Key Points to Remember Before Starting Salesforce Customization

Key Points to Remember Before Starting Salesforce Customization

Points to Remember Before Starting Salesforce Customization

Salesforce is a highly customizable and adaptable platform. Customizing Salesforce as per your business needs is essential to achieve the desired outcome. It is also a possibility that while using the platform, you will bump into features that you have never known or might want to customize.

If you are trying to customize your Salesforce implementation, here are a few essential steps you need to follow to get the desired outcomes.

Make Your System Ready

If you have a new org then you must be wanting to customize a lot of features to meet your business requirements. However, several parts of the Salesforce are already adapted that you want to customize as an existing org. Either way, customization may affect the current features of Salesforce. Hence, it is essential to avoid any negative impact of the customization.

New Salesforce org guarantees a clean system however, with existing orgs you need to do a bit of work. It is advisable to ensure that your current system is clean before conducting any customization.

Risk-Free Customizations in a Mature Salesforce Org

Is It the Right Way?

There is a possibility to straight away brainstorm the customization solution and jump to implement it. However, there could be many ways to implement customization and it is better for Salesforce development services to first consider all the options thoroughly. It will help you opt for more manageable and adaptable solutions.

For instance, complex customization done through standard Salesforce features including Flows or Process Builder can be managed efficiently by the majority of admins. But customization done in Apex takes a longer time to adapt and requires a Salesforce developer for efficient management.

It might look tempting to just code instead of building out the same functionality using standard features. But it is always better to configure as much as possible using the standard features and then eventually move to the Apex.

Use Sandbox!

It is not advisable to make the customization without having the option to roll back. The sandbox provides a safe customization environment and helps you test features without affecting your live system or a user. You get the option of using multiple Salesforce sandboxes. Here is how you can use these:

  • Developer Sandbox: It is created without any data to help you see a clean system without pre-existing data. You can use it to implement new customization and test them with the latest test data. 
  • Partial Sandbox: It comes with sample data already present in the system. It enables you to check out the customization effects on your data. You can leverage this testing environment to use real sample data for testing or even leverage it as a template to add more test data.
  • Full Sandbox: It is also considered as a copy of your org. It enables you to deploy new customization and help you analyze how it would actually look in the system. It is normally used for final testing before the deployment. The best practice is to always keep the full sandbox updated as it is the closest to a backup of the live Salesforce system.

Take Expert Help

Salesforce comes bundled with a plethora of features and it is a cumbersome task to customize all of them with the same efficiency. Hence, if you want customization that you think is complex then it is advisable to take the help of experts.

The idea of having a professional Salesforce development service might look expensive to you at first but in the long run, you will end up saving money. It is because, in the majority of the cases, features are implemented incorrectly and affect other functionalities of Salesforce, and professional help just helps in fixing all of that.

Use Tools

Pro tools can help you execute complex customization with more confidence. For instance, Panaya ForeSight for Salesforce can support your Salesforce customization endeavors. It helps you identify the impact of your customization on other features and enables you to release the latest features securely.

Robust Testing

The new Salesforce customization always comes with the potential to affect features and other users in the system. Hence, before deploying it to live org, it is crucial to check its functionality in the sandboxes. Proper testing of the feature will help you validate whether it is working as per the expectation or not.

Helpful Naming Conventions

Using helpful naming conventions along with detailed description can help other admins and developers in the team to identify features easily. Salesforce doesn’t offer official naming conventions and you can have your own structure. However, to create good naming conventions, it is essential to follow these points:

  • Follow a Structure: Make sure to follow the same rule across the org. It will help in defining each and every feature clearly. For example; you can use object_fieldname__c (opportunity_email__c) for a custom field and Object – process for a process.
  • Keep it Concise: Keep it simple and easy to understand. It will also help in easier implementation and adoption. Hence, it is advisable to only keep essential information in the name.
  • Be Consistent: Not sticking to naming conventions will only increase the confusion. Following the above-mentioned steps, users can easily stick to a naming convention.

Add Details

The majority of Salesforce features come with an area where you can jot the description behind the customization. It can help developers and admins understand the functionality of the feature and prevent the duplication of customization. You can also use this area to log updates or customization done to a particular feature. It makes it easier to figure out the impact of any changes on other features.

Help Your Users

A lot of Salesforce features and fields including Apex or validation rules are capable of displaying the help text. These text messages enable users to easily figure out the accuracy of their actions and efficiently use new customization. Guidance for new customization helps users to easily adapt to new features. Making users know the purpose of customization surely enables users to use Salesforce more efficiently.

QA InfoTech offers end-to-end software development and testing solutions. Contact us for more information on how our experts can help you with Salesforce customization.

 

How React Native 0.61 Fast Refresh is Enabling Efficiencies for Developers?

How React Native 0.61 Fast Refresh is Enabling Efficiencies for Developers?

Latest React Native 0.61 Fast Refresh Update

React Native has become synonymous to cross-platform application development. The pre-cross-platform era made developers struggle with the codes of Native technology to develop separate apps for different platforms. For instance, developers had to write separate codes for iOS and Android mobile app development.

React Native has eliminated this time-taking and tedious process. It has brought in WORA (Write Once, Run Anywhere) functionality to simplify the app development process. React Native has now become one of the top cross-platform frameworks.

However, React Native has its fair share of challenges and bugs. No matter how minor, they obstruct the mobile app development.

Persistent Issues

1. Time Consuming Update – The procedure to update to other versions was tedious and took a lot of time.

2. Locating Exception Purpose – React Native app development service comes with a stack hint inside the chrome debugger console. It leads to time consuming component DidCatch and debugging without much assistance.

3. Crash – App crash is common and the platform doesn’t provide rich analytics for the reason behind crash.

4. Warm Reload Issue: Reloading React local code requires the app to be reloaded.

5. RAM Package – React Native app development company can benefit if the RAM package can support structures like codepush.

What is in Store in the Latest React Native 0.61 Fast Refresh Update?

With the introduction of React Native 0.61 version, developers are now able to easily optimize the features of React Native 0.60. The update has resolved all the bugs that were present in the 0.60 version and is now loaded with enhanced features to improve the performance.

Also Read: How To Select The Best Tools For Cross-platform Mobile App Development

Here are some of the worth noting latest features of React Native 0.61.

  1. Enhanced CocoaPods Support

React Native 0.60 had a few updates to enable default integration of CocoaPods. But it used to create bugs and issues in the use_frameworks. 0.61 has fixed these issues and made it more easy and simple to integrate into iOS projects being built on dynamic frameworks.

  1. New useWindowDimensions Hook 

Hook is the new feature that automatically offers and subscribes with dimension updates. You can also use it against Dimensions API in the majority of cases.

  1. Upgraded to 16.9

The new version doesn’t support old names for UNSAFE_lifecycle methods and comes with enhancements to the act.

  1. Fast Refresh

The new Fast Refresh feature is the combination of existing “live reloading” and “hot reloading”.

Here is how it is helping React Native developers.

  • The latest Fast Refresh feature completely supports the latest React along with Hooks and function components
  • It easily recovers from mistakes including typos  and it even goes back to the full reload if required
  • Fast Refresh doesn’t use invasive code transformation. Hence, it is reliable and trustworthy while using on default settings
  • Fast Refresh works accurately for both functional and class components. It also now updates at a faster pace

In a nutshell, Fast Refresh is highly flexible and reliable. It can be said that it is identical to the Hot Reloading feature however, now it performs flawlessly.

How to Upgrade?

To upgrade to React Native 0.61 Fast Refresh, it is advisable to leverage the latest React Native Upgrade Helper. It will help you identify the files that you need to change. It might look an old-school way to upgrade but it is pretty simple.

