Test Data Factory

Blog: What is a Test Class? 

A Test Class is a file that executes different scenarios on blocks of code and scores their results efficiently. It’s a simplified way of ensuring any changes you make to your instance will not cause harm to processes… most of the time. It’s still recommended to manually test any changes you’re making to a system, but this provides a quick overview if anything is blatantly wrong. 

When developing in an enterprise environment, it is essential to write Test Classes. Salesforce doesn’t allow you to deploy custom code to your Production org unless you have at least 75% coverage. Salesforce has a lot of documentation behind testing here if you want a deep dive. While tests are great, creating Test Data Factories allow for scalable management of complex code and settings in the instance. 

What are Test Data Factories? 

Test Data Factories provide a simplified solution for quickly writing and managing a volume of Test Classes. Instead of writing a hundred different ways to generate an Account across dozens of Test Classes, you can manage a single function that provides the base. For instance, when you add a field and you make it required by the system, you’re going to have a whole host of test class failures related to that object. In that instance, it’s far simpler to update one function than a hundred. Salesforce has a great Trailhead Module on this titled “Apex Testing” if you want more hands-on learning. 

Test Data Factory Example 

You can view the whole file in the Github Repository, but I will go over a simple example with Salesforce standard Accounts. Below is a snippet from my Test Data Factory. 

The accompanying Utility class generates random strings so all our tests can run in parallel together. It saves a lot of time testing in the long run if you have this foundation. 

Finally, the test class would look like the code below. 

Here at Chicago Cloud Group, we take testing seriously. We use it to monitor Apex classes and Process Builders. Test Data Factories give us the freedom to build reliable solutions quickly and upgrade managed packages frequently with ease of mind.