There are some common types of applications that are required to automate an enterprise process. They are as follows:
- Content-centric applications: These applications enable organizations to share and version content across different levels. They consist of file sharing systems, versioning systems, and content management system.
- Transaction centric applications: These applications focus on the transaction. They are applications such as banking systems, online payment systems, and so on.
- Process centric applications: These applications focus on automating the business process in the organization such as a bug tracking system, procurement process, approval process, and so on. Force.com is suited to building these kinds of applications.
- Data centric applications: These applications are built around a powerful database. Many of the organizations use spreadsheets for these applications. Some examples include CRM, HRM, and so on. Force.com is suited to building these kinds of applications.
There are two ways of development on Force.com, one way is using point-and-click without a single line of coding, called the declarative development. The other way is developing application using code, which is called programmatic development. Let us look at the two types of development in detail.
Declarative development is done by point-and-click using a browser. We use ready-to-use components and modify their configuration to build applications. We can add new objects, define their standard views, and create input forms with simple point-and-link with no coding knowledge. The declarative framework allows rapid development and deployment of applications.
The declarative development also follows the MVC architecture in development. The MVC components in declarative development using Force.com are:
|
Model |
View |
Controller |
|---|---|---|
|
Objects Fields Relationships |
Applications Tabs Page layouts Record types |
Workflow rules Validation rules Assignment rules |
Programmatic development requires prior coding knowledge. This method allows us to extend the Force.com platform beyond the declarative capabilities. This method gives us control and flexibility over the application we build.
Programmatic development also uses the MVC architecture.
|
Model |
View |
Controller |
|---|---|---|
|
Web services API Metadata API |
Visualforce pages Sites |
Visualforce controllers Apex triggers Web service API |
The best practice is always to use both declarative and programmatic solutions to build complete applications. Declarative solutions have ease of development and maintenance. They are automatically upgraded with new releases of Salesforce. However, they do not provide complete flexibility to build robust solutions. Programmatic solutions can extend beyond the limitations of a declarative framework.
The easiest way to get your hands on Salesforce is to login through a developer account. If you already have one, login to it now or perform the following steps to create one:
- Go to http://developer.Force.com.
- Click on Join now.
- Fill out the form and validate the e-mail address you provided.
