how to learn how to use git for salesforce

Is there any way to deploy a Salesforce application using Git?

As there’s no native deployment automation in Salesforce, Git gives you a great framework that other tools, such as Jenkins or CircleCI, can hook into to give you that automation.

How do I learn Salesforce?

There are a wide range of options open to you when it comes to how to learn Salesforce, including the following: Using Salesforce Trailhead (the company's own online training platform) Signing up to third-party online Salesforce training courses with providers such as Udemy

What is the use of Git in software development?

Git provides teams with the ability to separate out multiple streams of development and avoid stepping on each other’s toes by making changes in isolated branches, instead of in shared sandboxes. Git replaces your production org as a shared source of truth for your whole team.

How do you get buy-in from your team for Git deployment?

Most Git providers offer UI-based tools for performing the most common actions, and you can deploy from Salesforce orgs to version control and vice versa without the CLI, thanks to tools such as Gearset. Reducing this barrier to entry is a key part of getting buy-in from the team.

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Do we use Git in Salesforce?

There are many flavors of version control, but Git is the de facto standard for Salesforce. Git provides teams with the ability to separate out multiple streams of development and avoid stepping on each other's toes by making changes in isolated branches, instead of in shared sandboxes.

How do I start learning Git?

Here is a basic overview of how Git works:Create a "repository" (project) with a git hosting tool (like Bitbucket)Copy (or clone) the repository to your local machine.Add a file to your local repo and "commit" (save) the changes."Push" your changes to your main branch.More items...

What is GitHub used for in Salesforce?

Source code management for Salesforce is easy to setup and manage using Github's cloud based Git repository service. Git is a command line based source code versioning tool with full history tracking which has been around for many years and which allows collaboration for developers via central project repositories.

How do I deploy from GitHub to Salesforce?

The main steps are:Create a branch off of main.Make commits.Open a pull request.Collaborate. Make more commits. Discuss and review code with team members.Deploy for final testing.Merge your branch into the main branch.

Is it hard to learn Git?

To get the full experience you should listen while you read. Git is actually sooo hard. Not just to learn, but also to use consistently. And I say that as a person who used it for probably over ten years.

How long does it take to learn Git?

How long will it take to learn Git? Some sources say it's possible to learn the basics of Git in just 20 minutes, but that mainly applies to experienced programmers. If you're trying to learn Git along with a new software language or work on a new project, it may take some time—up to a week or more.

How does Git connect to Salesforce?

Follow the steps below to set up manual Salesforce GitHub Integration: Step 1: Log In to your GitHub Account....Step 1: Log In to your GitHub Account. ... Step 2: Clone the GitHub Repository. ... Step 3: Retrieve Metadata Files from SFDC. ... Step 4: Configure the Git Repository.

What is repository in Salesforce?

Repository tab is mainly used for understanding the related entities of any concerned apex code. In an organization, there could be thousands of apex classes through which the control navigates.

How do I create a pull request in Salesforce?

Pull requests provide a way for teams to track, review, and combine team members' work.Publish your changes in GitHub. ... Create a pull request; select Branch > Create Pull Request. ... The pull request's body is populated with several headers.More items...

What are CI CD tools in Salesforce?

Although commonly used in the Salesforce ecosystem, “CI/CD” often refers to different automated processes: continuous integration, continuous deployment, and continuous delivery....Standard automation tools used on many different platforms include:CircleCI.Jenkins.TeamCity.Bamboo.Travis CI.

Do GitHub actions cost money?

GitHub Actions usage is free for both public repositories and self-hosted runners. For private repositories, each GitHub account receives a certain amount of free minutes and storage, depending on the product used with the account.

What is the use of Salesforce CLI?

You use Salesforce CLI commands to create scratch orgs for developing and testing customizations, and synchronize source code between orgs and source repositories.

The challenges of version control

The flexibility that makes version control so powerful is also the source of complexity that can make it difficult to adopt. From the largest ever State of Salesforce DevOps survey, we know that teams face various challenges at the outset when implementing version control. In essence, there are two initial challenges:

The feature branch model

The simplest strategy for implementing version control as a source of truth into your workflow is to use the feature branch model. This relatively simple Git model is just one of the many branching strategies that you can use with version control. But it offers your team the following key advantages over more complex branching strategies:

Choosing the best Git branching strategy

Picking a branching strategy determines how your team will work with Git. The wrong strategy can really hamper your team’s adoption of version control, so it’s important to give it some consideration. There are five things to consider when choosing a branching strategy:

Branching for multiple testing and staging environments

Although there isn’t a one-size-fits-all Git branching strategy, at Gearset, we’ve found that, after speaking to thousands of Salesforce teams, the following is a model that works well for many.

