In Salesforce development, writing effective tests is crucial for ensuring that your custom logic works as intended. A critical part of testing is generating the right test data to simulate real-world scenarios. This blog post will guide you through creating Apex test data in Salesforce.

By reading this blog, you will learn how to:

• Understand why test data matters: Discover the importance of test data and its impact on code reliability.

• Create test utility classes: Learn to streamline test data generation with reusable code.

• Implement test scenarios: Explore techniques for testing various conditions and outcomes in your code.

• Best practices: Get tips on optimizing your test data creation strategies.

Create Apex Test Data

The data from Apex tests is only temporary and is not saved in the database. This signifies that the data inserted by a test method does not persist in the database after it has completed execution. As a result, at the end of a test, there is no need to delete any test data. It is recommended that test utility classes be created to add reusable methods for test data setup.

Also Read: Apex Testing Best Practices: A Step-by-Step Guide

Create a test utility class

Assuming we have a scenario in which we want to prevent account deletion if any related contacts exist for the account. The validation is added using the Account triggers mentioned below.

(

trigger AccountTrigger on Account (before delete) {

//identify if the trigger is running in before delete context

if(Trigger.isBefore && Trigger.isDelete){

//soQL for loop to fetch open contacts associated with the account.

//Prepare the set of account ids.

Set accountIdFromContacts = new Set();

for (

Contact objContact : [|

SELECT Id, AccountId

FROM Contact

WHERE AccountId In :Trigger.old

accountIdFromContacts.add (objContact.AccountId) ;

}

//Iterate through the accounts to see if any contacts exist.

for (Account eachAccount: Trigger.old){

if(accountIdFromContacts.contains (eachAccount.Id) ){

eachAccount.addError (

‘Cannot delete account with related contacts.’

) ;

}

}

)

For this example, let’s create an AccountUtility Test utility class with a method called

createAccountsWithContacts that accepts the number of accounts and the number of related contacts to insert for each account. Because the class is annotated with @isTest, it can only be accessed by the test class.

(

@isTest

public class AccountUtilityTest {

//The method accepts the count of accounts and contacts to insert.

public static List createAccountsWithContacts (

Integer numberOfAccounts, Integer number0fRelatedContacts

//Insert accounts.

List 1stAccountsToInsert = new List () ;

for (Integer i=0; i

1stAccountsToInsert.add (

new Account (Name = ‘Dummy Account ‘+ i)

) ;

}

insert 1stAccountsToInsert;

//create contacts related to the accounts.

if(number0fRelatedContacts != null && numberOfRelatedContacts > 0){

List IstRelatedContactsToInsert = new List () ;

for (Account eachAccount: 1stAccountsToInsert) {

for (Integer i=0; i

1stRelatedContactsToInsert.add(

new Contact (

LastName = ‘DummyLastName ‘+ i,

AccountId = eachAccount.Id

}

insert lstRelatedContactsToInsert;

}

return lstAccountsToInsert;

}

)

Utilize the test utility class to set up test data and test multiple scenarios.

Now that we have added AccountUtilityTest utility class, we can utilize the methods by using the below syntax. The utility class will return the Account [] with one account record.

(

//Syntax to access the utility class.

List lstAccounts =

AccountUtilityTest.createAccountsWithContacts (1, 0);

)

We’ll make a test class called Account Trigger Test to test the Account Trigger.

Case 1: Delete a single account with no associated contacts.

(

@isTest (SeeAllData=false)

public class AccountTriggerTest {

@isTest

static void deleteSingleAccountWithoutContactTest (){

List lstAccounts =

AccountUtilityTest.createAccountsWithContacts (1, 0);

Test. startTest();

List result = Database.delete(1stAccounts, false) ;

Test. stopTest () ;

List 1stAccountsAfterDelete = [SELECT Id FROM Account];

//validating the trigger outcome.

System.assertEquals(1stAccountsAfterDelete.size(), 0);

}

Case 2: Delete multiple accounts with no associated contacts 

@isTest (SeeAllData=false)

public class AccountTriggerTest {

lisTest

static void deleteSingleAccountWithoutContactTest (){

List lstAccounts =

AccountUtilityTest.createAccountsWithContacts(1, 0);

Test. startTest () ;

List result = Database.delete(lstAccounts, false) ;

Test. stopTest ( );

List lstAccountsAfterDelete = [SELECT Id FROM Account];

//validating the trigger outcome.

System.assertEquals(1stAccountsAfterDelete.size(), 0);

lisTest

static void deleteMultipleAccountWithoutContactTest()‹

//call the utility class to create 200 accounts.

List lstAccounts =

AccountUtilityTest.createAccountsWithContacts(200, 0);

Test. startTest () ;

List result = Database.delete(lstAccounts, false) ;

Test. stopTest ();

List 1stAccountsAfterDelete = [SELECT Id FROM Account];

//validating the trigger outcome.

System.assertEquals(1stAccountsAfterDelete.size(), 0);

}

Case 3: Delete a single account withe associated Contacts.

@isTest (SeeA11Data=false)

public class AccountTriggerTest {

lisTest

static void deleteSingleAccountWithoutContactTest(){

List 1stAccounts =

AccountUtilityTest.createAccountsWithContacts(1, 0);

Test.startTest();

List result = Database.delete(IstAccounts, false) ;

Test.stopTest ();

List 1stAccountsAfterDelete = [SELECT Id FROM Account];

//validating the trigger outcome.

System.assertEquals(1stAccountsAfterDelete.size(), 0);

@isTest

static void deleteMultipleAccountWithoutContactTest(){

//call the utility class to create 200 accounts.

List lstAccounts =

AccountUtilityTest.createAccountsWithContacts (200, 0);

Test. startTest() ;

List result = Database.delete(IstAccounts, false);

Test. stopTest () ;

List 1stAccountsAfterDelete = [SELECT Id FROM Account] ;

//validating the trigger outcome.

System.assertEquals(1stAccountsAfterDelete.size(), 0);

@isTest

static void deleteSingleAccountWithContactTest (){

List lstAccounts =

AccountUtilityTest.createAccountsWithContacts(1, 1);

Test.startrest ();

List result = Database.delete(1stAccounts, false);

Test. stoplest ();

List lstAccountsAfterDelete = [SELECT Id FROM Account];

//validating the trigger outcome.

System.assertEquals(1stAccountsAfterDelete.size(), 0);

}

@isTest

static void deleteSingleAccountWithContactTest (){

List lstAccounts =

AccountUtilityTest.createAccountsWithContacts (1, 1);

Test. startTest() ;

List result = Database.delete(1stAccounts, false);

Test.stopTest () ;|

List lstAccountsAfterDelete = [SELECT Id FROM Account];

//validating the trigger outcome.

System.assertEquals(1stAccountsAfterDelete.size(), 1);

}

}

Conclusion

Mastering Apex test data creation is a must for Salesforce developers aiming to deliver high-quality, reliable code. By understanding the value of test data, creating reusable utility classes, and setting up realistic scenarios, you’ll boost your ability to craft robust solutions that can handle real-world challenges.

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