ApplyYourself Hack to Mass Update Choice Group Values

How annoying is it that there is no easy way to mass update choice group values in ApplyYourself? All mass updates have to be sent to an account manager, who then uses some magical tool to make the changes that should've taken 1 minute for an administrator to complete.

For a change that I needed to make immediately, outside of business hours, I had to come up with an alternative: ChoiceGroupUpdateHack.js

When this script (making sure the code is prefixed with javascript:) is entered into the address bar and executed, a small textarea element is created at the top of the page along with an Update Values button.

To use the hack UI, all one has to do is paste new values directly from Excel into the textarea element and then click the button!

The Excel spreadsheet should be formatted as it is exported from ApplyYourself. The spreadsheet should include the following columns, in order:

• Choice Value
• Choice Code
• Choice Order
• Header: "Yes" or blank
• Related Value
• Inactive Date: MM/DD/YYYY

Although this hack took 3 hours to develop, the ability to mass update choice groups on demand autonomously is priceless to me.

Note: If ApplyYourself starts throwing bizarre errors that don't make sense, another hack may be necessary to clear the choice group before loading the new values: ChoiceGroupClearHack.js

This hack was validated in Safari 5.1.2 and in Google Chrome 16.0 on Mac OS X Lion.

assertEquals Method for Multi-Select Picklist Values or Other Delimited Values

I couldn't find a way to easily assert that two multi-select picklist values are identical, especially considering that 'value1;value2' really should be considered equal to 'value2;value1'.

To fix this, I wrote an auxiliary class System2 that has a custom assertEquals method that asserts two Strings contain the same delimited values.

The code is verified by checking the following cases in an associated test class:

s1	s2	result
		pass
	a	fail
a		fail
a	a	pass
a	a;b	fail
a;b	a	fail
a;b	a;b	pass
b;a	a;b	pass
a;b	b;a	pass
a;b;c	c;a;b	pass
b;a;c	a;b;c	pass
a;b;c	a;b;c;d	fail
a;b;c;d	a;b;c	fail

JavaScript Hack to Mass Delete Custom Picklist Values

As an extension of last night's efforts, I've created what appears to be a working JavaScript hack to delete all picklist values from a custom picklist. This simplifies maintenance of picklist values by allowing an admin to delete all the values and then simply re-add the ones that are desired.

The following code was tested in Chrome 11 on Windows 7.

javascript:

/* Gather all of the a elements on the page. */

var links = document.getElementsByTagName("a");

/* Pick out the Del links. */

var delLinks = new Array();
for (var i = 0; i < links.length; i++) {
  var link = links[i];
  
  if (link.innerHTML == "Del") {
    /*alert("Del link found!");*/
    /*alert(link.attributes['href'].value);*/
    delLinks[delLinks.length] = link;
  }
}

/* Open each Del link to delete the associated
   picklist value.
   
   This code can be augmented as desired
   to only delete certain values.
   
   However, for custom picklists it's probably
   easier to just delete all of the values
   and then re-add the desired values. */

for (var i = 0; i < delLinks.length; i++) {
  var delLink = delLinks[i];
  window.open(
      delLink.attributes['href'].value);
}

As with all hacks, please to use with caution, at your own risk.

Mass Deleting Picklist Values

Apparently, the only way one can (relatively) easily mass delete picklist values is by editing the object definition in the Force.com IDE.

To do this:

1. Open the object definition (e.g., Contact.object).
2. Delete the picklistValues elements that are no longer desired.

I had to prune a list of 485 picklist values in a language selection picklist to a more reasonable number.

Regardless of this workaround, it would be great if this feature was more easily accessible through the web UI, as per the following idea: "mass delete picklist values (setup)"

Apparently, all I succeeded in doing was shifting the order of the picklist values. At this point I am also at a loss as to how to mass delete picklist values, much to my chagrin.

However, I did eventually create a "sort of" workaround: "JavaScript Hack to Mass Delete Custom Picklist Values"

Conversion Error setting value 'value1 value2 value3' for '#{myMultiselectPicklistValue}'.

Salesforce is great. Apex is great. Visualforce is great.

Until you run into bizarre errors with no obvious explanation, such as the following error:

Conversion Error setting value 'value1 value2 value3' for '#{myMultiselectPicklistValue}'.

This error comes from trying to save the selections from an apex:selectCheckboxes component into a multi-select picklist field. You would think that it's as easy as simply specifying {!property} for the value attribute of the apex:selectCheckboxes component. But, no, it's not.

Multi-select picklist values are stored as String values, with each option delimited with a semicolon.  This is great to know, but what happens with apex:selectCheckboxes? apex:selectCheckboxes expects a List<String>! This discussion board post hints at the annoyance awaiting developers: "Checkboxes not saving".

Basically, to spell it out for myself and for others, here's what we have to do as developers working around this problem.

What we want to write is:


<apex:selectcheckboxes value="{!mPicklistValue}">

... and in the controller ...


public String mPicklistValue { get; set; }

Instead, what we have to write is:


<apex:selectcheckboxes value="{!mPicklistValues}">

... and in the overblown controller ...

private String mPicklistValue;
public List<String> getMPicklistValues() {
    List<String> values = null;
    // Convert mPicklistValue into List of 
    // String values

    if (mPicklistValue != null)
        values = mPicklistValue.split(';');

    return values;
}   // List<String> getMPicklistValues()
public void setMPicklistValues(
        List<String> values) {

    // Convert values into a semilcolon-delimited
    // String value

    if (values == null) {
        mPicklistValue = null;
    }
    else {
        mPicklistValue = '';
        
        for (String value : values) {
            mPicklistValue += value + ';';
        }
    }
}   // void setMPicklistValues(List<String>)

Note the plural name of the custom getter and setter methods. Cheers, indeed.

Default Status for Emails Synced through Salesforce for Outlook

The default Status value that is assigned to emails synced via Salesforce for Outlook is not the oldest Status value, but rather the first Status value on the list that marks an Activity as Completed.

For example, the Status picklist had the following options:

1. Not Started
2. In Progress
3. Completed

Then, I inserted a new option before "Completed":

1. Not Started
2. In Progress
3. Completed through another activity
4. Completed

When I sync an email with Salesforce for Outlook, the email is not recorded with Status set to "Completed". Instead, the email is now logged with Status set to "Completed through another activity".

To fix this problem, all I have to do is reorder the picklist so that "Completed" comes before "Completed through another activity". There is no need to delete any picklist options and then recreate them.