Generate a Visualforce Page from an Existing Page Layout

February 9th, 2009

We have a rather large Org with 600+ Page Layouts. When Visualforce came out we had a number of requests from our business units for customized layouts. After about 3 weeks of hand-coding Visualforce pages I soon realized I needed a better way to communicate these change as well as manage the code modifications. Being that I am relatively lazy by nature, I decided that I needed to develop a way to make my computer do the work that I didn’t want to do.

Generate Visualforce Pages

The C# code that I wrote utilizes the Metadata API and inspects the Page Layout for a specified Object and Recordtype and generates similar Visualforce code that you can paste into the Force.com IDE. Is it perfect? No. Could it have been done better? Yes. Does it save me time, money and aggravation? Most certainly!

It also saves me time during the change management process. Now when a BA or Project Manager modifies an existing Page Layout that I have used for a Visualforce page, I don’t need documentation on what fields have changed, I just point my handy-dandy generator at the Page Layout and regenerate the code.

Default.aspx

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<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="Visualforce_Scaffolding._Default" %>
 
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
 
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head runat="server">
	<title>Visualforce Scaffolding Generator</title>
	<style type="text/css">
	.style1
	{
	    height: 25px;
	}
	</style>
</head>
<body>
	<form id="form1" runat="server">
<div>
<h1>Visualforce Scaffolding Generator</h1>
<asp:Label ID="Label3" runat="server" Text="This page generates the Visualforce code for a specific object and recordtye. The code inspects the page layout for the recordtype and creates a very similar replica of the sections and field layouts as Visualforce code. You can then take this code and paste it into a Visualforce page with minimal changes."/>
<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
<tr>
<td><asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Text="Object"></asp:Label></td>
<td><asp:TextBox ID="txtObject" runat="server" Width="200px">Account</asp:TextBox></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><asp:Label ID="Label2" runat="server" Text="RecordType ID"></asp:Label></td>
<td><asp:TextBox ID="txtRecordTypeId" runat="server" Width="200px">01260000000Dxxx</asp:TextBox></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="style1">Page Type</td>
<td class="style1">
				<asp:DropDownList ID="ddlMode" runat="server">
				<asp:ListItem Value="Edit">New/Edit</asp:ListItem>
				<asp:ListItem>Display</asp:ListItem>
				</asp:DropDownList></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Generate Code" onclick="Button1_Click" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<asp:Literal ID="Code" runat="server"></asp:Literal>
 
	</form>
</body>
</html>

Here is the code behind for Default.aspx.cs

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using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Xml.Linq;
using Visualforce_Scaffolding.sforce;
 
namespace Visualforce_Scaffolding
{
    public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
 
        private string username;
        private string password;
        private string sessionId;
        private string serverUrl;
        private SforceService proxy;
 
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            proxy = new sforce.SforceService();
            if (Request.QueryString["sessionId"] != null)
            {
                sessionId = Request.QueryString["sessionId"].ToString();
                serverUrl = Request.QueryString["url"].ToString();
            }
            else
            {
                // hardcode the u/p for development
                username = "YOUR_USERNAME";
                password = "YOUR_PASSWORD";
            }
        }
 
        private void output(string s, int tabs)
        {
            // fix some characters for html output
            s = s.Replace("<", "&#60");
            s = s.Replace(">", "&#62");
 
            for (int j = 0; j < tabs; j++)
            {
                Code.Text = Code.Text + ("&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;");
                //Response.Write("&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;");
            }
 
            Code.Text = Code.Text + (s);
            Code.Text = Code.Text + ("[br]");
        }
 
        public void generateDisplayPageLayout(string objectToDescribe, string recordType)
        {
            output("<apex:page standardController=\"" + txtObject.Text + "\">", 0);
            output("<apex:sectionHeader title=\"" + txtObject.Text + "\" subtitle=\"{!" + txtObject.Text.ToLower() + ".name}\"/>", 1);
            output("<apex:pageBlock title=\"" + txtObject.Text + "\">", 1);
 
            try
            {
                sforce.DescribeLayoutResult dlr = proxy.describeLayout(objectToDescribe, new string[] { recordType });
 
