Salesforce Platform Developer-I Interview Questions

Well, preparing for the exam interview is equally important as preparing for the exam because it is the last step towards achieving what you want. Talking about the Salesforce Platform Developer-I exam interview, you must know that you not only require technical expertise in the field but also the confidence and ability to portray the answers well. Hence, we have brought for you the set of frequent and the best possible Salesforce Platform Developer-I Interview Questions and answers that will help you understand the way of answering the questions and prepare well for the interview. Before that, let’s take a brief about the roles and responsibilities of a platform developer.

The Salesforce Platform Developer-I exam is designed for candidates who possess knowledge, abilities, skills, and experience in building custom applications on the Lightning Platform. After the completion of this certification exam, the candidate will be able to develop custom business logic and interfaces to extend Salesforce using Apex, Visualforce, and basic Lightning Components.

The best part of this exam is that the candidate is not expected to administer any standard Salesforce applications, develop mobile apps, develop and publish managed products on the AppExchange, perform tuning, or design integrations such as callouts, APIs, and email services.

Now, let’s start with the Salesforce Platform Developer-I Interview Questions.

Advanced Interview Questions

Can you explain the differences between a custom object and a standard object in Salesforce?

In Salesforce, a standard object is a pre-built object that is provided by Salesforce out of the box, such as Accounts, Contacts, and Opportunities. These objects have a predefined set of fields and behaviors and can be customized to a certain extent to fit the needs of the organization.

A custom object, on the other hand, is a user-defined object created to store information specific to an organization. Custom objects do not come with predefined fields or behaviors and need to be fully configured by the user. Custom objects can be related to other objects in the system, such as standard objects or other custom objects, and can also be used to create custom tabs and custom apps.

How do you create a custom object in Salesforce?

A custom object in Salesforce is a user-defined data type that can be used to store information specific to an organization. It can be used to store data that is not already captured in the standard Salesforce objects, such as Accounts, Contacts, and Opportunities. Custom objects can have their own fields, relationships, and data validation rules. They can also be used to create custom tabs, reports, and dashboards. Custom objects can be created to store data such as products, events, or any other data that is specific to an organization. Custom objects are created in the Salesforce Setup menu and can be accessed and managed in the Salesforce App.

To create a custom object in Salesforce, you can follow these steps:

Go to the Setup menu in Salesforce.
Under the Build section, click on Create > Objects.
Click on the New Custom Object button.
Fill in the required information, such as the object’s label and plural label.
Define the object’s properties, such as fields and relationships.
Click on the Save button to create the object.

You can also create a custom object using the Salesforce CLI.

Note: you need appropriate permissions to create a custom object in Salesforce.

Can you describe the process of creating a custom field in Salesforce?

To create a custom field in Salesforce, you can follow these steps:

Go to the Setup menu and navigate to the Object Manager.
Select the object for which you want to create the custom field.
Click on the Fields & Relationships option and then select the New button.
Select the data type for the field, such as text, number, date, or picklist.
Enter a field label and name for the field. The field label is the name that will be displayed on the user interface, while the field name is the unique identifier used in Apex code and formulas.
(Optional) Select the field-level security, page layout, and record type visibility.
(Optional) Add field-level help text and default value
Click on the Save button to create the custom field.
After creating the custom field, it will be available for use in the selected object’s page layouts, record types, and list views.
(Optional) You can also add the custom field to a custom report type or a custom report or a custom list view.

Note: some custom fields may have additional options available depending on the data type selected, and some steps may be different or not required depending on your organization’s Salesforce configuration.

How do you troubleshoot and resolve issues related to Apex code in Salesforce?

Troubleshooting and resolving issues related to Apex code in Salesforce can be a complex process, but some common steps that can be taken to resolve issues are:

Reviewing the debug logs: Apex code can generate debug logs that provide information about the code execution, including any errors or exceptions that occurred. Reviewing the debug logs can help identify the cause of the issue and provide clues for resolving it.
Using the System. debug statement: Inserting the System. debug statement in your code can help to see the intermediate values and flow of the code, which can be very helpful in identifying the issue.
Using the Developer Console: The Developer Console provides a set of tools for debugging Apex code, including the ability to execute anonymous Apex code, view debug logs, and check the limits for Apex code execution.
Checking the Apex Code execution limits: Apex code execution can be limited by the number of records that can be processed, the number of database calls, and the amount of heap size used. Checking the Apex Code execution limits can help identify if the issue is related to reaching one of these limits.
Reviewing the Apex code: Reviewing the Apex code itself can also help to identify any issues, such as syntax errors, incorrect variable references, or missing dependencies.
Checking the Salesforce documentation: The Salesforce documentation provides a wealth of information on Apex and other Salesforce features, including troubleshooting guides and best practices.
Seeking help from the Salesforce community: The Salesforce community is a valuable resource for troubleshooting Apex code issues. Salesforce developers can ask questions, share information and best practices, and find solutions to common issues.

