We’re counting the days until Dreamforce and hope you are too. If you’ve been building apps with Salesforce for a while and have a ticket to Dreamforce, you’re probably looking for the newest and best ways to build apps of the future with the Lightning Platform. Here’s a quick guide we’ve put together for you to help you if you’re looking for things to add to your #DF18 agenda.

Sessions

Tuesday

Be An Efficient Salesforce Developer with VS Code
Tuesday, September 25, 8:00 AM – 8:40 AM
VS Code is the new standard IDE for Salesforce developers. Join us to learn the basics of VS Code, what the Salesforce extensions for VS Code are, and how you can squeeze ultimate productivity out of the IDE and its capabilities. Whether you’re moving from the Force.com IDE to VS Code or are brand new to developing on the Salesforce Platform, you’ll walk away with a ton of tips to become even more efficient in your day-to-day Salesforce development.

Advanced Lightning Components
Tuesday, September 25, 8:30 AM – 9:10 AM
If you know how to build basic Lightning Components and are ready to go to the next level, this session is for you. Join us to learn how to reuse code between components, use popular third-party libraries, cache data efficiently, and other things you didn’t know you could do with Lightning Components.

Super Session Salesforce DX
Tuesday, September 25, 10:30 AM – 11:10 AM
Calling all developers for a deep dive into how everyone, whether you click or code, can build on the Lightning Platform. Join us for an “all demos” session to learn how new and improved tools, metadata coverage and usability, and change management will increase productivity and make your lives as Salesforce developers even better. This session will be packed with live demos, real-world insights, and an in-depth look at our roadmap.

Wednesday

Everything That’s Awesome with Apex
Wednesday, September 26, 1:30 PM – 2:10 PM
Get a sneak peak into Apex plans, the roadmap, and how we are making secure development easier. We’ll share some of our newest concepts (async Apex anyone?) and get your feedback on hot IdeaExchange features.

Develop Apps at Big Data Scale with Big Objects & Async SOQL
Wednesday, September 26, 2:15 PM – 2:35 PM
Big Objects represents an entirely new paradigm for storage on the Salesforce Platform. Join us to learn what Big Objects means for app development, and how you can use new query techniques like Async SOQL to manipulate data at scale. Meet the Big Objects engineering team, learn about the architecture, and hear how businesses and partners are utilizing Big Objects today.

Meet the Developers
Wednesday, September 26, 4:00 PM – 4:40 PM
If you have ever wanted to just sit down with the technical leadership team at Salesforce and ask any question you want about Salesforce Platform technology, this is your chance. This annual and venerable panel session is an open Q&A with the product owners and engineers that are building all aspects of the Salesforce Platform. Bring your questions and hear what other developers are burning to know as well.

Tips for Organizing Metadata to Adopt Unlocked Packages
Wednesday, September 26, 5:00 PM – 5:20 PM
In this session, you’ll learn how to begin thinking about decomposing your org’s metadata into discrete packages, the benefits of adopting permission sets, and how design patterns like dependency injection enable you to decouple your packages. We’ll do a live demo using the new Dependency API to quickly and easily identify metadata and their dependencies as a starting point for creating a package. You’ll walk away understanding which packaging strategy best suits your needs, and the features and tools most effective in adopting unlocked packages.

Thursday

Connect Your APIs with MuleSoft and Salesforce Identity
Thursday, September 27, 4:30 PM – 5:10 PM
With MuleSoft, businesses have the ability to create, secure, and manage APIs for any system, process, or experience – but have you thought about how to connect MuleSoft APIs with Salesforce? Are you interested in making that experience easy? Join us for a conversation and tour as we demonstrate the fastest path to seamless API integration with MuleSoft and Salesforce Identity. We’ll share best practices for authorization and authentication of APIs in MuleSoft using Salesforce Identity, and show you how your business can take full advantage of MuleSoft’s API lifecycle capabilities with the Identity tools you already know.

Einstein Analytics: SAQL Deep-Dive
Thursday, September 27, 9:30 AM – 9:50 AM
A step-by-step guide to using SAQL to answer complicated business questions. Sometimes data is scattered across multiple datasets. This session focuses on how and when to use SAQL in Einstein Analytics to create steps that leverage varied sources.

Salesforce for Developers Keynote: Build the Future of Apps
Thursday, September 27, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
People now expect apps of the future; continuously improving, integrated, and smarter. As developers, you are more empowered than ever to build these apps. Join this developer keynote and be the first to see how the Salesforce Platform can help you build apps faster, integrate apps easily, and make apps smarter.

Moving to Visual Studio Code for Force.com IDE Developers
Thursday, September 27, 4:00 PM – 4:20 PM
See the exciting additions to the VS Code tools that allow developers to work directly with their Sandboxes and DE orgs. You’ll see how the Salesforce Extensions for VS Code enable you to use your current development workflows while upgrading to the latest and greatest tooling Salesforce has to offer. This session will show demostrations as well as cover best practices for managing and deploying metadata to your various orgs. Take your existing Force.com IDE skills and apply them to the shiny new Visual Studio Code tools.

Friday

Introducing Query for Bulk v2
Friday, September 28, 10:15 AM – 10:35 AM
With the introduction of Bulk v2 last year, Salesforce simplified the process of uploading and operating on large volumes of data. We now look to do the same with Query. In this session we review Bulk v2, how the new Bulk Query works, and what it means for you.

Advanced Apex Testing
Friday, September 28, 11:30 AM – 12:10 PM
Testing your code can feel laborious and hard. Dependencies can make tests hard to follow and understand. Thankfully, the Lightning Platform has tools to make testing faster, easier, and more exciting. Join us for a deep dive into advanced testing topics including mocking, stubbing, avoiding the database, and writing custom assertions. Never heard of those? That’s OK, we’ll introduce and demo exactly how they work, and why.

Trailhead Zone

And of course while you’re onsite and have time between sessions, don’t forget the explore the Developer Forest in the Trailhead Zone. There you can talk to product experts, ask them questions and give them feedback!