Introduction to SalesForce Developer eXperience (SFDX)

Salesforce DX (SFDX) provides an integrated, end-to-end lifecycle designed for high-performance agile development.  It consists set of tools including Salesforce CLI, Second-Generation Packaging (2GP), Scratch Orgs,  VCS and CI support.

1. Salesforce CLI
   

   The Salesforce CLI is a command line interface that simplifies development and build automation when working with Salesforce org. It can be used to;

   • Aggregate all the tools you need to develop with and perform commands against your Salesforce org
   • Synchronize source to and from scratch orgs
   • Create and manage orgs
   • Import and export data
   • Create and execute tests
   • Create and install packages

2. Second-Generation Packaging (2GP)

   2GP allows create packages in a source-driven development environment. It can be used to create and deploy packages in own Salesforce org or to develop and distribute packages to customers. Here are some highlights of 2GP;

   • Salesforce command-line (CLI) support.
   • Options for enterprise customers to organize and deploy metadata to production orgs.
   • Multiple packages per namespace
   • Feature branch development and testing.
   • Fully API-driven functionality.
   • Packages that are source-driven, not org-based.
   • Ease of development and distribution of dependent packages.

3. Scratch Orgs

   The scratch org is a source-driven and disposable deployment of Salesforce code and metadata. A scratch org is fully configurable, allowing developers to emulate different Salesforce editions with different features and preferences. And the scratch org configuration file can be shared with other team members.