It’s important to note that these are just general steps and that depending on the complexity of the issue, different techniques may be required.

Can you explain the process of creating a validation rule in Salesforce?

Yes, creating a validation rule in Salesforce is a process that can be done through the Setup menu. Here are the steps to create a validation rule:

Go to the Setup menu in Salesforce.
Under the Build section, click on Create > Objects.
Select the object for which you want to create the validation rule.
Click on the Validation Rules button.
Click on the New button to create a new validation rule.
Fill in the required information, such as the validation rule’s name and the error message that will be displayed when the rule is violated.
Define the rule’s criteria using Salesforce’s formula language, using fields and operators.
Specify when the rule should be triggered, such as when a record is created or edited.
Click on the Save button to create the validation rule.

You can also use the Salesforce CLI to create a validation rule.

Validation rules are used to ensure that the data entered into a Salesforce object is accurate and complete. They can be used to enforce business rules, such as ensuring that a phone number is entered in the correct format or that a date is in the future. Validation rules can be applied to specific fields or to the entire object and can be set to fire when a record is created or modified.

It’s important to keep in mind that if you create a validation rule that prevents users from saving records, you should also provide them with a way to bypass the validation rule.

How would you go about creating a many-to-many relationship between objects in Salesforce?

Creating a many-to-many relationship between objects in Salesforce can be accomplished by using a junction object. A junction object is a custom object that has two master-detail relationships to the objects that you want to relate to one another.

Here are the general steps to create a many-to-many relationship between objects in Salesforce:

Create a new custom object in Salesforce. This will be the junction object that will be used to connect the two objects you want to relate to one another.
Add two master-detail relationships to the junction object. One master-detail relationship should point to the first object you want to relate to, and the other master-detail relationship should point to the second object you want to relate to.
Give the junction object a name that describes the relationship between the objects. For example, if you are relating Accounts and Opportunities, you might call the junction object “AccountOpportunity”
Create the necessary fields on the junction object to store any additional information you want to capture about the relationship.
Create the necessary Page Layouts and List Views to view the related records on the junction object
Add the necessary logic to your Apex code to handle the creation and deletion of records on the junction object when records are created or deleted on the related objects.
Test the relationship by creating new records and verifying that the related records are properly connected to the junction object.

It’s important to note that creating a many-to-many relationship between objects can cause performance issues if not handled properly. If you expect a large number of related records, it’s advisable to consider other alternatives, such as a custom junction object with a roll-up summary field or a many-to-many relationship using a custom setting.

Can you explain how to use Apex triggers in Salesforce?

Apex triggers in Salesforce are a way to automate certain actions that are performed in response to specific events, such as when a record is created, updated, or deleted. Apex triggers are written in Apex, which is a proprietary programming language provided by Salesforce. Here are the steps to create an Apex trigger in Salesforce:

Go to the Setup menu in Salesforce.
Under the Develop section, click on Apex Classes.
Click on the New button to create a new Apex class.
Select the “Apex Trigger” option from the class type dropdown.
Define the trigger’s event, such as “before insert” or “after update”.
Define the trigger’s context, such as the object that the trigger applies to.
Write the trigger logic using Apex code, which is executed when the trigger’s event and context are met.
Save the trigger class

You can also use the Salesforce CLI to create Apex triggers.

Apex triggers can be used to perform a wide range of actions, such as updating related records, sending email notifications, and enforcing complex business logic. They can be used to update fields, perform calculations, and manipulate data in various ways. Additionally, Apex triggers can be used to call Apex methods, which are reusable blocks of code that can be used to perform specific actions.

It’s important to consider the governor limits when working with triggers, especially when you have a large number of records to process, you can use @future methods to avoid hitting the governor limits.

It’s important to have a good understanding of the Salesforce data model and Apex programming before working with Apex Triggers. It’s also important to thoroughly test your trigger code before deploying it to your production environment.

How do you manage security and access to custom objects and fields in Salesforce?

Managing security and access to custom objects and fields in Salesforce can be done through a combination of user profiles, permission sets, and field-level security.

