[SalesForce] Modify visualforce input before saving and before reaccessing

Here's the scenario.

(a) In standard controller extension for Custom_Object__c, we define custObj as

public Custom_Object__c custObj{get;set;}

(b) In visualforce we have an input field

<apex:inputField id="commentfield" value="{!custObj.Comments__c}"/>

Now here's the scenario i was wondering if could be implemented or not,

User enters his comment in commentfield.
A method in controller extension modifies the input here before saving. (For eg. add system.now() timestamp after the comment) [[How will this method access the entered value to modify it and save it back to the record??]]
Custom Object's record is saved with the modified input via standard {!Save} method in visualforce.
When user access the same record this field needs to appear blank(How to make it appear blank in VF page or should I clear the field value right after saving?) and when the user enters new comment, that comment should have it's own timestamp and be concatenated with comment in step 1-3.

Thanks for the insights!!

Best Answer

For the first approach you can try to use the following code as pattern your implementation. First add a timestamp as a string to the Comment__c field. Then save the record and redirect user to this record:

public PageReference save(){
    // First concatenating the old value with a new one
    custObj.Comments__c = dummyObject.Comments__c;
    // Now adding a timestamp to the new comment 
    custObj.Comments__c += ' ' + Datetime.now().format('MM/dd/YYYY-HH:mm:ss');
    // Upserting the record
    upsert custObj;
    // Redirecting user to the record
    PageReference pRef = PageReference('/' + custObj.id);
    return pRef;
}

And for the next appoach i would create a dummy object where you can temporary hold the original data for the future use:

public Custom_Object__c dummyObject;

// Constructor of the controller
public YourController(){
    dummyObject = custObj.Comments__c;
    custObj.Comments__c = '';
}

Related Solutions

[SalesForce] prevent Dirty Updates theself when overriding Save in a controller extension

Salesforce DOESN'T handle this in custom save actions and doing an update instead of controller.save() makes no difference.

One solution would be to re-read the record from the database in your controller extension save() method, before committing the record (save/update), and compare the re-read SystemModstamp with the SystemModstamp of the record in your viewstate.

You will need to use controller.addFields(new List{'SystemModstamp'}) in the controller extension constructor if your page does not display the SystemModstamp.

If the SystemModstamps are different you know that the record has been modified and you can decide what to do.

For example:

public with sharing class OpportunityController
{
    ApexPages.StandardController m_controller;

    public OpportunityController(ApexPages.StandardController controller)
    {
        m_controller = controller;
        m_controller.addFields(new List<String>{'SystemModstamp'});
    }

    public ApexPages.PageReference save()
    {
        Opportunity record = (Opportunity) m_controller.getRecord();
        Opportunity dbRecord = [select SystemModstamp from Opportunity where Id=:record.Id];
        if(record.SystemModstamp!=dbRecord.SystemModstamp)
        {
            ApexPages.addMessage(new ApexPages.Message(ApexPages.Severity.FATAL, 'Someone else edited the record'));
            return null;
        }
        return m_controller.save();
    }
}

[SalesForce] Create VisualForce input that uses Lookup popup

Per Jeff Douglas's ROLL YOUR OWN SALESFORCE "LOOKUP" POPUP WINDOW blog post, one way to do this is to simply create a dummy instance of an object that has a relationship with the one you want to perform a lookup on, and then use the appropriate property of that instance as the value of an inputField.

From his post:

MyCustomLookupController

Here's the Apex controller for the record you are either creating or editing. This is an extremely simple controller that just creates a new contact so you can use the lookup for the related account field.
public with sharing class MyCustomLookupController {

  public Contact contact {get;set;}

  public MyCustomLookupController() {
    contact = new Contact();
  }

}
MyCustomLookup

[ ... lots of code omitted; see the original post for full content ... ]
<apex:inputField id="Account" value="{!contact.AccountId}"/>

This is an ugly, hacky solution, and I'd hoped to find something cleaner, but it works. It'd be even uglier if you didn't already have an object with a field of the right type; in that case, I guess you could create a custom object whose entire purpose was to be used for this hack.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[SalesForce] prevent Dirty Updates theself when overriding Save in a controller extension

[SalesForce] Create VisualForce input that uses Lookup popup

MyCustomLookupController

MyCustomLookup

Related Topic