Moving Beyond Point-and-Click App Development

Up to this point, we've built a compelling app using various parts of the platform. We've created a data model to store our recruiting information, put workflow and approval logic in place to help manage the data, and built reports and a dashboard to help share the data. The fact that we were able to quickly put all of these pieces together without writing any code is a testament to the power of the Force.com platform.

A tremendous amount of research and thought has gone into the design of the platform. Salesforce.com has strived to anticipate the various business application needs of 21st century companies, and has addressed many of those needs with simple yet powerful declarative, point-and-click tools that nontechnical users can use to achieve unique business goals. However, it is impossible for one company to provide a single solution that's a perfect fit for everyone. That's why salesforce.com has made it easy for developers to write code that builds upon the Force.com platform's point-and-click functionality. Once you learn how to program for the Force.com platform, you'll find that you can create apps for the Cloud that do just about anything you can dream up. The sky's the limit!

“Programming-phobia” is common for people without computer science backgrounds, and it's likely that many readers will want to put this book down as soon as they see the words “code” and “variable.” Relax! When you read this chapter, you'll discover just how fun and easy programming for the Force.com platform can be. Also, bear in mind that the intent of this chapter isn't to make you a programmer (although it's a great place to start). Instead, this chapter will just give you a taste of what it's like to enhance your app with some very simple programming. If you don't feel like typing any code yourself, just copy and paste the code samples from the files included in the RecruitingApp-7_0.zip file, which you downloaded in Expanding the Simple App Using Relationships.