User Profiles: User profiles determine the level of access that a user has to the standard and custom objects and fields in Salesforce. Each user is assigned to a profile, which defines the level of access that the user has to the data and functionality in Salesforce. You can create new profiles or edit existing profiles to provide access to custom objects and fields.
Permission Sets: Permission sets are used to grant additional access to users beyond what is defined in their profile. Permission sets can be used to grant access to custom objects and fields without having to create a new profile.
Field-level Security: Field-level security allows you to restrict access to specific fields on a custom object for certain profiles or permission sets. This can be useful for sensitive data that should only be accessible to certain users.
Sharing Rules: Sharing rules can be used to grant access to specific records on a custom object to specific users or groups. This can be useful for data that needs to be shared with certain teams or departments but not others.
Organization-Wide Defaults (OWD): Organization-Wide Defaults (OWD) is a setting that determines the level of access that users have to records they do not own. You can set the OWD to a more restrictive setting for custom objects and fields to ensure that users only have access to the data they need.
Role Hierarchy: Role Hierarchy allows you to define a hierarchy of access to records for different roles within your organization. It allows you to create a chain of command where a user with a higher role in the hierarchy can access records owned by users with lower roles in the hierarchy.

It’s important to note that, when creating custom objects and fields, you should keep security and access in mind and make sure to set the appropriate level of access for different users and roles. Additionally, it is important to review the security settings regularly to ensure that they continue to meet the needs of your organization.

Can you explain how to use Salesforce’s web services API to integrate with external systems?

Salesforce’s web services API, also known as the Salesforce API, allows external systems to integrate with Salesforce by providing programmatic access to the data and functionality in Salesforce. Here are the general steps to use Salesforce’s web services API to integrate with an external system:

Enable the Salesforce API for your organization: To use the Salesforce API, you will need to enable it for your organization by going to the Setup menu and navigating to the “Integration” section.
Create a Connected App: A Connected App is a configuration that allows external systems to connect to Salesforce using the API. You can create a new Connected App by going to the Setup menu and navigating to the “App Manager” section.
Obtain an Access Token: To access the Salesforce API, you will need to obtain an access token using the OAuth 2.0 protocol. This can be done by making a request to the Salesforce OAuth 2.0 endpoint, passing in the necessary credentials (client_id, client_secret, and redirect_uri)
Use the Salesforce API: Once you have an access token, you can use the Salesforce API to perform various operations, such as creating, reading, updating, and deleting records, as well as querying the data in Salesforce. The Salesforce API supports several different protocols, including SOAP and REST, and can be accessed using various programming languages.
Test and Monitor the Integration: Once you have integrated the external system with Salesforce, it’s important to test the integration and monitor it for any issues. Salesforce provides monitoring tools that allow you to view the usage and performance of the API, as well as troubleshoot any issues that may occur.

It’s important to note that the Salesforce API has some limits and if you expect a high volume of requests, you may need to consider using additional integration patterns such as Bulk API or Streaming API depending on your use case. Additionally, the Salesforce API may have additional security requirements, such as IP whitelisting and user authentication, that must be met in order to access the data.

Can you describe your experience working with the Salesforce Lightning platform?

As a language model, I do not have personal experience, only the knowledge that was trained on. However, Salesforce Lightning is a platform for building enterprise apps that is built on top of Salesforce’s CRM. It is designed to be more user-friendly, customizable, and mobile-friendly than the traditional Salesforce platform. Salesforce Lightning platform provides a modern, web-based UI, the ability to create custom apps, and support for building responsive, mobile-friendly apps. It also offers a set of pre-built components that can be used to customize the platform and build custom apps quickly and easily.

The Lightning Component Framework is a UI framework for building web apps for mobile and desktop devices. It is based on web standards, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and provides a set of pre-built components that can be used to build custom apps. The Lightning platform also includes other tools such as the Lightning App Builder, which allows you to create custom apps using pre-built components, and the Lightning Flow Builder, which allows you to create custom business logic and automate processes.

In summary, the Salesforce Lightning platform provides an easy way to build enterprise apps and customize the Salesforce platform. It has a modern web-based UI, a set of pre-built components, and tools for building custom apps and automating processes. It’s a good option for organizations that want to build responsive, mobile-friendly apps and want to customize the Salesforce platform.

Basic Interview Questions

Q1. What do you mean by multitenancy?

Multitenancy is the basic technology used by clouds to share IT resources securely and cost-efficiently. A cloud uses the technology of multitenancy to share IT resources securely among multiple applications and tenants that use the cloud just like a bank wherein many tenants share a hidden, common infrastructure, cost-effective and yet utilize a defined set of highly secure services, with total privacy from other tenants. Some clouds make use of virtualization-based architectures to isolate tenants while some others use custom software architectures to get the job done.

Q2. What is Force.com?

