SCENARIO

While working on one of the requirements for a manufacturing solutions customer based out Atlanta, Georgia there was need to automate User Onboarding Process based on the profile they are assigned to. When a user is added through the data loader, need to add that user to a public group (10 possible groups) automatically. Client wants the new user to be assigned to certain public groups based on the profile the new user has.

APPROCAH

We can think of many solutions to achieve the requirement, for example - Trigger, Apex Class etc., but we've decided to go with less coding approach either through Salesforce flow or Process builder to achieve the requirement.

We'd faced bulkification issue in Process builder earlier, we choose to go with salesforce flow to meet this requirement.

CHALLENGE

Based on the approach taken, we lead to a situation for having multiple groups assignment for user and comma separated public group Ids.

We have used custom metadata for required configuration.

We were able to get list of IDs (Collection of Ids) which are stored in a text field of custom metadata. We can use the same in our Salesforce Flow further execution.

Example:-

Input String :- 00G2x000000X1GPEA0, 00G2x000000X1GUEA0, 00G2x000000X1GZEA0

Output String Collection:- 00G2x000000X1GPEA0

00G2x000000X1GUEA0

00G2x000000X1GZEA0

In the above example, comma-separated input string is 00G2x000000X1GPEA0, 00G2x000000X1GUEA0, 00G2x000000X1GZEA0 and output is an Array List - string collection.

Below are the steps to get a List of Ids from a comma-separated string of Ids.

Step 1:- Define flow properties.

Click Setup.
In the Quick Find box, type Flows.
Select Flows then click on the New Flow.
Select the Autolaunched Flow (No Trigger) option and click on Next and configure the flow as follows:

How do you want to start building: Freeform

Step 2:- Flow variables and formulas.

In this step, we will define variables and formulas.

Define InputString Text variable to store entered string.

Under Toolbox, select Manager, click on New Resource.
Input following information,

Resource Type - Variable
API Name - InputString
Data Type - Text
Allow multiple values (collection) - Uncheck

Click Done.

InputString variable

Define StringCollection Text variable to store separated string.

Under Toolbox, select Manager, click on New Resource.
Input following information,

Resource Type - Variable
API Name - StringCollection
Data Type - Text
Allow multiple values (collection) - check

Click Done.

StringCollection variable

Define GetFirstElementFromString Formula to Get the first element from InputString.

Under Toolbox, select Manager, click on New Resource.
Input following information,

Resource Type - Formula
API Name - GetFirstElementFromString
Data Type - Text
Formula -

TRIM(LEFT({!InputString}, FIND(",",{!InputString} )-1))

Click Done.

GetFirstElementFromString Formula

Define RemoveElementFromString formula to remove element from InputString.

Under Toolbox, select Manager, click on New Resource.
Input following information,

Resource Type - Formula
API Name - RemoveElementFromString
Data Type - Text
Formula -

TRIM(RIGHT({!InputString}, LEN({!InputString}) - FIND(",", {!InputString})))

Click Done.

RemoveElementFromString Formula

Step 3:- Create Screen Element

In this step, we will create screen element to get the InputString.

Under Toolbox, select Elements. Drag and drop Screen onto the canvas.
Fill following Information on Screen Properties.

Enter Label the API Name will auto-populate.
Under Components, select Input, Drag and drop Long Text Area onto the screen. fill the following details on Long Text Area.

Label - Enter String
API Name - Enter_String

Click Done.
Connect Start to Screen Element.

Screen Element

Step 4:- Create Assignment Element.

In this step, we will assign Entered string to InputString.

Under Toolbox, select Elements. Drag and drop Assignment onto the canvas.
Fill as below,

Enter Label and API Name will auto-populate.
Set variable values as follow.

Variable - InputString
Operator - Equals
Value - Enter_String

Click Done.

Connect screen element to assignment element.

Assign Enter string to Input String

Step 5:- Create Decision Element

In this step, we will check InputString is null or InputString has one string or InputString has multiple strings separated by a comma.

Under Toolbox, select Elements. Drag and drop Decision onto the canvas.
OutComes

No (If InputString contains multiple strings)

Enter Label as No Outcome API Name will auto-populate.
Condition Requirements to Execute Outcome - All Conditions Are Met (AND)
Row 1

Resource - InputString
Operator - Does Not Equal
Value - Empty String (Not Null)

Row 2

Resource - InputString
Operator - Contains
Value - ,

Yes (If inputString is null/empty)

Enter Label as Yes Outcome API Name will auto-populate.
Condition Requirements to Execute Outcome - All Conditions Are Met (AND)
Row 1

Resource - InputString
Operator - Equals
Value - Empty String (Not Null)

Single Value (If InputString has a single string)

Enter Label as Single Value Outcome API Name will auto-populate.
Condition Requirements to Execute Outcome - Custom Condition Logic Is Met
Condition Logic - 1 AND NOT 2
Row 1

Resource - InputString
Operator - Does Not Equal
Value - Empty String (Not Null)

Row 2

Resource - InputString
Operator - Contains
Value - ,

Click Done.
Connect assignment element to decision element.

Decision element No as outcome

Decision element Yes as outcome

Decision element Single Value as outcome

Step 6:- Create Assignment Element

In this step, we will add InputString in StrinCollection and assign InputString as empty for Single Value outcome of the decision.

Under Toolbox, select Elements. Drag and drop Assignment onto the canvas.
Enter Label and API Name will auto-populate.
Set Variable Values as below.

Row 1

Variable - StringCollection
Operator - Add
Value - InputString

Row 2

Variable - InputString
Operator - Equals
Value - Empty String (Not Null)

Click Done.
Connect decision element to assignment element for Single Value outcome.
Connect back assignment element to decision element.

Assignment Add Single Value To Collection

Step 7:- Create Assignment Element

In this step, we will add the first element from InputString to StringCollection and remove that element to InputString for No outcome of decision.

Under Toolbox, select Elements. Drag and drop Assignment onto the canvas.
Enter Label and API Name will auto-populate.
Set Variable Values as below.

Row 1

Variable - StringCollection
Operator - Add
Value - GetFirstElementFromString

Row 2

Variable - InputString
Operator - Equals
Value - RemoveElementFromString

Click Done.
Connect decision element to assignment element for No outcome.
Connect back assignment element to decision element.

Assignment Add value to Collection

Step 8:- Create Screen Element

In this step, we will create a screen to see output.

Under Toolbox, select Elements. Drag and drop Screen onto the canvas.
Fill following Information on Screen Properties.

Enter Label the API Name will auto-populate.
under Components, select Input, Drag and drop Long Text Area onto the screen. fill the following details on Long Text Area.