→ Read the full article on jitendrazaa.com

→ Read the full article on jitendrazaa.com

Let’s start with the basics.

What is Embedding?

Imagine you have a big box of crayons with many different colors. Each crayon is like a word or a picture. Now, suppose you want to organize these crayons so that similar colors are close to each other. For example, different shades of blue are grouped together, and so are the shades of red. This makes it easier for you to find and compare colors.

In the world of AI, embeddings do something similar but with words, pictures, or other kinds of information. Instead of crayons, we have lots of data, like words in a book or images. An embedding is a special method that sorts this data into groups of similar things.

For example, in a book, the words “happy” and “joyful” might be close together in this sorted space because they mean similar things. This helps AI models quickly understand and work with lots of information, like helping you find a book you might like or understanding what you mean when you talk to a computer.

So, embeddings are like a smart way of organizing a huge box of crayons (or data) so that similar things are close together, making it much easier and faster to use them for different tasks!

If we want to work with AI on Salesforce, very first step that needs to happen is to convert your data to embedding. In this case we would convert Salesforce data to embedding from lambda function using OpenAI API. Eventually, we would use some kind of library like langChain that can retrieve similar data to enrich prompts and get more contextual responses which otherwise would not be possible, this process is known as RAG – Retrieval-Augmented Generation.

Prerequisite

• Salesforce account with API access
• AWS account with Lambda and IAM access
• OpenAI API key
• Basic understanding of Python programming

AWS Lambda requires external libraries to be included as layers. You’ll need to create layers for OpenAI, numpy, and pandas

• Package your Python libraries in a ZIP file.
• Upload the ZIP file to Lambda Layers.
• Attach these layers to your Lambda function.

Complete Source Code & Video

Below source code, connects with Salesforce, fetches lead record and uses Open AI to convert data into embedding. It also shows how searched parameter can be compared with matched word using weightage

Few Observations

• I did not use SImple_Salesforce python library as it would need to be imported as a layer in lambda
• Environment variables can be created by navigating to the Configuration tab in the lambda

Below is the screenshot of the outcome

This article & video is assuming that you know the basics of Mulesoft. Coming back to this post, We would be using Mulesoft to insert contacts using Bulk API 2. One of the caveats of bulk API is that Dataloader still does not support Bulk API 2. It takes a little more time than the data loader in Mulesoft to use Bulk API 2 but it’s worth it and better compared to some other tools.

In summary, there are 3 steps that need to happen to use Bulk API 2 to insert records

1. Create a request in Salesforce by Sending a CSV file
2. Keep Retrying by checking the status of the job
3. Retrieve results

In Mulesoft, we are using the below components

• HTTP Request to read CSV file. We can also use a file reader instead of an HTTP request
• Using Salesforce Component – Create Job bulk API v 2 (image Er-2.1)
  • Choose Object Type
  • sObjects needs CSV content and we can use payload as input
  • Line ending – CRLF or LF depending on your configuration
  • Column delimiter – COMMA
• To get the status of the job, we are using component – Get job state bulk API v 2
• We are using Until Successful component in Mulesoft to keep retrying
• once we get the status, we use the Choice component. We are raising an error if the state is not JobComplete or Failed. A list of all valid states can be found here

Below image shows how each components are connected & sequenced, it would give you good idea on what needs to be done.

To test the below flow, you can use postman. Make sure you set the Body type as Binary and choose CSV file. You can use this CSV file as a sample to save time. Make sure to replace AccountId with AccountId in your Org.