Force.com is the leading cloud application development platform that is in use today that supports more than 100,000 organizations and 220,000 deployed apps. Various individual enterprises and commercial Software as a Service vendors trust the platform to deliver strong, reliable, and Internet-scale applications. In order to meet the high demands of its large user population, its foundation is a metadata-driven software architecture that enables multitenant applications.

Q3. Define Salesforce lightning.

Salesforce Lightning is inclusive of the Lightning Component Framework and some exciting tools for developers. It makes building responsive applications for any device much easier.

Q4. What do you know about the Lightning Usage App?

The Lightning Usage App allows you to monitor the adoption and usage of Lightning Experience in the organization, with metrics like daily active Lightning Experience users, the most visited pages in Lightning Experience. Also, the app lets you monitor login metrics in the company.

Q5. What are Aura components?

Aura components are the reusable and self-contained units of an app. They generally represent a reusable section of the UI and can range from a single line of text to an entire app in granularity.

Q6. Describe the Lightning component framework?

Well, the Lightning Component framework is a UI framework used for developing single-page applications for mobile and desktop devices. As of Spring ’19, we can build Lightning components using two programming models which are: the Lightning Web Components model and the original Aura Components model. Lightning web components are the custom HTML elements that are built using HTML and modern JavaScript. Moreover, Lightning web components and Aura components can coexist and interoperate on a page.

Q7. What is the full form of SLDS?

SLDS stands for Salesforce Lightning Design System.

Q8. What are the core design principles of Lightning Experience UI?

Lightning Experience UI has the following core design principles:

Clarity – Eliminates ambiguity. Enables people to see, understand, and then act with confidence.
Consistency – Creates familiarity and strengthens intuition by applying the same solution to the same problem.
Efficiency – Streamlines and optimizes workflows. Intelligently anticipates the need to help people work better, smarter, and faster.
Beauty – Demonstrates respect for people’s time and attention through thoughtful craftsmanship.

Q9. Explain the role of page layouts?

Page layouts are the point-and-click tools that let application developers organize buttons, fields, and related lists on record detail pages. Though they do not provide much flexibility in how sets of information are displayed. Fields should always appear above related lists, buttons should always appear above fields, and s-controls and custom links can only be placed in specific areas.

Q10. What do you know about Visualforce?

Visualforce is actually a framework that lets developers build sophisticated, custom user interfaces that can be hosted natively on the Lightning platform. The Visualforce framework consists of a tag-based markup language, similar to HTML, and a set of server-side standard controllers that make basic database operations like queries and saves, very easy to perform.

Q11. Mention the benefits of Visualforce.

Visualforce has the following benefits:

User-friendly development
Model-View-Controller style development
Integration with other Web-based user interface technologies
Concise syntax
Hosted platform
Data-driven defaults
Automatically upgradeable

Q12. What is a standard controller?

A Visualforce standard controller is a set of rules that specify what happens when a user interacts with the components specified in the associated Visualforce markup, like when a user clicks on a button or a link. Alongside, controllers provide access to the data that should be displayed on a page and can modify the behavior of components.

Q13. Give the full form of CRM.

Customer Relationship Management

Q14. What are the provisions of sales cloud?

The Sales Cloud provides you with everything that you need to manage your business. Generates the best leads, manages opportunities through sales pipleline and cultivates relationships with the exisiting accounts. Also, forecasts revenues, sets up sales territories, and organizes your reps into selling teams.

Q15. Define Chatter.

Chatter is a platform in collaboration with Salesforce that allows teams to talk effortlessly in real-time. It is like the social media platforms that we use in our personal lives but built for work.

Q16. What is the use of API client certificate?

The API client certificate finds its use by workflow outbound messages, delegated authentication HTTPS callouts, and the AJAX proxy. The API client certificate should be only known to the organization, for security purposes.

Q17. Define canvas?

Canvas is an outstanding way of building a composite app. For instance, we can embed an order page from an external system and have it share data with Salesforce.

Q18. What is the Salesforce Mobile app?

The Salesforce mobile app is ready-made for iOS and Android. Standard pages work on the Salesforce app. Custom Visualforce UI requires tweaks to make pages responsive. However, for the best user experiences on mobile devices, use Salesforce’s declarative tools to optimize mobile navigation, compact layouts, and actions for mobile users.

Q19. What are the types of reports?

There are two kinds of report types – standard report types and custom report types.

Q20. Define the custom report types?

Custom report types give access to customize objects in Salesforce, or the views of standard objects, which your administrator configures. For instance, your administrator can create a custom report type that provides access to Opportunities and related fields from Products. Thus, you can report on Opportunities for a given product.