In Summary

Reach Native app development has become one of the fastest and cost-efficient means to release cross-platform applications. It helps in creating mobile apps that are secure, scalable, user-friendly, and easy to maintain. 

QAIT DevLabs offer robust React Native app development services that can help you create highly-efficient and reliable mobile apps. Talk to our experts now for more details.

How Improved Checkout Page UI Can Enhance Your Sales Numbers

How Improved Checkout Page UI Can Enhance Your Sales Numbers

How a Better UI can Increase Sales

In eCommerce, high traffic is not synonymous with high sales. However, high checkout page traffic can translate into high conversion rates. And if it is not happening then something is terribly wrong with the user interface (UI) of your payment page. An inconvenient payment page can frustrate your customers leading to stalled or terminated transactions.

Here are a few efficient design tricks that, when implemented during web development, can encourage your customers to complete the payment transactions easily.

Ask Only Compulsory Information

Avoid asking for information that is not required in placing an order successfully. For instance, to make the checkout flow faster, eliminate the billing address form as in the majority of the cases, users and buyers of a product are the same.

And if you are offering a digital product or service that you don’t need to deliver physically then you can also omit the address form. These are just a few examples to enable you think further based on your product of sale.

Allow Guest Checkout

The majority of customers abandon their shopping cart when they are asked to fill up their personal information to create an account on the app. Hence, never make the sign-up/ sign-in compulsory. The best practice is to give the customer the option to choose. You can encourage the customer to sign up/ sign in by pointing out the benefits.

However, if a customer is in a hurry, she should get the freedom to check out without going through the tedious process of sign-up/ sign-in. 

Also Read: How E-commerce App Testing Services Benefit Online Business

Intuitive UI

Incorporate little elements like clear format indicators, spacing in number groups in the card number field, and input validation to make the whole checkout customer-friendly.

Allow customers to save the payment method for future transactions. Reflect each progress step with a checkmark after it’s completion. A visual cue will allow the buyer to know they’re one step closer to the transaction. You can also signal the checkout progress with highlighted text, icons, darkened backgrounds, and filled-in bubbles.

Allow Customers to Check their Order

Before making the final payment, customers might want to check out the list of things they have added or calculate the total payable. A user-friendly order summary section will allow the customer to check out the list of items and the breakdown of the price summary including delivery cost, subtotal, taxes, and discount applied.

Minimal Distractions

The payment page should have a seamless design matching the design and branding of your eCommerce store. From colors to fonts, it is essential to maintain familiarity. However, avoid using design or branding elements that might distract the customer leading to cart abandonment.

Some elements that could create distractions are the navigation menu of the store, promotional banner, and a search field. Go for a template with a simple and plain background having only input fields and the order summary.

Relevant Product Suggestions

Reflecting products relevant to the items in the shopping cart can help you increase your average order value. You can also offer complimentary samples on an order for a customer delight experience. However, avoid adding too many options to make the customer confused and ruin the customer checkout experience.

Guided Experience

An efficient checkout page is designed to make the payment process effortless. You can guide the customer at every step through small design elements and signs. It would enable the customer to checkout without having to figure out the right button to click or search a contact form to fill.

Offer Help

A customer might need your help regarding the payment process or product details before making the payment. In such scenarios, routing them to a help or FAQ page will hamper the customer experience. Place a helpline number that should be prominently visible or include a chat support widget to enable customers to easily reach out to you.

Reliable and responsive customer support will improve the customer experience.

In Summary

Delivering an immersive and effortless customer-experience has become an important part of any organization’s business strategy. Poor customer experience could lead to depletion in brand value, loss of customers, and declining bottom line. Web development services need to follow the above-mentioned UI tips for an enhanced and intuitive customer experience.

QAIT DevLabs offers leading-edge web development services focused on immersive design, robust security, and reliable performance. Talk to our experts for more details.

How To Select The Best Tools For Cross-platform Mobile App Development

How To Select The Best Tools For Cross-platform Mobile App Development

Best Tools For Cross-Platform Mobile App Development

Earlier, organizations used to rely on a single device to run business. However, things have now changed significantly. Now enterprises need to cater to multiple devices at the same time. From tablets and smartphones to wearables, businesses are leveraging multiple devices and platforms to keep the operations efficient and smooth.

Amid increasing multi-device requirements, IT teams are now under constant pressure to come up with cross-platform applications that can render support to both iOS and Android devices simultaneously. This is also one of the reasons that engineers are now leveraging cross-platform mobile app development tools that can increase the efficiency of app development in the long run.

Java was launched way back in the 90s to ease out the workflow of developers as it could work anywhere. Modern IT teams are also looking for a solution that is capable of working in multi-environments including iOS, Android, Web, and other platforms seamlessly. An efficient cross-platform app development tool can help in expediting speed-to-market by simplifying development.

Cross-platform mobile app development can be segregated majorly into two categories:

Cross-Platform Hybrid Tools

These hybrid tools rely on popular technologies including JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5. They assist in developing apps that run within a native container of required devices. These codes help in speeding up the development process by splitting between different platforms. Most importantly, unlike native approaches, cross-platform hybrid tools are also cheaper.

Popular Tools

Some of the most popular hybrid tools include Apache Cordova, Framework7, Search Ext Js, Adobe PhoneGap, and Ionic among others. 

Cordova is one of the most common tools that is used to develop peer cross-platform hybrid tools including Framework7, Ext JS, and Ionic. Both Cordova and PhoneGap emerged from a 2008 project led by engineers of a web development company called Nitobi. However, after Adobe took over Nitobi, PhoneGap became an Adobe product and Cordova transformed into an open source Apache tool. Despite the split, both platforms have too many similarities.

Some tools use languages like HTML and JavaScript to mobile app development for a smoother process. It also helps businesses with a web infrastructure to easily transition to mobile apps with minimal efforts. Developers can also use these tools in an integrated app development framework including Xcode, Visual Studio, and Eclipse.

These cross-platform hybrid tools also bring other crucial attributes. For instance, Ext Js enables end-to-end app building with Sencha Architect that supports the drag-and-drop feature. Developers can generate an app by using ExtGen. It is Ext JS’s command-line tool. On the other hand, Sencha Cmdon assists with lifecycle management and ExtBuildis helps in transpiring and building apps.

Also Read: Why React Native Is An Efficient Solution For Hybrid App Development

Cross-Platform Native Tools 

Cross-platform native tools act as a perfect blend of native and hybrid approaches of the app development. They leverage intermediate languages including JavaScript and C# to develop multi-platform apps. These apps leverage the native UI controller. It is opposite to the hybrid approach but helps in using the full potential of device features to deliver top-notch performance.

But the catch here is that the development with cross-platform native tools is more difficult and can increase your time-to-market deadline. Its performance is also inferior to true native apps.

Popular Tools

Some of the popular cross-platform native tools include Xamarin, Appcelerator, React Native, NativeScript, and Flutter among others. However, these tools vary from each other in several ways. The majority of the tools enable app development by leveraging JavaScript. However, some tools including Flutter use Dart and C# is used by Xamarin. 

All these tools also have different custom coding requirements, availability of libraries, maturity, app performance, and development effort. 

Advantages

Here are other advantages of using cross-platform mobile app development tools.

  • Single development tool reduces the overall cost and learning curve for developers
  • A single development team can easily handle the development of platform irrespective of the type of mobile devices
  • Cross-platform tools are designed to assist development teams in creating state-of-art features including bar code scanning, image recognition, data connection, and text voice. These features are required by all modern mobile applications

Small businesses and startups often work on a shoestring budget that in most cases can’t enable separate iOS and Android app development. Cross-platform applications are the only option if you are on a tight budget. Now, even large organizations are leveraging cross-platform apps for smaller projects to enhance operational efficiency.