Below is the Configuration XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<mule xmlns:ee="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/ee/core" xmlns:salesforce="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/salesforce"
	xmlns:http="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/http"
	xmlns="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core" xmlns:doc="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/documentation" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core/current/mule.xsd
http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/http http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/http/current/mule-http.xsd
http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/salesforce http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/salesforce/current/mule-salesforce.xsd
http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/ee/core http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/ee/core/current/mule-ee.xsd">
	<http:listener-config name="HTTP_Listener_config" doc:name="HTTP Listener config" doc:id="b3f7540e-a465-4b2d-ad4d-46fc56cb1637" >
		<http:listener-connection host="0.0.0.0" port="8081" />
	</http:listener-config>
	<salesforce:sfdc-config name="Jit29Org" doc:name="Salesforce Config" doc:id="6f407f5c-ccfa-4db6-befa-3ced16196c0e" >
		<salesforce:basic-connection username="youremail@gmail.com" password="somepwd" />
	</salesforce:sfdc-config>
	<flow name="jit29backupFlow2" doc:id="fa954752-faf4-4e78-bdd6-c44bf54b398b" >
		<http:listener doc:name="/bulkInsert" doc:id="73773cb4-9f69-4700-8518-63cea055b444" config-ref="HTTP_Listener_config" path="/bulkInsert"/>
		<salesforce:create-job-bulk-api-v2 doc:name="Create job bulk api v 2 - Contact" doc:id="810bb823-d58c-4901-8e5f-9d18ebdc727a" config-ref="Jit29Org" objectType="Contact" operation="insert" lineEnding="CRLF" doc:description='output application/java&#10;---&#10;{&#10;	LastName: payload.LastName,&#10;	MobilePhone: payload.MobilePhone,&#10;	Email: payload.Email,&#10;	AccountId:"0011U000014hIcIQAU"&#10;}'>
		</salesforce:create-job-bulk-api-v2>
		<set-variable value="#[payload.id]" doc:name="jobId" doc:id="2cd419b4-286c-44b0-9ba6-b80ca20a7437" variableName="jobId"/>
		<logger level="INFO" doc:name="Logger" doc:id="ebf27c8a-16e4-4a67-a437-369df8ba01e9" message='Job status is #[vars.jobstate] Before making job status request. Job ID - #[vars.jobId]'/>
		<until-successful maxRetries="3600" doc:name="Until Successful" doc:id="76d0ffbb-0ff5-4ef8-acfb-43455c2e5af9" millisBetweenRetries="5000">
			<salesforce:get-job-state-bulk-api-v2 doc:name="Get job state bulk api v 2" doc:id="b9bff670-b903-4a0b-8258-4d45d428bdb2" config-ref="Jit29Org" id="#[vars.jobId]" />
			<set-variable value="#[payload.state]" doc:name="update jobstate" doc:id="4fd26c43-00e0-483b-b8c6-44541b5e110f" variableName="jobstate" />
			<choice doc:name="Check Job State" doc:id="7d2d53d8-503c-4960-b685-cdce6ef81795" >
				<when expression='#[vars.jobstate == "JobComplete"]'>
					<logger level="INFO" doc:name="Logger" doc:id="94810163-b26d-46e2-8f63-2bd75b26b0a6" message="Records Processed Succesfully in Salesforce" />
					<salesforce:retrieve-job-failed-results-bulk-v2 doc:name="Retrieve job failed results bulk v 2" doc:id="eff1b41a-20ee-46e6-adbf-b9ca22df655d" config-ref="Jit29Org" id="#[vars.jobId]"/>
				</when>
				<when expression='#[vars.jobstate == "Failed"]'>
					<logger level="INFO" doc:name="Logger" doc:id="b77237de-545d-46e6-aca1-3c171142f005" message="Job Failed . #[payload.errorMessage]. #[payload.state]"/>
					<salesforce:retrieve-job-failed-results-bulk-v2 doc:name="Retrieve job failed results bulk v 2" doc:id="5a3cf99b-b1d7-4263-bb5c-5d8bd720dcc2" config-ref="Jit29Org" id="#[vars.jobId]"/>
				</when>
				<otherwise >
					<logger level="INFO" doc:name="Logger" doc:id="6c28b5d8-3486-4c03-96e4-678583e45bf2" message="Going to Raise Exception"/>
					<raise-error doc:name="Raise error" doc:id="5abedfd7-eb00-48c9-95b6-12c4a74fb185" type="SF:JOB_IN_PROGRESS" description="Bulk API 2 is still in progress"/>
				</otherwise>
			</choice>
		</until-successful>
		<logger level="INFO" doc:name="Logger" doc:id="1d00f918-2c4f-414c-a4c0-3f4ccf6cc687" message="All Done"/>
		<logger level="INFO" doc:name="Logger" doc:id="f2e7fabe-d25d-4257-9be0-aa2cf2e89c94" message="#[payload]"/>
	</flow>
</mule>

Solving Common errors in Mulesoft while using Bulk API 2

Error : InvalidBatch : Field name not found

There could be 2 reasons for this error

1. CSV file header not matching with Actual field API Name OR
2. CSV file format is UTF-8. Salesforce does not understand UTF-8 CSV. It would accept plain CSV file

Error : LineEnding is invalid on user data. Current LineEnding setting is CRLF

Make sure the end-of-line setting in the MuleSoft property is set properly either to LF or CRLF as shown in image Er-2.1. To see what a line ending in your file is, open it in CSV and check the bottom right corner as shown in image Er-2.2

Important points to know about Flow Orchestrator

• It supports multi-step, multi-user orchestrator capabilities for Flow
• Multiple Flows (Sub flows) can be tied together
• Orchestrator basically contains stage, step & decision components
• The stage comprises multiple sub-flows and can control the sequence of execution of those flows
• Steps are either Screen flow or Auto launch flow
• Each Screen flow can be assigned to a user, queue, or public group
• Orchestrator can be only launched on record create or update (Record triggered flow)
• All sub-flows (steps) can be connected by only the current object which started the flow
• Flow Orchestrator component needs to be added on the lighting page so that assignee can see if any action is waiting on them
• Another way to see all pending actions assigned to the user is by navigating to the tab Orchestration Work Items

Considerations

• This is not a new tool, it can just control the sequence of sub-flows & take some decisions
• Outgoing email content to the user assigned cannot be changed

Feel free to add any important points in the comment section which I missed.

If you are a video person, you can watch the below video to see it in action

Salesforce recently released a new Barcode API which now supports barcode scanning natively on LWC for mobile devices. As it’s supported natively, we don’t need to worry about maintaining 3rd party Javascripts, Locker services, performance issues, etc.

