Apex Platform Events

Introduction to Apex Platform Events

Apex Platform Events enable developers to publish and subscribe to custom events within Salesforce. They provide a powerful way to integrate Salesforce with external systems and enable real-time communication within the Salesforce ecosystem. This guide will walk you through the essentials of using Apex Platform Events, including how to define, publish, and subscribe to them.

Defining a Platform Event

Before you can publish and subscribe to events, you must define a platform event in Salesforce. This involves creating a custom event schema that specifies the structure of the event data. To define a platform event:

• Go to Setup in Salesforce.
• Enter Platform Events in the Quick Find box.
• Click on New Platform Event.
• Fill in the required fields, such as the Label and Plural Label.
• Add custom fields as needed to define the event's payload.
• Save your platform event.

Publishing Platform Events

Once a platform event is defined, you can publish events using Apex. This can be done synchronously or asynchronously, depending on your requirements. Here's how you can publish a platform event:

Subscribing to Platform Events

To process platform events, you need to subscribe to them. In Salesforce, this can be done using a trigger or a Process Builder. Here is an example of subscribing to platform events using an Apex trigger:

Best Practices for Using Platform Events

When working with platform events, consider the following best practices:

• Design your event schema with future scalability in mind.
• Use asynchronous publishing for high-volume event traffic.
• Handle exceptions and errors gracefully when subscribing to events.
• Monitor event usage and limits to ensure optimal performance.