Q21. What do you mean by Hierarchical relationships?

Hierarchical relationships are a special kind of lookup relationships that are available only for the user object. It allows the users to use a lookup field to associate one user with another that does not directly or indirectly refer to itself.

Q22. Define indirect lookup.

An indirect lookup relationship is meant to link a child’s external object to a parent standard or custom object. When we create an indirect lookup relationship field on an external object, we specify the parent object field and the child object field in order to match and associate records in the relationship. In particular, we select a custom unique, external ID field on the parent object to match with the child’s indirect lookup relationship field, the values of which come from an external data source.

Q23. What are lookup filters?

Lookup filters are basically the administrator settings that restrict and control the valid values and lookup dialog results for lookup, master-detail, and hierarchical relationship fields.

Q24. Explain the external object relationships.

External objects support the standard lookup relationships, that make use of 18-character Salesforce record IDs so as to associate related records with each other. Moreover, data that is stored outside a Salesforce organization often doesn’t contain those record IDs. So, two special types of lookup relationships are available for external objects that are external lookups and indirect lookups.

Q25. What does MFA stand for?

MFA stands for Multi-Factor Authentication

Q26. What is an app?

An app is basically a collection of items that work together for serving a specific function. The Salesforce apps come in two flavors: Classic and Lightning. So, the classic apps are created and managed in Salesforce Classic, and Lightning apps are created and managed in Lightning Experience. Moreover, we can customize both types of apps to match the way the users work.

Q28. What is a Subtab?

A subtab app is a collection of tabs which appear on the Chatter profile page. Moreover, a subtab app can consist of both default and custom tabs.

Q29. What is the purpose of Salesforce for Wealth Management?

Salesforce for Wealth Management is meant for wealth management professionals who usually advise high net worth clients. It helps in building deeper customer relationships, effectively support compliance processes and integrate key systems to drive user adoption.

Q30. What do you mean by Roll-up summary?

A roll-up summary field finds its use in calculating values from related records, like those in a related list. We can create a roll-up summary field so as to display a value in a master record based on the values of fields in a detailed record. Moreover, the detail record must be related to the master through a master-detail relationship.

Q31. What is the purpose of Salesforce sites?

Salesforce sites enable the creation of public websites and applications which are directly integrated with a Salesforce organization without requiring users to log in with a username and password. So, we can publicly expose any information stored in the organization through a branded URL of one’s own choice. Moreover, we can make the pages of the site match the look and feel of the company’s brand.

Q32. Define Site.com?

Site.com is a web content management system that makes it simpler to build dynamic, data-driven web pages fast, edit content in real-time, and also manage the websites.

Q33. Explain the use of Metadata API?

Well, metadata API is useful in deploying changes. We can retrieve, deploy, create, update, and delete customization information for organizations like Experience Cloud sites, custom object definitions, and page layouts. Hence, using Metadata API is ideal when the changes are complicated or when there is a need for a more rigorous change management process and an audit process for managing multiple workstreams.

Q34. Define Salesforce limit.

Salesforce limits the number of total and active rules in an organization, the number of time triggers, and the actions per rule. Moreover, it processes a limited number of daily emails and hourly time triggers.

Q35. What do you mean by workflow rule?

A workflow rule makes the workflow actions into motion when the designated conditions are met. So, one can configure workflow actions in order to execute immediately when a record meets the conditions in a workflow rule, or set time triggers that execute the workflow actions on a particular day. Moreover, if a workflow action isn’t executed yet, one can see and modify it in the workflow queue.

Q36. What is Apex?

Apex is a robustly typed, object-oriented programming language that lets developers execute flow and transaction control statements on the platform of Salesforce.

Q37. Explain the use of Quick Start?

The Quick Start offers Trailhead resources to learn core Aura components notions and a short tutorial that builds an Aura component to manage selected contacts in the Salesforce mobile app and Lightning Experience. Developer Console creates all the components. The tutorial uses various events to create or edit contact records, and view related cases.

Q38. What is Salesforce CLI?

The Salesforce CLI is a robust command line interface that simplifies the development and builds automation while working with a Salesforce organization.

Q39. What do you mean by an Apex class?

An Apex class is basically a template or a blueprint using which Apex creates the objects. Classes consist of various other classes, user-defined methods, exception types, variables, and static initialization code.

Q40. What is the meaning of test data?

Test data is basically set up inside the test method. This can be time-consuming as we add more test methods. If you have various test methods, then the put test-data creation in a test utility class and call the utility class from multiple test methods. The next unit shows you how to take advantage of a test utility class and add more test methods.