In Summary

Different organizations have different mobile app requirements. Businesses should pick a cross-platform mobile development tool that meets specific business goals. For instance, startups and small companies should focus on launching an app at the earliest without having to pay for an expensive development team.

Also Read: iOS vs React Native App Development: Which is Better? 

Midsize businesses with a few hundreds of employees might need to deal with complicated costumes needs. For that, they need a cross-platform app developed with technologies including Xamarin and Titanium where everything is easily migrated to the mobile platform.

DevLabs is a leading cross-platform mobile app development service provider. Talk to our experts to know how we can help you.

Improving DevTools accessibility in Microsoft Edge

Improving DevTools accessibility in Microsoft Edge

Improving web development accessibility in MS Edge

Microsoft Edge has evolved as a browser over the years, eventually replacing Internet Explorer. The latter had debuted more than two decades ago, along with Windows 95. Microsoft Edge is faster, robust and secure and its latest edition is developed on the Chromium platform which benefits the users to obtain similar features that are offered by its competitor Chrome browser. 

The users can experience features designed as per the standards for web services. However, Microsoft will not be incorporating Edge to the previous versions of Windows. It is presently available in Windows 10. Besides, the users will not be able to use Edge in any other operating system apart from Windows. Presently, web development accessibility in MS Edge constitutes a significant aspect of priority for developers.

It is quite evident that web developers have acknowledged the importance of making the web accessible to its users. In the digitized age, people spend more time in cyberspace, as compared to what they used to do a decade ago. Eventually, the Dev Tools accessibility has improved manifold in recent years.

Why is web development accessibility necessary in browsers?

A study reveals that approximately 50% of computer users in the US use AT (assistive technology) for some time. The AT users may be having some kind of cognitive or physical disabilities. Some of them may have a vision or hearing loss, or temporary injuries. Besides, some of the users may have other impairments, which prevent them from taking advantage of all the features. Through web development accessibility enhancement, Microsoft can offer its products to a wider range of users.

Microsoft, along with its dedicated team of designers and developers, has upheld its commitment to its users. You would come across some of the brand-new web development accessibility features, that has enhanced the usability and experience significantly.

Microsoft Edge’s new web development accessibility enhancements

Microsoft Edge’s DevTools team has made around 170 changes to deal with aspects like keyboard, high-impact colour contrast and screen reader problems. With these, developers will find it easy to use DevTools. Have a look into the new web development accessibility features in MS Edge.

  • Developers using DevTools through screen readers like Narrator or NVDA, or screen readers would find it easy to navigate between the tabs. They would also be able to get detailed information within the respective panes.
  • Besides, it offers features through which one can access performance details and breakpoints.
  • In certain cases, Edge has reimagined the tools, developing the same from the scratch. You might have noticed the Initiator tab, through which stack traces can be made accessible. The user simply needs to move them into their own tab, out of the hover elements. Presently, you will find the stack traces in a more compatible format with AT.
  • You might have also noted that Microsoft Edge has enhanced the ratio of colour contrasts in the user interface of DevTools. As a result, you can visualize different information and data charts in various ways, apart from simply the colour.

The features mentioned above are available in MS Edge browser for Windows 10. These web development accessibility features are also available for legacy Windows like 7, 8 and 8.1, apart from Mac OS X and Chrome.

Additional web development accessibility features in MS Edge

In addition to the attributes mentioned above, developers of MS Edge have also incorporated certain changes in its UX and features. These include:

  • Supporting high-contrast mode for MS Edge’s DevTools.
  • Incorporating necessary tools to support websites with high contrast, which are debugged. In this process, developers on Mac and Windows platforms are able to examine high-contrast layouts.
  • Ensuring that their DevTools adhere to the accessibility recommendations, that have been mentioned as per WCAG 2.1 standards.

The users can now download MS Edge’s stable version. This version comes with all these web development accessibility features.

Assistive technology in MS Edge to enhance compatibility

Microsoft has prioritized inclusivity in developing software in recent years. With fresh features incorporating more sophistication in Edge, web development accessibility is here to increase. In 2020, Microsoft has announced a wide array of features that would strengthen DevTools accessibility in its browser.

In February 2020, MS Edge incorporated as many as ten localized languages to its developer tools. This, along with other features, is likely to help developers relying on AT (assistive technology) to carry out their work.

Compatibility with keyboard and screen readers

Regardless of whether you are accessing Edge through a screen reader or a keyboard, moving between panes or tabs (within the coding environment of the browser) has become easier. Particularly, developers would find this feature effective during debugging. In case you are in this industry, you should know how painstaking the debugging process is to developers with or without any impairment. Particularly, enhancing features like breakpoints enable the developers to probe the code conveniently after pausing.

Microsoft has also announced that it will come up with new tools to streamline the process of developing web pages and tools.

With more enhancements to be made, Microsoft has acknowledged that a lot more needs to be done, so that they can enhance web development accessibility. Presently, the experts are carrying out research to add support for high-contrast modes. This would be beneficial for developers who have a weak eyesight. In the process, they would find it easier to differentiate between elements in the coding environment of the browser. Therefore, they would not have to use assistive technology. The developers will also be able to decipher the text easily in this process.

In a nutshell, Microsoft is working to enhance web development accessibility in Edge DevTools to fulfil the WCAG 2.1 specifications.

To overcome the shortcomings, the company is deliberately making an effort to include in-built accessibility features in its software products. You might consider Steam in this instance, the tool for video sharing, that enables the users to annotate live footage. In the process, the users can auto-generate transcripts or captions to help individuals with difficulty in hearing to follow the Steam videos in the training facility or workplace. In the Stable channel, you will find the Microsoft Edge version with the latest web development accessibility features.

How to use DevTools in other languages?

As a developer, you might be using certain other tools, such as VS Code or StackOverflow in your respective native language. This might be different from English. With the localization of DevTools for MS Edge, one can now carry out the proceedings in languages other than English. These include:

  • French
  • Italian
  • Chinese
  • Russian
  • Korean
  • German
  • Japanese
  • Spanish
  • Portuguese

In order to change the preferred language, you need to go to ‘Settings’ and then to ‘Languages’.

How to find web development accessibility features in MS Edge?

Here are some of the new web development accessibility features in MS Edge. You will also find a detailed guideline on how you can find these options when you use it.

1. Webhint Microsoft Edge Extension

Now, with new web development accessibility features available, the users will be able to scan their web pages to get feedback on different aspects. These include:

  • Performance
  • Security
  • Browser compatibility
  • Accessibility

Many developers are now installing the Web Hint browser extension in the browser. You will find this option under the Hints tab in DevTools. In MS Edge, you may try out this browser extension. When you install it, simply select the Hints tab after opening DevTools. After this, a customizable site scan has to be run to get the necessary options.

2. 3D View

The developers can use the 3D view option to debug the application. In order to do this, you need to navigate through the DOM (Document Object Model). Alternatively, you can navigate through the z-index stacking context. In order to find this option, go to edge://flags. Then, set the flag as ‘Enabled’. Now you simply need to restart Microsoft Edge. Open the DevTools and click on F1, or you can go to the Experiments section from the ‘Settings’ option. Check the 3D View checkbox and enable the same. Now, you need to enter the combination ‘press Ctrl + Shift + P’ and select Show 3D View from 3D view.

