Salesforce static code analysis is an automated DevOps tool that provides real-time visibility into code health. Salesforce DevOps continues to grow in popularity, and this has led to some impressive innovations in tooling.
Why It Matters:
- Even the best developers make mistakes.
- It’s incredibly costly if one of these mistakes goes unnoticed through production and creates issues in a live environment.
- Salesforce’s development platform limitations lead to mistakes.
Here is what you need to know about Salesforce static code analysis:
- What Is Static Code Analysis?
- Why Do I Need Static Code Analysis?
- Benefits of Static Code Analysis
- What Is Covered by Salesforce Static Code Analysis?
- Impact on Team Members
- Data Security + Static Code Analysis
- Automation vs. Manual Processes
- ROI
- Does Static Code Analysis Work Well with Other DevOps Tools?
1. What Is Static Code Analysis?
It’s in your best interest to locate errors as soon as possible—before they snowball into larger issues. Static code analysis is an automated DevOps tool that scans the code your developers write in real time.
Static code analysis provides a high-level review of code health from the moment it’s written all the way through to production.
This enables developers to receive immediate alerts when an error is entered into the code repository. This valuable feature allows coders to rectify the coding mistake, reducing redundant work and improving ROI for each DevOps project.
Performing a static code analysis also helps find legacy bugs and errors that already exist within your system. This is what’s known as technical debt, which can lead to data security vulnerabilities, faulty operations, and a degradation of end-user experience.
2. Why Do I Need Static Code Analysis?
Coding errors are going to occur. Even the best developers make mistakes, which is why we need safeguards in place to ensure these errors don’t make it through production and cause issues in a live environment.
Static code analysis identifies errors and alerts your team so they can fix them in a timely, cost-efficient manner.
Incorporating multiple checkpoints throughout your Salesforce DevOps pipeline greatly diminishes the chances of a bug making it through deployment, impacting functionality, and potentially creating data security vulnerabilities.
Streamlining DevOps processes hinges on utilizing automation.
Fewer touchpoints translate to fewer errors, which allow a project to move forward instead of being constantly reworked. Static code analysis fits within a larger framework to support code quality and process improvement.
3. Benefits of Static Code Analysis
Implementing Salesforce static code analysis streamlines the code review process so you can increase release velocity, maintain consistently high levels of quality, and support your data security strategy.
Static code analysis improves the health of your code as well as the surrounding Salesforce environment as a whole.
Static code analysis can also find and flag technical debt that exists within your system. Technical debt consists of errors and bugs that were meant to be rectified after deployment, but still exist on your platform.
4. What Is Covered by Salesforce Static Code Analysis?
So by now, you know how your code is covered by this automated Salesforce DevOps tool. However, it actually goes beyond that to scan other areas of your system for potential errors, improper structures, and opportunities for improvement.
Static code analysis covers new and existing code along with Salesforce metadata to provide a complete snapshot of the health of your system.
Metadata exists in the background of your Salesforce environment, but needs to be protected just as rigorously as other types of data.
Complete code coverage is possible through addressing all Salesforce languages and metadata. It’s important for developers to work within a comfortable environment, so the best static code analysis tools also work with popular IDE plugins. If you write it in Salesforce, static code analysis can cover it.
5. Impact on Team Members
As with other types of automated DevOps tools, one of the greatest impacts Salesforce static code analysis has on team members is its ability to free them up to focus on more pressing matters. Testing and reviewing code updates is incredibly time-consuming when performed manually.
Not only does this repetition increase the chances of overlooking an error, but it also takes your team away from pressing forward with other aspects of the update.
Automating the code review process takes incredibly tedious tasks off your team members’ to-do lists. This leads to a better working experience and happier team members. Everyone wants to love their job. Offering the proper tools eliminates pain points and produces better products.
6. Data Security + Static Code Analysis
There are so many different threats to your system that it’s impossible to ensure you’re completely safe from data loss or corruption events. Cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Something as simple as a power outage can knock out protections. This is why it’s important to take every possible precaution and achieve the highest level of data security.
Bugs and errors in the code of updates and applications have the potential to create back doors for cybercriminals.
And if these coding errors result in improper functionality, they lead to other issues as well. Bugs that make it to a live environment have the potential to create vulnerabilities that allow access by cybercriminals, as well as misfires that can result in lost data. Salesforce static code analysis finds these errors before they create major data security risks.
7. Automation vs. Manual Processes
Manual processes are error-prone, slow, and incredibly repetitious tasks for your team members. And although most of us learned how to approach various DevOps processes manually, the ability to hand these requirements off to an automated tool offers a variety of benefits.
Static code analysis automates essential processes that would otherwise be a massive drag on employee productivity.
Automated processes free up your team members to focus on less repetitive aspects of the application development lifecycle. Stronger code is made possible when your team members aren’t rushing through various tasks to make sure everything gets done on time.
8. ROI
Every business needs to consider how much they’re spending against how much they’re bringing in. This is usually one of the first conversations that occur when a DevOps manager is considering a new tool. Will the tool offset the cost through streamlined operations? What do we gain by implementing this new tool?
Static code analysis offers a great return on your investment by using a multi-faceted approach to reduce costs on every DevOps project.
Incorporating speed into your processes goes a long way toward mitigating overhead costs, but only when it doesn’t come at the expense of quality. Static code analysis enables team members to confidently push new code through to production because they don’t have to worry about manual testing.
Another way static code analysis assists with ROI is by minimizing employee turnover, which also results in savings on training costs. Spending massive amounts of time reviewing thousands of lines of code is not a fun experience. Automating this process makes a much more enjoyable environment for your development and QA teams, which increases employee retention.
9. Does Static Code Analysis Work Well with Other DevOps Tools?
A successful Salesforce DevOps strategy often consists of a patchwork of various tools and processes. DevOps compiles the efforts of multiple departments working together simultaneously, which allows the platform to support various functionalities that get the job done.
CI/CD, data backup and recovery, and other automated release management tools work perfectly with static code analysis to provide complete coverage of the DevOps pipeline.
Incorporating a static code analysis is no longer optional for your development team. Its benefits are simply too vital to settle for a mediocre workaround. And competition is growing more fierce by the day in the world of software development, so you can’t afford to leave anything on the table.
Next Step…
Now that you understand the importance of static code analysis, learn more about choosing the right tool for your team.
Click here to read “What to Look for in a Salesforce Code Scanner.”