Value naming conventions

It is important to follow a naming convention for values in to make it easy to find specific values in the future, understand what a value contains and to avoid naming collisions.

Overview

Data (such as numbers, text, or dates) or instances of a Type (such as 'Type: Customer'), are stored as values in . A single tenant can contain hundreds of values, shared between hundreds or even thousands of flows, so it is important that you follow a naming convention when creating and working with values in .

We recommend the following best practices:

• Use descriptive names, that include a hint as to what the value contains, or what its intended use is.

• Stick to a single naming convention.

String, Content, Password, Boolean and Number values

• For values that will not change during the life cycle of flows, include the content category (or what kind of value it is) in the name.

  Example scenario A: For a fixed value that will be used to set the status of a task in Salesforce, set the value name as 'Status: In Progress'. This will help other users to recognize that this value is a status of some kind. If the fixed value is later used with an object or list, the category is usually the same as the property that will be assigned. For example, the Task Object in Salesforce has a property/field called 'Status'.

  Example scenario B: If you have a value that will store validation alerts, name the Value Validation Alert. For subsequent values that will store the various alert messages, use a notation similar to this: 'Validation Alert:Payment Required', and so on.

• Include a short summary in the value name.

  Example scenario: If you are creating a value that will store the body of an email message, name the value 'Email Body:Registration Complete Notification'.

Object and List values

• When creating the first value for the Type, give it the same name as the Type. An object value of Type: Contact, should be named 'Contact' for example, and a list value of Type: Contact should be named 'Contacts', and so on.

• If you have more values of the same Type, use a notation that denotes a category.

  Example scenario: An object value of Type: Contact that will store information about the spouse of a Contact, should be named 'Contact:Spouse'. A list value that contains information about the dependents of a Contact, should be named 'Contacts:Dependents'.

Picklist values

When building Salesforce flows, you may need to create picklists. To do this, you create a type called ‘Picklist’ or ‘Dropdown’. This type is re-used for all picklists; so the naming convention is a little different.

• For the list value holding the picklist data, use the notation 'Type:category'.

  Example scenario: A list values storing a list of countries is named 'Picklist:Countries'.

• For the object value holding the selected picklist entry, use the notation 'Type:category:selected purpose'.

  Example scenario: If you select a country from Picklist:Countries, the object value holding the selection is named 'Picklist:Country:Selected Primary Residence'.

• If there are any fixed values related to these selections (for example, you have a decision based on a selected picklist entry), use the notation 'Category:Content'.

  Example scenario: 'Country:USA' - this assumes that your picklist or dropdown type contains the standard Label/Value properties (as with HTML5 options). If the Type has more properties, modify the notation to 'Category.Property:content'. For example, if you are categorizing countries, the value would be named 'Country.Category:North America'.