What is Apex?
Apex is a robust OOPs (Object Oriented Programming) language which is developed by Salesforce.com and used to develop Salesforce platforms. Developers can execute the flow and transaction control statements on the Salesforce servers in integration with calls to APIs.
Apex enables developers to add business logic to system events, like button clicks, by using syntax which is easy to understand for people with prior knowledge of Java. The Apex application programing interface allows developers to use data present on Salesforce.com. It also permits developers to access the backend databases and client-server interfaces of Salesforce.com and create Software as a Service (SaaS) applications.
The applications created using Apex are hosted on the Salesforce.com servers and do not require any installations on the user’s PC.
Why do you need to test Apex?
Like any other language and software development process, testing plays an important part in Apex application development as well. It is very essential to test software to ensure that it executes successfully and generates the expected output. This helps you deliver the best software to your customer’s increases your credibility.
Apex applications can be tested in 2 ways: first is by testing the user interface, the second is by testing its bulk functionality. You need to keep testing the Apex application after adding new functionality or upgrading the features of the application to ensure that no regressions are generated after the upgradation.
You must ensure these things before you deploy your code for the Salesforce AppExchange server:
Remember the following things:
What to test in Apex Testing?
There are few factors that you need to test your Apex code for:
You need to test and verify that every single record generates the expected output which is correct. This can be done by performing unit tests to check specific actions.
Another thing you need to test during Apex testing is the bulk functionality of the code. Bulk actions may include trigger, class or an extension.
Positive behavior tests need to be performed in order to ensure that the code generate expected output corresponding to very expected input. In this test the input values are kept within some limits and the code is tested for known values to check for expected behavior.
Every application has a certain limitation to the inputs that it can take. In negative behavior tests the Apex code is tested for input values which are out of the limits to check the error messages that will be displayed in such cases.
You also need to test the code under restricted environment to check how it will perform when a user with limited access to application resources uses the application. The restrictions can include a limited access to objects or methods.
Apex Testing
Apex testing process is quite similar to any other testing methods for web based applications. Testes need to have clear knowledge of the system under test so that they can focus on testing the core functionality of the application in detail by using different techniques instead of sticking to the features offered by Salesforce.
The apex code can only be written in a Sandbox environment and it needs to be deployed into a production environment in order to be tested. All the tests in Apex testing are performed in a production.
Unit Testing in Apex
Unit testing is performed on every single action to make sure that each unit of code performs efficiently and produces expected results. The most astounding feature of the Apex testing framework is that it will enable you to create and execute tests on all the classes as well as triggers on the Lightning platform. This confirms that the code is of high quality and meets customer requirement and specifications.
Benefits of Apex unit testing:
The apex unit testing you need to develop separate test classes for each test case.
What are test classes?
In Apex unit testing, code coverage is performed with the help of test classes. The test classes are sections or units of code that test each unit for its correct and efficient functioning.
This is how you can create test classes:
1. Create the data
You first need to create the data for the test class. You need to provide this test class access to the organization data as it cannot access this data by default. If you set @isTest(seeAllData= True) the test class will be able to access the organization data.
2. Use @is Test
You need to the @isTest annotation to specify that the test class will not be considered against the total code limit of the organization.
3. the methods with ‘testMethod’ keyword
The test methods in apex unit testing do not take arguments, commit data to the database, do not send any emails and are declared with the testMethod keyword. They can also be declared with the isTest annotation in the method definition.
4. Starting and stopping the tests
The test classes can be controlled by using the Test.startTest() and Test.stopTest() classes. These classes contain the event or action which can invoke test classes and stop them as well.
5. .assert()
This method is used to compare the expected output with the actual output that is produced.
Challenges faced while performing Apex testing
Creating apex applications is not a simple task and testing the apex code is even more complicated. Here are some of the challenges that you may face while performing Apex testing:
Best Practices for Apex testing
This was a guide to Apex testing. You need to have knowledge about the Apex language in order to be able to test apex code efficiently and resolve the errors that are encountered.