SFRD is a tool that makes retrieving and deploying metadata to Salesforce easy. You No Longer have to worry about Editing XML or Configuring Ant to manage metadata. Start using SFRD by clicking the Get Started button.

Features of SFRD

• Manage Orgs Easily using OAuth

• Easily search metadata types and metadata members

• Select the metadata members and retrieve metadata quickly

• Quickly deploy metadata to Orgs

What is Metadata?

Metadata is data that describes other data. For example, in a Salesforce org, there is a standard object called Account. When you add a record with a customer’s contact information to an Account, you are adding metadata and data. Field names, such as first name and last name are metadata. The values in those fields, for example, Amy and Lane are data.

Metadata in Salesforce also defines how your org functions. For example, process metadata describes what happens when a user presses the Save button. Presentation metadata concerns the layout of your org, and authorization metadata determines user access. Salesforce metadata also describes your org’s general configuration. For example, you can configure Chatter to block emoticons in posts.

Metadata API works with metadata types and components. A metadata type defines the structure of application metadata. A metadata component is an instance of a metadata type. The fields and values of a metadata type are all metadata. For example, the metadata type CustomTab represents a custom tab that displays content. The CustomTab field hasSidebar indicates if the tab is on the sidebar panel, which is an example of metadata determining presentation. Metadata types like CustomTab build the metadata model that describe how your org is structured, displayed, or functions. Use Metadata API to develop customizations and build tools that manage the metadata model, not the data itself.

Salesforce Custom Metadata

What is Ant Migration Tool?

The Ant Migration Tool is a Java/Ant-based command-line utility for moving metadata between a local directory and a Salesforce org. The Ant Migration Tool is especially useful in the following scenarios.

• Development projects for which you need to populate a test environment with a lot of setup changes—Making these changes using a web interface can take a long time.
• Multistage release processes—A typical development process requires iterative building, testing, and staging before releasing to a production environment. Scripted retrieval and deployment of components can make this process much more efficient.
• Repetitive deployment using the same parameters—You can retrieve all the metadata in your organization, make changes, and deploy a subset of components. If you need to repeat this process, it’s as simple as calling the same deployment target again.
• When migrating from stage to production is done by IT—Anyone that prefers deploying in a scripting environment will find the Ant Migration Tool a familiar process.
• Scheduling batch deployments—You can schedule a deployment for midnight to not disrupt users. Or you can pull down changes to your Developer Edition org every day.

Ant Migration Tool

What is Metadata API?

The main purpose of Metadata API is to move metadata between Salesforce orgs during the development process. Use Metadata API to deploy, retrieve, create, update, or delete customization information, such as custom object definitions and page layouts. Metadata API doesn’t work directly with business data. To create, retrieve, update, or delete records such as accounts or leads, use SFRD.

Metadata API contains a set of objects that manage setup and customization information (metadata) for your organizations, and the SOAP calls that manipulate those objects. With Metadata API you can:

• Work with setup configuration as XML metadata files
• Migrate configuration changes between organizations
• Create your own tools for managing organization and application metadata

SFRD uses Salesforce Metadata API SOAP calls to retrieve and deploy Apex and metadata.

Salesforce Metadata API

Issues with Salesforce Ant

• Salesforce Ant is difficult to set up

• Usernames and password are stored as plain text in a simple file which may pose as a security risk.

• Need to edit xml files to retrieve and deploy metadata