Getting teams on board

Let’s now turn to the second main hurdle to adopting version control. For any change to be effective, the new approach needs to have demonstrable benefits otherwise people on your team will go back to their familiar way of working. For this reason, adopting version control can often be a people challenge for the following reasons.

Want more advice on implementing version control?

To learn more about the fundamentals of version control and other recommended branching strategies for Salesforce teams, head over to DevOps Launchpad – a free training platform with fun courses to help you master Salesforce DevOps and earn certifications.

How Git can help in Salesforce development process

Git is the most used, open source and free Version Control System (VCS). It is targeted to track file changes in your project, store the history of these changes, and resolve conflicts if multiple developers trying to change the same file simultaneously.

Salesforce and Git Workflow

There are many cool posts about the best practices how to use Salesforce and Git for development process. I will not duplicate them here and just share some links. Our goal is to figure out how to interact with Salesforce and Git within JetForcer and IntelliJ IDEA.

Compare Git sources and Salesforce Org state

JetForcer has Compare Tool which lets you compare a file from your local working copy with its version in the Salesforce organization. We can compare a particular file or even a whole project state.

Switch Between Git and ApexVCS

IntelliJ IDEA has powerful support for several Version Control Systems (Git, Perforce, Mercurial, etc.). Briefly, this support includes several important features:

Push changes to Git and Salesforce

By the way, we don't need to switch between VCS for deploying changes to the server (in terms of Git push changes to the repository), just choose one of the VCS -> Commit to ... actions on the main toolbar.

Conclusion

Here is a very concise overview of some JetForcer VCS features, just to give you a quick start. To submit feature requests or just report bugs, use the plugin’s issue tracker. A more detailed tutorial on how to use the plugin along with its features description can be found on the plugin’s site.

Version control is now essential for Salesforce teams

Version control isn’t a new concept. In fact, it’s been one of the core tools underpinning release management on other platforms for a long time. But until recently, Salesforce teams were behind the curve when it came to adopting version control for the reasons mentioned above. This has changed over the past few years.

How teams work with version control

Visualizing version control is the best way to get a hang of the terminology around it.

A single, shared process for admins and developers

So let’s pull it all together into a basic source-driven workflow for Salesforce that will look something like this:

The benefits of working with version control

Teams using version control have greater control over the changes being pushed down the pipeline, which in turn gives them the following key benefits (among others):

Want to get to grips with version control?

A quick way to get up and running is by completing the free training courses on DevOps Launchpad, which gives you a fun way to learn more about the fundamentals of version control and all about Salesforce DevOps with an opportunity to earn valuable certifications.

Why don't Salesforce projects use source control?

Why don’t Salesforce projects always use source control? The reason that most Salesforce projects haven’t typically used source control is because getting your Salesforce configuration, code and metadata into text form so it can be version controlled has traditionally been a pain.

Why do we use source control in Salesforce?

Adopting source control as a team makes it easier to work together and share changes between Salesforce environments. Working together in teams has traditionally been a bit of a pain and it's been too easy to lose track of what changes need to be migrated or to step on each others toes.

What is a git repository?

A git repository is what git uses to track changes to the items that you have under version control. This is the mechanism that teams use to share changes to their work pushing and pulling changes from a central repository. GitHub is a service that makes it easier for software teams to collaborate. It provides a hosted git repository ...

What are the benefits of source control?

The big benefits that source control provide are: All changes are associated with a team member so you always know who did what. All changes have an associated comment so you always know why it was changed. All changes should have an associated assignee so they can be reviewed before being pushed into production.

Can you push changes to source control?

Luckily, the great thing about source control is that it doesn't matter how you get your changes into the system. Changes can be pushed via the command line, or a tool such as Gearset, and once they're in, the whole team can easily collaborate.

The Challenges of Version Control

The Feature Branch Model

• The simplest strategy for implementing version control as a source of truth into your workflow is to use the feature branch model. This relatively simple Git model is just one of the many branching strategies that you can use with version control. But it offers your team the following key advantages over more complex branching strategies: 1. Shorte...

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Choosing The Best Git Branching Strategy

Branching For Multiple Testing and Staging Environments

Getting Teams on Board

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