governor limits. In this chapter, you’ve learned how to develop, test, and schedule batch jobs, and applied batch processing to the real-world problem of identifying missing database records.

When using Batch Apex in your own applications, consider these key points:

Batch Apex is optimized for tasks with inputs that can be expressed in a single SOQL statement and that do not require all-or-nothing transactional behavior.

With its limit of five active batch jobs per organization, one input data set per job, and a lack of precise control over actual execution time, Batch Apex is the nuclear option of Force.com data processing: powerful, but challenging to build and subject to proliferation problems. Use it sparingly, when all other options are exhausted. If triggers or Visualforce controllers can do the same job given expected data volumes, consider them first.

You can implement the Schedulable interface to run any Apex code at regular time intervals, not just Batch Apex. Schedules can be managed via the administrative user interface and in Apex code.