3. Visual Studio Code extensions

The DevTools team has come up with some extensions for VS Code (Visual Studio Code). This will enable the developers to use the features of DevTools from the text editor directly. The users have to use the Elements tool, available in VS Code. However, it is necessary to add Elements for Microsoft Edge at the outset.

4. Visual Studio integration

In order to debug Edge’s JavaScript in versions 16.2 or later of Visual Studio 2019, Visual Studio debugger will prove handy. In order to do this, you have to download Visual Studio 2019. Developers should be knowing that Visual Studio comes with the option to launch the web app in Microsoft Edge Beta, Dev or Canary.

5. Tracking prevention Console messages

In Microsoft Edge, you will come across a unique feature called tracking prevention. This protects the developers from getting tracked by websites that they have never visited in the past. This is a default prevention for tracking, set in the Balanced mode. In the process, developers can block third-party trackers, as well as malicious trackers. This is one of the recent web development accessibility enhancements in MS Edge. In the process, you can enjoy a balanced experience between web compatibility and privacy. When Edge blocks a tracker, the user gets a warning message.

No wonder, the new web development accessibility features in Microsoft Edge have enhanced the user experience significantly. Knowing that developers count on fresh technologies to ease up their work, Microsoft has incorporated these sophistications. New features are on the way, and developers acknowledge that they find it easier to use the browser presently, as compared to the past. 

What makes Salesforce Development a Safe Bet for businesses?

What makes Salesforce Development a Safe Bet for businesses?

Why Salesforce Development is a Safe Bet for your businesses

For a business to be successful, its processes need to be streamlined. Thus CRM solutions, today, form an integral part of almost all business organizations. The utility of this smart cloud-computing technologically advanced business solution is such that organizational employees get smart access to business processes irrespective of their location. Thus the implementation of CRM solutions is practically and economically an extremely viable proposition.

Of all the CRM solutions available, Salesforce CRM has proven to yield the best results for business organizations. Salesforce development services are thus in great demand despite Salesforce CRM being  an expensive solution.

This demand arises because the benefits and advantages of the Salesforce CRM make its development a safe bet. Some of the important benefits that make Salesforce Development such a buzzing trend today are:

User-friendly Interface

While this app development includes technicalities like Visualforce, Apex etc., it can be easily used by both technical and non-technical people. Its user-friendly interface enables users to navigate easily throughout the app using its drag and drop and point-clicking facilities. Thus logging in, exploring and using the customized services that it offers is quite an easy exercise. With businesses consisting of people with varied professional qualifications, Salesforce CRM is popularly preferred.

Customer Performance Tracking

To stay on the top, businesses need to know what their competitors are doing. Features included in the Salesforce CRM enable effective tracking of competitor offerings by way of discounts and services etc., and also keep a tab on their performance. Thus Salesforce development services enable businesses to be better prepared to answer customer questions and come up with an effective plan to ensure their retention.

Business Forecast Performance Tracking

With Salesforce CRM, past performance tracking becomes quite easy. This helps businesses understand:

  • The market response to the current scenario and
  • Where and how they are currently positioned.

This understanding is crucial for planning future strategies and ensuring sustainable growth of the company profits.

Also Read: Why Salesforce Marketing Cloud in a gist?

Salesforce also has a feature appropriately known as the “Salesforce Einstein”, developed after its integration with AI. This efficiently enables businesses to

  • Predict and forecast performance,
  • Analyze and estimate important derivatives like marketing statistics etc. and
  • Formulate predictive reports on company positioning in the market, its development track etc.   

Facilitates Strategic Development of Sales and Marketing

Salesforce development services promise spectacular features for each of the different business verticals. Features like the Marketing Cloud and the Sales Cloud are of immense use to the sales and marketing people. Using them they can easily develop:

  • Calendars,
  • Customized reports,
  • Dashboards,
  • Email features etc.

This helps them improvise their sales and marketing strategies thereby improving their performance and enabling them to:

  • Capitalize on available opportunities,
  • Enable lead conversions,
  • Crack deals,
  • Facilitate customer growth,
  • Outperform sales targets easily and
  • Enhance revenue generation.

Enhanced Communication and Collaboration

The Salesforce CRM comes equipped with an exhaustive cloud service. Coupled with this other features like the ‘Chatter’ feature facilitate better collaboration within the organization and even outside it. Thus organizations using Salesforce development services have employees who are better updated about the workings of their organization and are also able to ensure superlative customer relations by dealing effectively and efficiently with their requests, queries, demands, transaction status, deliveries, feedback etc.

Enables App Development

This app can design business-specific mobile and web apps. It plays a major role in its designing and development so that a variety of business activities can be easily carried out using them. These creative Salesforce development services help the business improve on its parameters, standards and values thereby boosting its reputation in the market.

Another feature known as the “AppExchange” present within the Salesforce CRM enables businesses to sell and purchase applications. Thus Salesforce is a force to reckon with where CRM solutions are concerned since it has now become the one-stop-shop for all business needs.

Mobile Business Development

Smartphones play a significant role in the success of a business. The Salesforce app is also mobile optimized. Thus employees can process their activities even through their mobiles. They can also stay updated on sales and leads that are currently trending, real-time business news, views, strategies and decisions etc. This mobile optimization, thus, enables employees of an organization to stay updated irrespective of their location and enables them to capitalize on available sales opportunities better.

Also Read: Salesforce App Development – Balance Performance With end to end Functionality Testing

Facilitates Better Integrations

Different businesses use different platforms, services etc. Salesforce CRM APIs along with their development services can integrate these different platforms and services better. This increases their utility making them almost indispensable for businesses that want to grow and stay profitable.

Other features like easy accessibility, scalability, enhanced security, lesser implementation period etc., ensure better management of daily business operations. By streamlining business operations using Salesforce development services all businesses can expand their reach thereby ensuring better ROI in the process. Thus Salesforce Development is certainly a safe bet for businesses.

 

How Progressive Web Apps Can Give Your Business a Differentiating Edge

How Progressive Web Apps Can Give Your Business a Differentiating Edge

What is Progressive Web App & How it Can Boost Business

You should go with a website or application? This can become a heated and never ending discussion. For some businesses, websites work better and others prefer operating with a mobile application. Both websites and apps come with their own set of advantages and challenges.

For instance, mobile apps are handier and user friendly while websites are a more cost-efficient solution. But what if your website becomes capable of interacting with its users like an app, customers can install it on any device, leverage push notifications for updates, and even use it offline? Progressive web apps (PWA) precisely offer these functionalities.

PWAs have gained more traction over the past few years because they are simpler to develop and offer a more engaging user experience than the normal website. Some of the most popular PWAs are Alibaba, Walmart, Twitter, Forbes, Pinterest, and Trivago. All these major businesses have reported double growth in conversion rate and revenue after launching PWAs.

What is a Progressive Web App?

A progressive web app is a website that is designed to offer the best of both apps and the web. The term PWA was coined by Google engineer Alex Russell in June 2015.

From the eyes of an engineer, a PWA is a collection of design concepts, technologies, and web APIs that work in harmony to render an app-like user experience on the mobile web. It is equipped with features that are present in native mobile apps and is accessible to any user on the web in a secure manner.

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Also Read: Web Development Trends 2020

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You can also pin it on the home screen or app drawer of your smartphone and leverage app-life functionalities including offline usage and notifications. PWA offers a user experience that is very close to native apps

Why are Progressive Web Apps Sizzling?

Here are a few reasons contributing to the popularity of PWAs:

  • Lightweight, faster loading and secure
  • Offer advance features including web app manifest, service workers, and app shell
  • Native-app-like user interface
  • Efficiently works on low bandwidth internet and runs on offline mode as well
  • Compatible and responsive with all types of platforms and devices
  • Share the link and anyone can use the app from anywhere 
  • Cost-efficient and takes lesser development time

How PWAs can help your Business?