At the time of writing this blog post, around 10 different types of barcodes are supported.

Below source code demonstrate how simple it is to use in LWC.

• import lightning/mobileCapabilities
• initiate scanner variable using method getBarcodeScanner()
• set configuration suggesting which barcodes are supported
• use begineCapture() method top launch mobile camera
• read the result or handle error

Resources :

• Supported QR Code Types
• QR Code Generator
• Barcode Generator

Few of the most common areas where Salesforce professionals or CTA candidates struggle are

• Deciding on when to use Standard vs Custom Object
• When to use Lookup vs Master Detail Relationship

In the below talk, I went through the above questions and shared my decision process on how I decide which objects & relationships to use when.

Hope this talk would help all of you and is worth your time watching this video.

Feel free to drop a comment below and share your decision guidance for a similar topic for readers.

It’s not only about trillion-dollar companies, but also medium and small businesses, if they want to succeed in this comparative market, they need to make sure customer service is at the heart of their business.

If I ask you a question, which technology gadget you cannot live with ? That’s your mobile phone and it is pretty much possible that you are reading this blog post right now on your mobile device.

So, if you are a customer and you have some issue, what are some of the options that you would like to use to contact companies? Phone calls are great but the problem is its real-time communication and you need to be on call with a customer representative and cannot do multi-tasking.

The email could be another option, but spammers, marketers they have flooded our email box and to be honest, I hate opening my emails, there are tons of unread email every day.

So, what point I’m trying to make here? I’m indirectly talking about channels and ways customers can try to connect to the company if they face issues. Phone & emails are out because of some reasons mentioned above. The few options which are left are Social media, Live chat, or SMS. Customers can do multi-tasking while using all these channels. They don’t need to be on call for 30 mins or 1 hour to get issues resolved.

That brings us to our blog post title, how can we use SMS in Salesforce to enable customers to reach out via text message? Today, we have lots of options like AppExchange products, Live Message and then there is the new kid on the ground – Digital Engagement.

Live Message product in Salesforce was part of heywire acquisition in 2016. However, like most Salesforce products, Live Message is scheduled to be retired in an effort to give a single omni channel experience to customer reps for all digital channels, which in my opinion is a welcome move.

Enough of background, let’s dive into how do we set up SMS in digital experience.

If you are video person, go ahead skip this post and watch below video.

First step is to navigate to Setup | Feature Settings | Service | Messaging Settings and enable Messaging.

Now, click on New Channel and select SMS Text Messaging.

Depending on which country you are setting up SMS, you may need Letter of Authorization (LOA) or not. Refer this link to know more about what is LOA and what information needed by Salesforce to add phone number.

Once case is created, Salesforce would take some time to add phone number and activate it for use.

Next step is just like any other service channel, add contact center users in Queue and assign presence status to their profile or permission set.

Once all setup is done, open Sales or Service console, change presence status of Omni channel to be available for messaging and start providing world class service to your customer.

If this blog post helped you, feel free to let me know your thoughts in comments.

For sake of this post, I’m using Nodejs application and complete source code can be found here , on my Github repository. It can be deployed on Heroku easily, however I used my local computer to run canvas. That also proves point that integration is happening via Browser and therefore canvas application can be hosted on premise and not necessarily on DMZ layer.

Step 1 : Create Connected App in Salesforce

Enable OAuth in Connected app and provide any Callback URL. Canvas app does not use callback URL however we DO NEED scope.

Next step would be enabling canvas app itself connected app along with locations where we would be using it.

Step 2 : Wrap Canvas Connected App in Visualforce

In this post, we will host canavs app in Visualforce page and then add Visualforce page on Account page. LWC still odes not support Canvas app and I’m not huge fan of Aura , so VF fits the bill for quick demo.

Visualforce Source Code

<apex:page standardController="Account">
    <apex:canvasApp applicationName="Localhost_Connected_App" 
        height="2000px" width="750px"/>
</apex:page>

For more advance control & granular capability, we can inject Lifecycle class in Canvas app, full documentation can be found in canvas developer guide here. Below source code I’ve used in video demo

/**
 * Sample Apex class to show case Canvas Life Cycle class demo
 */
public with sharing class CanvasDemoAppLifeCycle 
    implements Canvas.CanvasLifecycleHandler {

        public Set<Canvas.ContextTypeEnum> excludeContextTypes(){
            Set<Canvas.ContextTypeEnum> excluded = new Set<Canvas.ContextTypeEnum>();
    
            // Code goes here to add items to excluded list
            // that should be excluded from Context data
    
            return excluded;
        }
    
        public void onRender(Canvas.RenderContext renderContext) {   
            // Get the Application and Environment context from the RenderContext
            Canvas.ApplicationContext app = renderContext.getApplicationContext();
            Canvas.EnvironmentContext env = renderContext.getEnvironmentContext();

            if (false){ 
                throw new Canvas.CanvasRenderException('This is sample error message');
            } 

            Set<String> fields = new Set<String>{'*','Name'};
            //env.addEntityFields(fields);  
        }
    }