Apex-Defined Data Types

Salesforce’s Summer ‘19 release notes announce a new feature for Flow variables called Apex-Defined Data Types. Apex-defined data Types let admins build complex Flow variables that group information together, much like a Contact record-typed variable can have first & last properties within it.

See how this makes an admin’s life easier, particularly when using Invocable Apex in Flows. Then, see how it makes a developer’s life easier when the Invocable Apex does HTTP callouts to 3rd-party APIs, letting admins include the funniest cat pictures the internet offers in their Screen Flows. Everybody wins!

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What is Apex-Defined Data Types?

With the Apex-defined data type, flows can manipulate the kinds of complex data objects that are typically returned from calls to web services. Create Apex-defined variables in flows and directly process JSON returned from web calls.

Summary

A developer can define an Apex class to serve as a pattern for automatic conversion from web to a flow, allowing full manipulation of the resulting objects to be carried out in flows using declarative approaches and no additional code. Apex-defined resources are useful for connecting flows to rich external web objects accessed via Mulesoft and REST calls. If a data type is not supported, flows can pass the value to a Lightning component and you can use Apex to operate on it.

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