1. Instant service access

Smartphones are overwhelmed with numerous apps that are not just consuming the storage space but are also slowing down the devices. PWAs can save users from the hassle of downloading and installing the app before finally using it. Simply click on the link and instantly access the PWA.

2. Compatibility

Progressive web apps are compatible with any platform, operating system, or device. You can easily access the PWA on a smartphone, desktop, or tablet. This also means that PWAs are accessible to a larger number of people.

3. Less development time and cost

PWAs are built with only the features that its users need to keep the application lightweight. It means that it requires much less time to develop at a reduced cost.

Here are a few stats that substantiate the efficiency and effectiveness of progressive web apps.

  • Pinterest: It’s PWA app needs only150 KB of data storage; much lesser than its native iOS (56 MB) and Android (9.6 MB) apps. PWA has helped Pinterest to increase visitor time by up to 40 percent and engagement by up to 60 percent. It also helped the social media platform to increase its ad revenue by more than 40 percent.
  • Forbes: It’s PWA reduced the load time to 2.5 seconds from 6.5 and managed to increase the impression per session by 10 percent. It also noticed the decrease in bounce rate by up to 20 percent and the average time spent on the website increased by 40 percent.
  • Twitter: Twitter’s PWA went live in 2017 to provide a more engaging user experience to its over 80% of users who were mobile. The PWA is designed to work efficiently on a slow Internet connection. At 600 KB, Twitter Lite is much lighter than its Android app (23.5 MB). The PWA enabled Twitter to increase page per session by 75 percent and reduce its bounce rate by 20 percent.

You can read more case studies reflecting businesses benefitting from progressive web apps here.

How to Design a PWA?

Here are a few essential tips to design an effective and efficient PWA:

  • Progressive Design: Conceptualize the application with a progressive vision to render flawless and faster experience while enabling users to do their tasks efficiently. This is possible only if you know what users want and a progressive mindset can help you in figuring that out.
  • Right Technology: It is crucial to choose the right technology to develop the application. All the technologies in Polymer, Knockout, React, AMP, Lighthouse, and IONIC among others offer different USPs in the PWA development. Learn how these technologies enable development and pick the tools that enable you to develop PWA efficiently.
  • Keep it Minimalistic: We don’t have to complicate the progressive web app with a plethora of features. Instead, we just need functions that solve the purpose of users and eliminate the elements that they don’t need. This will ensure that we offer a clear and memorable experience to users through our progressive web app and they love it.
  • Keep Essential Features Offline: PWAs enable users to access some of the features offline. Figure out the features that users will use often and make that functionality available offline.
  • Push Notification: You can leverage push notification to make the PWA more engaging for users. However, strike a healthy number of notifications to avoid making them look like spam. Use push notifications only when it is required. For instance, you can notify them for the upcoming sale but bombarding them for regular discounts may not be a good idea.

With internet penetration increasing aggressively in the emerging markets, it has become imperative for businesses to reach customers with a solution that is engaging, efficient, secure, and works smoothly on low internet bandwidth. Progressive web apps can help organizations deliver an app-like user experience with lesser expenditure and maximum efficiency.

Salesforce App Development – Balance Performance With end to end Functionality Testing

Salesforce App Development – Balance Performance With end to end Functionality Testing

Salesforce App Development

Salesforce app development allows you to provide a consistent UX of your product offerings or services. Salesforce is the most recognized platform that allows businesses of all sizes to develop apps that allows you to engage better with customers and get deeper insights into customer journeys. 

Custom app development is a preferred strategy for creating apps that are both visually appealing and allows you to connect better with your users. This guide introduces you to the nuances of Salesforce application development and how to balance performance through end-to-end functionality testing.

Types of Salesforce Apps

There are different types of Salesforce apps depending on their applications. Some of the business needs that can be addressed include improvement or transformation of your sales, customer service, and marketing processes. 

However, there are 2 main categories of custom Salesforce app development:

  • Complex Apps: Such apps add significant functionality to the CRM platform. Such applications address the needs in the improvement or transformation of internal business processes that may not be addressed through regular functionality.
  • Small & Simple Apps: Such apps are designed as solutions for specific tasks such as lead assignment and document generation.

Approach to Salesforce App Development

Some of the facets to Salesforce app development include the following:

  • Project management of custom apps for internal use
  • Project management of custom apps for AppExchange
  • Needs-based delivery models
  • Quality focus
  • Long-term improvement, evolution, and support
  • Providing reasonable costs
  • Flexibility in the project timeline

What is Salesforce App Testing?

Among other benefits, Salesforce makes it easier to customize its features to address your business’ needs. Salesforce testing allows you to validate the customization and configuration performed within your app. The key challenge is checking the customized code compared to testing the built-in Salesforce functionality.

Reasons for Salesforce Testing

There are many reasons for performing Salesforce app development testing. Some of the most notable ones are as follows:

  • Helps check the configuration and functionality of the code
  • You can verify that the app supports the desired business processes
  • You can ascertain that the initial build meets the planned requirement
  • You can catch issues early when they are easier to fix
  • Check the behavior and working condition of the application
  • The functional flows report helps learn about the app’s functionality
  • Workflows help check the functionality of time-based events

Salesforce Testing – Best Practices

There are a number of best practices that Salesforce development teams should keep in mind before undertaking Salesforce app development testing. When it comes to unit testing, you can write the test cases code before, after, or during the main code writing process. It is important to make it a part of the code-writing process. When adding new functionality, it is recommended to update the unit test cases to include tests for the revised functionality.

It is crucial that test code and functionality code are reviewed similarly. Doing this separately is a common error by developers. 

It is recommended to follow these Salesforce app testing best practices:

i. Test During SDLC

Testing should start during SDLC. The QA team should be involved from the very start. The advantages include:

  • Better understanding of requirements
  • More affordable prediction of future issues
  • Lesser chance of having a shorter time for testing
  • Testing/QA team will be able to increase test coverage and types of tests

ii. Using Right Tools

There are many Salesforce app development testing tools. You should choose the proper tools that make it easy to manage a critical project. When it comes to functionality testing, both Android and Apple provide simulators to test on. Besides, Selenium is also an excellent tool for test automation.

iii. Project Summary

Make sure there is a brief project summary and testing guide. This will help in saving valuable time. It will also provide clarity about the background of the project, its purpose, and the features that need to be tested.

iv. Select the Right Testers

Conducting Salesforce app development testing requires in-depth expertise and experience. When it comes to UAT and regression testing, it is important to select the right tester having vast experience in UAT/regression tests.

v. Walkthrough Sessions

When the testing team has been initiated from the early phase of the project, they will have ample time to enhance the test coverage. Once the test cases have been prepared, make sure to have a walkthrough session. This should allow the test cases author to describe the cases to all the stakeholders. When test cases are shared with the development team prior to the implementation phase, it helps assess any issues in the code.

Types of Salesforce App Testing

There are two main types of app testing options for Salesforce app development:

  • Manual Testing: This type of testing uses traditional methods. Your QA team can use this method to run functional testing, integration testing, happy path testing, system testing, and regression testing.
  • Automated Testing: This involves the use of a program for testing the app. Examples of tools that facilitate automated testing include Selenium, QTP, Cucumber, Workday, and Assure Click among others.

