What Are Salesforce Unlocked Packages

Salesforce unlocked packages contain reusable metadata components, such as objects, fields, workflows, and Lightning components, bundled together for easy deployment and management.

What Are Salesforce Unlocked Packages
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Unlike managed packages, unlocked packages provide a more flexible and open approach, enabling developers to modify and extend the packaged components without restrictions easily.

This flexibility allows for better collaboration, version control, and continuous development across different Salesforce orgs, making building and distributing customized solutions easier.

Additionally, unlocked packages provide a seamless upgrade experience, ensuring that any changes made to the package can be easily transferred to subscriber orgs.

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As unlocked managed packages include the source code, they can be easily integrated with Git repositories, providing a centralized and version-controlled approach to development.

Salesforce Unlocked Packages Do Present Challenges

  • Unlocked packages can make it challenging for organizations to enforce standardized development practices or adhere to specific governance guidelines.
  • Managing dependencies between unlocked packages can be complex. If multiple packages rely on shared components, any changes to those components may require careful coordination and testing across all affected packages to avoid issues.
  • Upgrading unlocked packages in subscriber orgs can be more involved than managed packages. Careful planning is necessary to ensure a smooth transition and minimize disruption to existing functionality.
  • Unlocked packages may encounter compatibility issues with certain third-party apps or integrations.
  • Creating and managing packages requires a solid understanding of Salesforce's metadata structure and packaging concepts, which can be challenging for less experienced developers.

Worry not if you are a less experienced developer or a non-technical user! Hutte offers hassle-free Git-based development.

Hutte is truly one of the best tools that we use. Product owners, Salesforce solution architects, business analysts — anyone on our team can easily and visually accomplish the tasks that would otherwise take a lot of clicks, time, and coding.

Sebastian Lechner

Product Management Director of IPfolio
Clarivate

Source: Hutte

Git Made Visual With Hutte

At Hutte, we enable you to leverage the benefits of Git-based development visually, without the need for CLI. We have removed the barriers Git can pose as Hutte is a web UI to SFDX that allows for visual Salesforce version control.

You can also create and manage Salesforce scratch orgs and sandboxes. There is no need for code, which means there is no stress involved.

Furthermore, you don’t need to install or learn Git, as Hutte’s UI is already integrated into Git hosting tools, like GitHub and Azure. From these hosting providers, you can also view the changes you made, including your pull request, in a line-by-line comparison format.

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There is no need to reproduce this data as everything is generated and integrated with Hutte. 

To get a first-hand feel of how Hutte works, start your free 30-day trial, or check out our demo below.

If you're interested in delving into Git-based development, look at our user-friendly steps that guide setting it up in Hutte.

Take A Scratch Org From The Pool

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Once you have created a Hutte account with us, you will start from a fresh environment by taking a scratch org from the pool. 

You can name your org referencing the issue tracking system you use (such as Jira). Once you’ve named the org, you will have your environment in place.

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With Hutte, you don’t need to share your sensitive and confidential Salesforce org credentials manually. You can simply one-click login, and you can then do your work on the platform.

Create New Metadata And Execute Changes

You can create new SFDX metadata in your org. In this coding example, we have selected an Apex class.

You add your logic to the Apex class and save it. This now becomes an addition to your environment.

To create a change, you will go to “Setup.” You will then select “Object Manager” from the dropdown menu located on the left. This is where the data model lives. You will then open up a custom object.

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As you have access to the data model, you can make any change you desire. To implement a change to a field, for example, you will select “Field & Relationships.” In this instance, we are changing the “Help Text.”

Once you have added in your help text, you will save it. To view your changes, you will go to the “Changes” tab.

In this example, the changes had the following impact to the org:

  • “MyClass” was added
  • The admin profile was touched by adding a new class
  • The field change was added.

You Can Now Pull Changes

From here, you can describe what you have done, and you can select what you want to include from the changes you committed. You will then click on “Submit.”

This will create your SFDX pull request, and your changes will get added to Git.

Stay Ahead Of The Pack With Git

Non-technical users often face difficulties with the complex installation processes of Git, such as SFDX or the Git command-line tool.

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With Hutte, individuals from all backgrounds and skill levels can easily collaborate using Git, make code modifications, and generate pull requests.