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Automate Your Business Processes
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            Let Flows Execute Apex Actions

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            3. Automate Your Business Processes

            Let Flows Execute Apex Actions

            Flow Builder comes with much functionality, but sometimes your flow must do more than the default elements allow. In that case, call an Apex class from your flow by using an Apex action.

            Required Editions

            View supported editions.

            Developers have two options when they’re trying to make an Apex class available as an Action element for a flow. While the Process.Plugin interface supports customizing how the class appears in the palette, the @InvocableMethod annotation provides more functionality. The following table describes the features supported by each option.

            Tip
            Tip We recommend using the @InvocableMethod annotation instead of the Process.Plugin interface.
            Important
            Important Legacy Apex actions aren’t supported in auto-layout in Flow Builder. Legacy Apex actions are only available to be added in free-form in Flow Builder. Existing actions can be edited in both auto-layout and free-form mode.
              Process.Plugin Interface @InvocableMethod Annotation
            Apex data type support

            Doesn’t support:

            • Blob
            • Collection
            • sObject
            • Time

            Doesn’t support:

            • Generic Object
            • Sets
            • Maps
            • Enums

            Flow Builder doesn’t support mapping an Apex method’s input or output parameters to a record collection variable.
            Bulk operations Not supported Supported
            Custom icons Not supported Supported
            Element type in Flow Builder Action Action
            Element name in Flow Builder Class name or the value of the name property. Class name
            Reusability Classes with this interface implemented are available in flows

            Classes with this annotation implemented are available in:

            • Flows
            • Processes
            • Rest API
            More Details in Apex Developer Guide Passing Data to a Flow Using the Process.Plugin Interface InvocableMethod Annotation and InvocableVariable Annotation
            Example
            Example To illustrate the difference between these two implementation methods, here are two classes that do the same thing: get an account name from a flow and return that account’s ID.

            This class implements the @InvocableMethod annotation.

            global class lookUpAccountAnnotation {
   @InvocableMethod
   public static List<String> getAccountIds(List<String> names) {
      List<Id> accountIds = new List<Id>();
      List<Account> accounts = [SELECT Id FROM Account WHERE Name in :names];
      for (Account account : accounts) {
         accountIds.add(account.Id);
      }
      return accountIds;
   }
}
            Note
            Note If a flow invokes Apex, the running user must have the corresponding Apex class assignment in their profile or permission set.

            This class implements the Process.Plugin interface.

            global class lookUpAccountPlugin implements Process.Plugin { 

   global Process.PluginResult invoke(Process.PluginRequest request) { 
      String name = (String) request.inputParameters.get('name');
      Account account = [SELECT Id FROM Account WHERE Name = :name LIMIT 1][0];

      Map<String,Object> result = new Map<String,Object>();
      result.put('accountId', account.Id);
      return new Process.PluginResult(result);
   }

   global Process.PluginDescribeResult describe() { 
      Process.PluginDescribeResult result = new Process.PluginDescribeResult(); 
      result.Name = 'Look Up Account ID By Name';
      result.Tag = 'Account Classes';
      result.inputParameters = new 
         List<Process.PluginDescribeResult.InputParameter>{ 
            new Process.PluginDescribeResult.InputParameter('name', 
            Process.PluginDescribeResult.ParameterType.STRING, true) 
         }; 
      result.outputParameters = new 
         List<Process.PluginDescribeResult.OutputParameter>{              
            new Process.PluginDescribeResult.OutputParameter('accountId', 
            Process.PluginDescribeResult.ParameterType.STRING)
                }; 
      return result; 
   }
}

            Notice that lookupAccountAnnotation is less than half the length (11 lines) of lookupAccountPlugin (28 lines). In addition, because the annotation supports bulk operations, lookupAccountAnnotation performs one query per batch of interviews. lookupAccountPlugin performs one query per interview.

             
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