Salesforce App Testing Levels

The different Salesforce app development testing levels are as follows:

i. Unit Testing

  • Apex developers perform unit testing. Code is written with clauses that automatically conduct tests on the coverage.
  • You will be able to assess the records of data that get affected. This helps ensure the code runs effectively in the environment.
  • Apex code deployment into the production environment requires at least a 78% code coverage ratio.

ii. System Testing

An experienced team of Salesforce consultants will conduct system testing during Salesforce app development. 

  • The technical processes get tested from start to finish and runs test scripts depending on the outputs
  • You can troubleshoot issues using automated rules within the system such as validation, workflow, and assignment

iii. UAT Testing

This type of app testing will be performed at the user level. It involves the following components:

  • Helps to test the app’s capability in supporting business processes
  • The output requires client confirmation about the system’s usefulness
  • It follows the test script depending on the business processes

iv. Production Testing

This level in Salesforce app development testing repeats the system testing process within the production environment. 

  • You can test the correct deployment of config and code from sandbox to production environment
  • The client can check the UAT scripts once again before deployment

v. Regression Testing

The goal of this level of testing is to ensure the config and code releases affect current system users’ processes. This testing runs when a fix or update has been deployed in production. During this level, users can mark the changes that may affect current processes.

Salesforce App Automated Testing

Automation testing is important and it cannot be taken out of the picture. You should know that most configurations get tested using automation testing scripts. There are many advantages of automated testing, including the following:

  • Reliability: The tests are processed precisely the same way every time they are run
  • Scalability: Automation testing can be scaled for all types of scenarios. You can run the same testing processes as many times as you want to test various scenarios. You may conduct load testing to check the app’s performance under various conditions.
  • Quality: The increase in code coverage allows you to increase the number of tested functionalities. This helps enhance the quality of the delivery.
  • Versatility: Automated Salesforce app development testing can cover different devices and operating systems.
  • Cost-Effective: Once a script is written, there is no need to rely on resources to run different types of tests. The script can be run on multiple applications.

Features of Automated Testing

Some of the main features of automated Salesforce app development testing are as follows:

i. AI-Based Automated Testing

  • Create resilient tests that don’t break with any app changes
  • Significant reduction in test development and efforts for maintenance
  • Reduction in false positives and increased reliability on test results
  • Prevent flaky tests and the requirement of redundant test runs

ii. High Efficiency of SaaS

When you use automated testing, there is no need to set up, update, or maintain software. 

  • No more issues related to lost automation code or non-checked-in code
  • Backward compatibility and automatic updates
  • Allow distributed teams to work using a single codebase

iii. Scriptless Testing

Automated testing can be conducted by QA teams and Subject Matter Experts, not just programmers. 

  • You can develop test automation without the need for getting into programming
  • Simulate complex, loop-free test workflows, control flow commands, and conditional statements
  • Automate dynamic user interface and dynamic content

iv. Cloud Scalability

You can get faster results by scaling Salesforce app development tests on the Cloud. 

  • Prevent the need for building/maintaining testing infrastructure
  • Secure connection with apps behind public/private Clouds or corporate firewalls
  • Support for a larger combination of devices and operating systems

v. Cross-Browser/Device Testing

Automated testing allows you to test UX on thousands of testing platforms. You can run tests on thousands of combinations of devices, operating systems, browsers, and resolutions. Tests could be run on real emulators and real mobile devices. You can get secure access to apps and databases protected by firewalls. 

vi. Performance Testing

  • Measure the performance of apps under transaction/user loads
  • Assess online/download key metrics such as response time and errors
  • Locate performance bottlenecks instantly
  • Use comparison reports to track time-based trends from multiple builds

Thus, there are many advantages of using Salesforce app development automated testing. You can run native app tests, API testing, get actionable analytics, DevOps integration, run data-driven testing, and much more.

Web Development Trends Shaping the Modern IT

Web Development Trends Shaping the Modern IT

Latest Web Development Trends

Businesses are evolving at a rapid pace to meet ever-changing demands of the customer. And to enable businesses to cater efficiently to their customers, web development has also changed a lot in the past few years. From the .com era to progressive web application, modern IT has evolved to become more efficient, reliable and business-friendly.

Let us take a look at the latest web development trends that are shaping modern IT.

1. Progressive Web Apps (PWA)

Progressive web apps have gained popularity among developers and businesses due to their ability to deliver high-quality user experience that is close to native apps. Hence, businesses are able to achieve mobile apps accessibility and website’s wide reach through PWAs. As per Statista, 65 percent of online shopping orders were through mobile websites in 2019.

PWA has enabled users to get an app-like user experience on their mobile devices without downloading the mobile application. PWAs are capable of sending real-time push notifications and enable users to get offline access to the cached content.

Following technologies make progressive web apps different from traditional web applications:

  • Application shell architecture that enables fast loading time
  • Transport Layer Security (TSL) for end-to-end privacy and data security
  • Service worker for online support
  • Web app manifest file for efficient home screen access

Making customers download a mobile application consumes a lot of marketing budget. Progressive Web Applications can benefit eCommerce, news & media platforms and businesses with low development and marketing budgets to reach a larger spectrum of audience easily.

For instance, eCommerce major Flipkart was able to triple its time-on-site with a PWA along with 40% higher engagement and 70% more conversion rate. Other major businesses that are leveraging PWA are Twitter, Forbes, Uber and Pinterest.

2. Artificial Intelligence and Bots

Bots are becoming smarter at a rapid pace. Self-learning bots are expected to behave like humans in the upcoming years and would easily execute multiple tasks that humans handle today. 

Bots offer human-like experience, 24/7 problem-solving potential, and deep consumer behavior analytics. This means that bots will replace a lot of support staff that works round the clock.

As per Gartner’s research, bots will handle over 85 percent of customer interactions. AI will efficiently mimic human intelligence and enhance cognitive functions including data collection, learning, analysis, and multi-tasking automation among others. Chatbots will become a norm for businesses to offer efficient customer support.

A bot can be easily integrated into a regular website, PWA, app or an IoT enabled application. Large B2C corporations are already AI and bots for a more prompt and efficient support. Some major names include Facebook, Skype and WhatsApp among others.

Increasing usage of bots will also influence web development trends especially in UX. With following benefits, the demand for virtual assistants will grow significantly bringing in:

  • Better customer satisfaction
  • Reduced human errors
  • Record of customer service inquiries

Chatbots will continue to gain traction with the more advancements in AI and Machine Learning (ML).

3. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

Google’s AMP project completely changed the web development trend from web app and SEO perspectives. AMP’s goal is to decrease the load time and reduce the possibility of users abandoning the page. The open-source plugin developed by Google accelerates the page loading.

The optimized pages come with a simplified and user friendly design that includes only basic features of the full-scope web page. These pages are also friendly for the mobile website with readable content.

AMPs are optimized pages that can operate fast and have a simplified and yet convenient design with only basic features compared to full-scope web products. Those pages are also mobile-friendly and their content is always readable. AMP has enabled businesses to cut down UX costs and reach online users on any device with any internet speed efficiently.

4. Single Page Application (SPA)

High speed internet has enabled businesses to leverage single page applications (SPA). It enables businesses to have seamless server communication, enhance page performance and implement higher data security standards.

SPA leverages JavaScript to load content and reduces the website’s requirement to reload web pages repeatedly. Some of the best examples of single page applications are Github, Google, and Gmail.

Another plus point of a single page application is that all the information is available on one page. That means, users are not required to search around pages to find the relevant information.

Web developers are preferring SPA as it has greater potential to grab users’ attention with a lower attention span. It renders instant feedback to the user while consuming less data. It is also capable of functioning sans server-side code via API technology.

