App Development Lifecycle
The app development lifecycle includes planning and gathering requirements, creating the app, testing the app, making iterative changes to fix issues, and performing user-acceptance testing as a final test. The final step for an app developed in-house is the app’s release to production. The final step for an app developed by a Salesforce partner is app distribution to other Data Cloud customers who purchase the app.
If you’re a Salesforce partner, the development lifecycle also includes distributing, marketing, selling, and supporting your app.
For more information about the Salesforce partner program, check out the Build Apps as an AppExchange Partner trail. This trail is intended for development on the Salesforce platform and isn’t customized for Data Cloud, but it contains some useful information about the program.
We encourage customers to purchase apps from Salesforce partners rather than building them themselves. Installing and using apps from AppExchange ensures that the app is maintained regularly and meets quality and security standards. In addition, AppExchange apps save customers time and resources.
Third-party apps that are available on AppExchange are for data activation and data enrichment. To find AppExchange apps AppExchange for Data Cloud, see Data Cloud product collection on AppExchange.
If you’re a Salesforce partner, you’re familiar with the package development workflow, and you know that the workflows and tools for developing a first-generation managed package and second-generation managed package are distinct.
To learn about building apps on AppExchange, check out these resources.
- First-Generation Managed Packaging Developer Guide
- Second-Generation Managed Packaging Developer Guide
- ISVforce Guide
- Salesforce Help: Build and Share Data Cloud Functionality
- Trailmix: Building Data Cloud Activation Platform Apps for ISVs
Customer developers who develop an app in-house for their own org can use a separate test org for creating and testing their apps. You can use a sandbox org with Data Cloud (beta) for testing, or you can use a test org. The Data Cloud test org is also a production org, and service usage results in billing charges the same way as on the production org. See Cost and Usage. To request a Data Cloud test org, contact your Account team.
The app development lifecycle model described in this section uses an org dedicated for development and testing and the Data Cloud production org. In this model, you develop and test the app on one Data Cloud org and release it to production. You migrate the app and configuration settings to the production org using unmanaged packaged, data kits, or Metadata API.
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