[SalesForce] Usage of cli command – sfdx force:source:convert

I used force:source:retrieve to retrieve the given list of components (classes, workflows etc) and committed the files to git. Now I want to deploy these components to higher environments like QA and Prod from Git.

force:source:deploy – I can't use this since it doesn't have the options like validate only or run local tests etc.. So I am planning to use force:source:convert to convert into mdapi format but even this does not have an option to convert a list of metadata, it converts all the source code in the root folder.

What are the options to convert given list of metadata (package.xml/list of files) to mdapi format and then deploy to sandbox/prod from git.

Best Answer

You can use .forceignore file to specify the files which you want to exclude while converting to metadata format.

From How to Exclude Source When Syncing or Converting documentation:

The .forceignore file excludes files when running the source commands: force:source:convert, force:source:push, force:source:pull, and force:source:status.

Let's say you have a DX project structure as below:

myproject/main/default/classes/MyFirstClass.cls
myproject/main/default/classes/MyFirstClass.cls-meta.xml
myproject/main/default/classes/MySecondClass.cls
myproject/main/default/classes/MySecondClass.cls-meta.xml

And that you want to exclude MySecondClass.cls from being converted into a metadata format. You can then include this file in the .forceignore file so that the output directory does not contain this entry. The entry in the .forceignore file should be then as below:

myproject/main/default/classes/MySecondClass.cls
myproject/main/default/classes/MySecondClass.cls-meta.xml

When you run the force:source:convert, the generated output metadata format directory will not contain MySecondClass* files or any entry in the generated package.xml.

Related Solutions

[SalesForce] Deploying for a salesforce dx project [non ISV]

You can decide to publish your code from DX project using metadata API or creating a package. The details for deploying both ways can be found in this page.

TLDR: Yes, converting DX project to medatada API format and deploying it using mdapi:deploy is completely fine. Example for CI script:

#create conversion folder
mkdir [path/to/output/folder]

#convert to Metadata API format
sfdx force:source:convert -d [path/to/output/folder]

#login to sandbox
sfdx force:auth:jwt:grant --clientid $sandboxConsumerKey --username $sandboxUserName -a $sandboxName --jwtkeyfile assets/server.key -r https://test.salesforce.com

#deploy to sandbox
sfdx force:mdapi:deploy -d [path/to/output/folder] -u [sandboxName] -w 100

#remove conversion folder
rm -r -d mdapioutput

I only deployed to sandbox using this approach.

However, even though I did not try deploying using packages yet, I believe packaging approach is going to be the way to go when the second generation packaging is released.

[SalesForce] sfdx force:source:push does not allow .forceignore for AuraDefinitionBundle

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I've created a bug for our team. We are working on a Known Issue for this and I will post that once it is ready. Unfortunately there isn't much of a workaround except to remove the files from the aura bundle directory. As you mentioned, you can try storing the files that shouldn't be pushed in a separate directory that is .forceignored or in a different project path altogether.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[SalesForce] Deploying for a salesforce dx project [non ISV]

[SalesForce] sfdx force:source:push does not allow .forceignore for AuraDefinitionBundle

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