5. Voice Search Optimization

Users are loving the ease of use that voice command capability brings along. Millions of people are leveraging Siri, Google Home or Alexa to get the work done through voice commands. In 2020, more than 50 percent of the devices will have the capability to process voice commands. With time, devices will evolve to recognize the voice of different people to render more personalized AI-based user experience.

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Also Read: Advanced Mobile App Testing Trends

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Usage of voice enabled devices will increase up to 55 percent by 2022 in homes globally. To deliver better user experience through voice commands, businesses are optimizing their digital and physical products for voice search and commands. 

The latest trend in web development is voice-activated standalone devices and voice optimization for regular applications and websites. Backed by AI, voice search optimization will benefit both owners and end-users. Here is how:

  • It will save time and allow the user to make larger number of orders more easily
  • It allows multitasking – means users can browse another website or app while placing orders through voice commands
  • It is more engaging and efficient and will compel users to become loyal customers
  • Voice usage can be leveraged for user behaviour analytics 

6. Motion UI

Businesses can gain more potential to grab the attention of users through beautiful websites and applications. Hence, visual design has become an integral part of the marketing strategy.

To facilitate more intuitive and clear user experience for customer delight, motion UI will gain more traction in the coming days. It will become widely accessible for device users of all kinds due to SASS based libraries.

Motion UI development involves the integration of custom animation and CSS transition enabled by stand-alone libraries powered with multiple number of animated elements classes. It empowers developers to quickly build digital products without having an in-depth knowledge of jQuery and JavaScript. It also helps save costs and expedite time-to-market.

The Motion UI library is full of pre-built CSS classes that can be instantly applied to UX elements including transitions, animation and series animations. It makes the animation process time-effective and simple.

7. JavaScript Frameworks

JavaScript is one of the most widely used coding languages in the world. 2020 will see the rise of JavaScript frameworks usage to fuel the latest website trends. JavaScript frameworks help to standardize the language and develop a user-friendly front-end ecosystem.

New age JavaScrip frameworks will include UI, UX, testing and several product tech management aspects. The framework usage will depend on ready components required for the web development. Technically, the framework is built using visual/ functional libraries and integration. The framework works for front-end development including React and Angular.

It allows to enhance the user experience by delivering instant feedback without page load, faster performance, increased efficiency, and simple codes among others. Modern JavaScript frameworks are different from old versions. It includes some latest updates like inbuilt HTML templating, data management tools, and composed-based design. It will further fuel the usage of React, Vue, and Angular frameworks in 2020. 

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Also Read: The Leading Digital Security Trends for 2020

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8. Blockchain Technology

The concept of cryptocurrency appeared a decade ago and now there are even crypto trading markets. With more than 44 million blockchain wallets in 2019, it is evident that now we can’t ignore the existence of cryptocurrency.

Blockchain works on a decentralized platform that offers a higher security level for the saved data. Users can check out the history of transactions without the identity of any user being revealed enabling more transparent processes.

From banking and healthcare to media and entertainment, organizations are offering blockchain development services to efficiently leverage supply chain, medical data, and hospital administration among others.

Blockchain will also enable the development of peer-to-peer networking. As blockchain technology gains more traction it will transform the way people do financial transactions and interact with other services in the market.

9. Internet of Things (IoT)

More than 30 billion internet enabled devices are expected to become online by 2025. From smart digital assistants to self-driven cars, IoT is poised to capture every aspect of our lives. By enabling payment automation, smart homes, smart city, and e-health environment development among others, it will free up more time for users from doing routine tasks and invest their time in something more meaningful.

IoT will also influence new trends in web design along with voice interface designs and new-age approaches for big data architecture.

10. Mobile-First Development

More than 50 percent of internet traffic is now on mobile devices. To facilitate a more immersive and intuitive user interface on mobile devices, businesses are going for mobile-first development to cater to a larger number of customers.

Mobile first development treats smartphone screen and other hardware including physical button placements and camera as a tech framework. Instead of building a desktop-oriented website, the development is initiated with light, minimalistic and easy to operate user interfaces.

As per the latest trends in 2020, content delivery will become simpler with no frills, lesser number of pages, mobile oriented CTA, simple geometric shapes, vivid color and contrast color schemes. Aside, Google also prefers mobile friendly sites in search rankings.

11. Push Notifications

Notifications now not only appear through mobile apps. Push notifications through websites have become a powerful tool to garner more engagement from the user, increase the retention rate and deliver more personalized experience on the desktop. 

Facebook and Gmail among other global players are already leveraging the technology to keep their users posted. Instant notifications are also expected to replace email communication from businesses to customers.

12. React Native

According to Google Trends, “react native app development” has very fast become the most sought after search term. It has surpassed “hybrid app development”. Some of the most popular mobile apps on iOS and Android are based on React Native including Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Tesla, Skype, Walmart, Uber, and Vogue among others.

React Native has enabled developers to create platform agnostic applications while decreasing the time-to-market. The open source project allows engineers to implement UX friendly software development at a rapid pace that takes lesser memory. It has become a more cost-efficient solution to create immersive, modern-looking and highly capable mobile applications. You can read more about React Native in our detailed blog.

13. Facebook Instant Articles

More than 50 percent of adults in the USA get their news from Facebook. The leading social media platform has become one of the largest sources of traffic for websites across the world. 

Facebook users are more likely to open the links when they are published as instant articles. They load up to 4 times faster than the mobile website and as a result, lead to lesser bounce rate. It also allows the publisher to monetize articles by leveraging Facebook’s Audience Network to curate native branded content.

An Instant Article is just an HTML document that is optimized to render fast performance on the smartphone with rich storytelling capabilities, branded web page design and customized graphics. It uses a standardized markup language that is similar to XML to apply interactive functionality and styles to any story.

Developers can apply this markup automatically to enable automated publication of an entire content feed at scale. It can also be applied manually by developers to curate customized stories that leverage all the capabilities of Instant Article and rich-media elements.

Modern web development trends will bring the user experience at the forefront. It will help businesses to develop more user-friendly, engaging, secure and efficient applications. New-age technologies will also help organizations become more agile, customer-oriented and responsive to a rapidly evolving business environment.

MVVM using Data Binding in Android

MVVM using Data Binding in Android

MVVM using Data Binding in Android

Android MVVM It stands for Model, View, ViewModel. Putting everything in a View like Activity or Fragment would lead to difficulties in testing and changing/refactoring the original code. Hence, the use of separation of code and clean structure is recommended. 

Model: This has the data of the Android project. It cannot directly communicate to the View. Normally, it’s recommended to provide the data to the ViewModel by using Observables. 

View: It is the UI of the Android project without any business logic. It observes the ViewModel. 

ViewModel: It acts as a bridge between the Model and the View. It provides a way to transform the data from the Model. It also provides data streams to the View. It uses hooks or callbacks to modify the View. It’ll request for the data from the Model. The viewmodel is a key piece of MVVM as it brings the concept of Presentation Separation, or keeping the nuances of the view apart from the model. The ViewModel helps in keeping the view state, modify the model as the result of actions on the view and trigger events to reflect the changes into the view. 

In order to continue MVVM there is a concept of LiveData that plays an important role in MVVM. LiveData is an observable data holder class. Unlike a traditional observable, LiveData is lifecycle-aware, that means, it follows the lifecycle of app components for example – Activities, Fragments, or Services. This is the reason LiveData only updates app component observers that are in an active lifecycle state, that result in a healthy and crash-less application. 

Differences(MVP) 

  • The Presenter in the Middle Layer is replaced by ViewModel. 
  • The Presenter has dependency on the View while the ViewModel is independent of the View.
  • The Presenter is responsible for updating the View by calling methods. 
  • The ViewModel is responsible for sending data streams. 
  • The Presenter and View are in a one to one relationship. 
  • The View and the ViewModel are in a one to many relationship. 
  • The ViewModel does not have the knowledge that the View is listening to it.

