From Basics to Advanced: Salesforce Test Class Create User

Nov 26, 20234 min read

Are you new to Salesforce test classes or want to learn how the Salesforce test class create user? Well, your search ends here!

This blog will provide step-by-step instructions on how a Salesforce test class create users by exploring the world of Salesforce test classes and their importance in the context of user creation within the Salesforce ecosystem.

We'll start by giving a brief overview of what Salesforce test classes are, shedding light on their significant role in ensuring the reliability and functionality of custom code and applications. Additionally, we'll dive into the essentiality of user creation in Salesforce, highlighting how it supports various business processes and system operations.

So, wasting another moment, let’s begin!

An Overview: “Salesforce Test Classes”

The salesforce test class is a piece of code that estimates the functionality or performance of another piece of code, like an Apex class, web service, or trigger. These test classes are in Apex language and play an essential role in ensuring that the code created by developers functions as intended before you deploy it in a production environment.

In addition, test classes don’t count in the code coverage calculation until they are approved for deployment by the Salesforce Administrator in the final production stage.

Besides, Salesforce test classes help achieve approximately 75 percent code coverage, meaning they handle a significant portion of the testing process independently. This process works like Python testing, where a just-in-time compiler tests the code during the testing phase. It ensures the code meets the desired functionality standards before it goes live.

What is a User in Salesforce?

What exactly do we mean by a "user"?

A ‘User’ is any individual who logs into Salesforce. These users are typically employees at your company, like sales representatives, IT specialists, and managers, who require access to your company's data and information.

In Salesforce, each user has a user account. This user account serves to identify the individual user, and its settings determine what data and features the user can access. At a minimum, each user account includes the following essential elements:

Username
User's First Name (optional) and User's Last Name
Email Address
Nickname
Alias
License
Profile
Role (optional)

Apart from this, if you want to manage, view, or add the users, follow the steps below:

Go to ‘Setup’ and enter ‘Users’ in the ‘Quick Find box.’ Now, select ‘Users.’ (The user list will show you all the users in the organization. From that list, you can manage and view details like creating one or more users, resetting selected users' passwords, looking at any user’s detail page by choosing the name, username, or alias, editing a user's details, and logging in to any user account if the permission system is active, or if the user has permitted you to log in as a system administrator.)
From the ‘Users’ list, click the ‘New User’ option to add one user or select the ‘Add Multiple Users’ option to add more (up to 10) users at a time.
Enter the user name, unique username, and email address in the format of an email address. Usually, the username matches the email address, but you have the flexibility to overwrite it.
Now, choose the user license you wish to link with your created users (this license determines the profile availability for each user.)
Choose a profile.
Click ‘Generate passwords’ and ‘Notify the user via email’ to email each new user a login name & temporary password.
Click ‘Save.’

How to Create Users in the Salesforce Test Class?

Making the users within the test class is critical because you should always unit test your apex code with ‘runAs’ methods in your test class.

So, let’s explore how to create users in the Salesforce below:

1. Required Parameters for Users

When you want to make new records for any object within Salesforce (like accounts, contacts, opportunities, etc.), you should ensure that you've filled in all the necessary information in those fields. This information can be required at two levels:

Field Level (In field level, Salesforce won't allow you to save a record without filling in the required data according to the field's configuration.)
Validation Rules (Validation rules in Salesforce are custom-defined rules that ensure the data entered into your Salesforce records meets specific criteria or conditions.)

2. Create Utility Class

In your projects, there’ll be many situations where you need to use a method called "runAs" to test how different functions work. Therefore, you should create a utility class to make this process easier and more organized. This class has reusable methods to carry out these critical tasks.

3. Create Users in the Test Class

After creating the utility class, use the below image method inside the utility class:

The above method takes four parameters:

roleId (if Applicable, otherwise pass blank string)
profileId (it is Mandatory to pass)
firstName (FirstName of the User)
lastName (LastName of the User)

FAQs

1. What are some best practices for creating test classes in Salesforce?

To ensure that your code functions as expected, implement the following best practices:

System.assert() statements
Test.startTest() and Test.stopTest() methods
Test Data Factory Methods
The @testSetup annotation
The @isTest(SeeAllData=false) parameter
The @testVisible annotation
Test.setFixedSearchResults() method
SeeAllData parameter
Test.loadData() method
Test.createStub() method, and run the tests regularly.

2. How can I identify users within Salesforce?

Go to ‘Setup’ and search for ‘Users’ in the ‘Quick Find box,’ then click ‘Users.’ Here, you can view the users' details pages by clicking on any user name, username, or alias. Further, if your organization has Google Apps enabled, you can export users to Google and create ‘Google Apps’ accounts by selecting 'Export to Google Apps'

3. Are users visible in Salesforce test classes?

By default, a Salesforce organization's data isn’t visible to the test classes, which means the test class needs to create its data. However, you can modify this behavior by annotating a test method or test class with the '@isTest(SeeAllData=true)' annotation. It grants the test class access to the entire organization's data.

Wrap Up

I hope this information helps you. Feel free to explore our other resources, and don’t hesitate to contact us for any specific guidance you may require.

Check out our other article: ‘Salesforce Test Class for Invocable Method – Everything You Need to Know.’