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Building My Own Learning System - Part 5

Introduction

In Part 1 of this blog series I covered the problem I was trying to solve (on-boarding/accrediting internal/external staff using common content, but without opening up everything to the entire world) and the data model I was using to manage this. Part 2 was around the fledgeling user interface and a fake service to prove confidence in the method. Part 3 covered the backend, or at least the initial implementation of this - as long as there is a local interface implementation to connect to it, the concrete backend can live anywhere. Part 4 walked through the front end setup and configuration and shared the code.

In part 5 I’ll cover installing the backend code, setup of a remote endpoint, creating a training path and configuring the new endpoint for your client to access. I’ll also share the code.

Code First

 The back end code lives at : https://github.com/keirbowden/bbtrnremote

Installation

As the back end manages the data, an unmanaged package isn’t an option as it would mean recreating all training paths etc each time there was an update. As I mentioned in Part 4, I don’t think a private managed package is the right thing for something that people might install in orgs with real data, so the back end is intended to be installed as a discrete set of components. For example, using the Salesforce CLI you could deploy from the cloned repository directory using 

    sfdx force:mdapi:deploy -d src -u <username>

where <username> is from an org that you’ve previously authorised. If you are using something other than the Saleforce CLI then best of luck - I’d switch to the CLI myself ;)

Configuration

There’s a bit more to the back end compared to the front end:

1. Enable MyDomain (there is a Lighting action and overrides, although not as many as I’d like)
2. Assign the Training Admin permission set to your user
3. Create a tab for Training Paths - everything else is reachable from that
4. Create a Training Path, including at least one step and at least one question in that step. You can also create a badge to go with it if you want -  the code will handle it either way.
5. Create a Force.com site and note down it’s address.
6. Add the Training Site permission set to the Guest User for the site (via Public Access Settings -> View Users)

Then switch over to your client org and configure the endpoint:

1. Add a Training Endpoint custom metadata entry - name and label as you desire and the following fields populated:
   
   Hostname: https://<site address>
   Path: /services/apexrest/TrainAPI
   Rewrite Image Links: Checked
   
   
2. Add the site address to the remote site settings

And away you go. If you get any errors, have a look at the debug logs. Typically errors will be data related and I find that the stack trace in the client logs shows me what the problem is.

Caveat Emptor

Same as with the front end, the error handling is pretty basic, I just let the errors make their way back to the client. If you are authoring a training path, make sure you have a test front end to try it out on before you make it available to your users.

Same as the front end again, nothing is labels. 

Creating a training path and most of the associated data is via the regular Salesforce object pages, so be prepared to traverse a bit. The exception to this is when creating a question. The New Question action on the Training Step page will create a new question and take you to a Lightning page that allows you to manage the question and all of it’s associated answer on a single page. Over time more of this type of assistance will be added. I haven’t really focused on it yet as this is the kind of thing that admins rather than users will be accessing as a rule.

Conclusion

If you hit problems, raise an issue in the appropriate Github repo:

• Client : https://github.com/keirbowden/bbtrn
• Back End : https://github.com/keirbowden/bbtrnremote

I’m not sure what will be in the next instalment. I might go through some of the code in more detail, or there might be new features to talk about. Stay tuned.

Related Posts

• Building My Own Learning System - Part 4
• Building My Own Learning System - Part 3
• Building My Own Learning System - Part 2
• Building My Own Learning System - Part 1

 

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