In Android, we have two ways to implement MVVM: 

  • Data Binding 
  • RXJava 

We’ll be using Data Binding here to implement MVVM in Android. 

Google has introduced a Data Binding library in order to bind data directly in the XML layout. 

We are creating a normal Login Example application that prompts for user credentials inputs. 

We will see how the ViewModel intimates the View to show a Toast Message without containing a reference of the View. 

Two Way Data Binding Two-way Data Binding is a way of binding objects to XML layouts so that the layout and the object can both send data to each other. 

Here, the ViewModel can provide data to the layout and observe changes as well. 

For this, we require a BindingAdapter and a user defined attribute in the XML. 

The Binding Adapter will listen to changes in the user defined attribute property. 

We will learn more about Two-way Data Binding by the example below. 

Enable the Data Binding Library for the Android Project 

Add the following code to your app’s build.gradle file: 

android {
  dataBinding {
    enabled = true
  }
}

This statement will enable Data Binding in the Android Project. 

Add the below dependencies in your build.gradle file : 

implementation 'android.arch.lifecycle:extensions:1.1.0'

Model The Model has the employee’s email and password. The below Employee.java class does it:

package com.qait.mvvmdemo.model; 
public class Employee { 
  private String email; private String password; 
  public Employee(String email, String password) { 
    this.email = email; this.password = password; 
  }
  public void setEmail(String email) { 
    this.email = email; 
  } 
  public String getEmail() { 
    return email; 
  } 
  public void setPassword(String password) { 
    this.password = password; 
  } 
  public String getPassword() { 
    return password; 
  } 
}

The Two-way Data Binding provides us a mechanism to bind objects in the XML layouts such that the object can transmit data to the layout, and the layout can transmit data to the object. 

We use below Syntax for Two Way Data Binding 

@={variable}

Layout Following code represents activity_main.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layout 
xmlns:android="https://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" 
xmlns:bind="https://schemas.android.com/tools">
<data> 
  <variablename="viewModel" type="com.qait.mvvmdemo.viewmodels.LoginViewModel" />
</data>
<ScrollView 
  android:layout_width="match_parent" 
  android:layout_height="match_parent">
    <LinearLayout 
      android:layout_width="match_parent" 
      android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
      android:layout_gravity="center" 
      android:layout_margin="8dp" 
      android:orientation="vertical">
        <EditText
           android:id="@+id/inEmail" 
           android:layout_width="match_parent" 
           android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
           android:hint="Email" 
           android:inputType="textEmailAddress" 
           android:padding="8dp" 
           android:text="@={viewModel.employeeEmail}" /> 
        <EditText 
           android:id="@+id/inPassword" 
           android:layout_width="match_parent" 
           android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
           android:hint="Password" 
           android:inputType="textPassword" 
           android:padding="8dp" 
           android:text="@={viewModel.employeePassword}" /> 
        <Button 
           android:layout_width="match_parent" 
           android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
           android:layout_marginTop="8dp" 
           android:onClick="@{()-> viewModel.onLoginClicked()}" 
           android:text="LOGIN" 
           bind:toastMessage="@{viewModel.toastMessage}" /> 
    </LinearLayout> 
  </ScrollView> 
</layout> 

Data Binding should be declared at the top of the layout. Below ViewModel binds the user data to the View.

()-> viewModel.onLoginClicked() trigger the Button click listener lambda created in the ViewModel. The EditText modifies the values in the Model (by View Model).

bind:toastMessage="@{viewModel.toastMessage}" is a user defined attribute as we created for two-way data binding. According to changes in the toastMessage in the ViewModel the BindingAdapter would get called in the View. 

ViewModel Following are the code that an Android app development company normally uses for for the LoginViewModel.java: 

package com.qait.mvvmdemo.viewmodels; 
import android.databinding.BaseObservable;
import android.databinding.Bindable; 
import android.text.TextUtils; 
import android.util.Patterns; 
Import com.android.databinding.library.baseAdapters.BR; 
import com.qait.mvvmdemo.model.Employee; 
public class LoginViewModel extends BaseObservable { 
  private Employee employee; 
  private String successMessage = "Login was successful"; 
  private String errorMessage = "Email or Password not valid"; 
  @Bindable 
  private String toastMessage = null; 
  public String getToastMessage() { 
    return toastMessage; 
  }
  private void setToastMessage(String toastMessage) { 
    this.toastMessage = toastMessage; 
    notifyPropertyChanged(BR.toastMessage); 
  }
  public void setEmployeeEmail(String email) { 
    employee.setEmail(email); 
    notifyPropertyChanged(BR.employeeEmail); 
  } 
  @Bindable 
  public String getEmployeeEmail() { 
    return employee.getEmail(); 
  } 
  @Bindable 
  public String getEmployeePassword() { 
    return employee.getPassword(); 
  } 
  public void setEmployeePassword(String password) { 
    employee.setPassword(password); 
    notifyPropertyChanged(BR.employeePassword); 
  } 
  public LoginViewModel() { 
    user = new Employee("",""); 
  }
  public void onLoginClicked() { 
    if (isInputDataValid()) 
      setToastMessage(successMessage); 
    else 
      setToastMessage(errorMessage); 
  }
  public boolean isInputDataValid() { 
     return !TextUtils.isEmpty(getEmployeeEmail()) &&
            Patterns.EMAIL_ADDRESS.matcher(getEmployeeEmail()).matches() &&
            getEmployeePassword().length() > 5; 
    }
}

The strategies were brought in the design are executed in the above code with a similar mark. If the XML counterpart of the method doesn’t exist, we need to change the attribute to app:.

The above class can likewise broaden ViewModel. Be that as it may, an Android mobile app development company needs BaseObservable since it changes over the information into streams and advises when the toastMessage property is changed.

We have to characterize the getter and setter for the toastMessage custom quality characterized in the XML. 

Inside the setter, we advise the onlooker (which will be the View in our application) that the information has changed. 

The View(Activity) can characterize the fitting activity. 

BR class is auto-created from information restricting when you revamp the venture The code for the MainActivity.java class is given underneath:

package com.qait.mvvmdemo.views; 
import android.databinding.BindingAdapter; 
import android.databinding.DataBindingUtil; 
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity; 
import android.os.Bundle; 
import android.view.View; 
import android.widget.Toast; 
import com.qait.mvvmdemo.R; 
import com.qait.mvvmdemo.databinding.ActivityMainBinding; 
import com.qait.mvvmdemo.viewmodels.LoginViewModel; 
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity { 
  @Override 
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { 
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); 
    ActivityMainBinding activityMainBinding = DataBindingUtil.setContentView(this,
       R.layout.activity_main); 
   activityMainBinding.setViewModel(new LoginViewModel());
   activityMainBinding.executePendingBindings(); 
  } 
  @BindingAdapter({"toastMessage"}) 
  public static void runMe(View view, String message) { 
    if (message != null) 
      Toast.makeText(view.getContext(), message, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); 
    }
}

On account of DataBinding, the ActivityMainBinding class is auto-created from the format. 

The @BindingAdapter technique gets activated at whatever point the toastMessage characteristic on the Button is changed. 

It must utilize a similar characteristic as characterized in the XML and in the ViewModel. 

So in the above application, the ViewModel refreshes the Model by tuning in to the adjustments in the View. 

Likewise, the Model can refresh the view by means of the ViewModel utilizing the notifyPropertyChanged