                // get all of the fields that are in this layout
                for (int i = 0; i < dlr.layouts.Length; i++)
                {
                    sforce.DescribeLayout layout = dlr.layouts[i];
                    if (layout.editLayoutSections != null)
                    {
                        for (int j = 0; j < layout.editLayoutSections.Length; j++)
                        {
                            sforce.DescribeLayoutSection els = layout.editLayoutSections[j];
 
                            output("", 2);
                            output("<apex:pageBlockSection title=\"" + els.heading + "\" columns=\"" + els.columns + "\">", 2);
 
                            for (int k = 0; k < els.layoutRows.Length; k++)
                            {
                                sforce.DescribeLayoutRow lr = els.layoutRows[k];
                                for (int h = 0; h < lr.layoutItems.Length; h++)
                                {
                                    sforce.DescribeLayoutItem li = lr.layoutItems[h];
                                    if (li.layoutComponents != null)
                                    {
                                        output("<apex:outputField title=\"" + li.label + "\" value=\"{!" + txtObject.Text.ToLower() + "." + li.layoutComponents[0].value + "}\"/>", 3);
                                        //Response.Write(" " + h + " " + li.layoutComponents[0].value + "(editable: " + li.editable + ") label: " + li.label + " required: " + li.required + "[br]");
                                    }
 
                                }
                            }
 
                            output("</apex:pageBlockSection>", 2);
 
                        }
                    }
                }
 
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Response.Write("An exceptions was caught: " + e.Message + "[br]");
            }
 
            output("</apex:pageBlock>", 1);
            output("</apex:page>", 0);
 
        }
 
        public void generateEditPageLayout(string objectToDescribe, string recordType)
        {
            output("<apex:page standardController=\"" + txtObject.Text + "\">", 0);
            output("<apex:sectionHeader title=\"" + txtObject.Text + " Edit\" subtitle=\"{!" + txtObject.Text.ToLower() + ".name}\"/>", 1);
            output("<apex:form>", 1);
            output("<apex:pageBlock title=\"" + txtObject.Text + " Edit\" mode=\"edit\">", 1);
 
            output("", 2);
 
            output("<apex:pageBlockButtons location=\"top\">", 2);
            output("<apex:commandButton value=\"Save\" action=\"{!save}\" />", 3);
            output("<apex:commandButton value=\"Save & New\" action=\"{!save}\" />", 3);
            output("<apex:commandButton value=\"Cancel\" action=\"{!cancel}\" />", 3);
            output("</apex:pageBlockButtons>", 2);
 
            output("<apex:pageBlockButtons location=\"bottom\">", 2);
            output("<apex:commandButton value=\"Save\" action=\"{!save}\" />", 3);
            output("<apex:commandButton value=\"Save & New\" action=\"{!save}\" />", 3);
            output("<apex:commandButton value=\"Cancel\" action=\"{!cancel}\" />", 3);
            output("</apex:pageBlockButtons>", 2);
 
            try
            {
                sforce.DescribeLayoutResult dlr = proxy.describeLayout(objectToDescribe, new string[] { recordType });
 
                // get all of the fields that are in this layout
                for (int i = 0; i < dlr.layouts.Length; i++)
                {
                    sforce.DescribeLayout layout = dlr.layouts[i];
                    if (layout.editLayoutSections != null)
                    {
                        for (int j = 0; j < layout.editLayoutSections.Length; j++)
                        {
                            sforce.DescribeLayoutSection els = layout.editLayoutSections[j];
 
                            output("", 2);
                            output("<apex:pageBlockSection title=\"" + els.heading + "\" columns=\"" + els.columns + "\">", 2);
 
                            for (int k = 0; k < els.layoutRows.Length; k++)
                            {
                                sforce.DescribeLayoutRow lr = els.layoutRows[k];
                                for (int h = 0; h < lr.layoutItems.Length; h++)
                                {
                                    sforce.DescribeLayoutItem li = lr.layoutItems[h];
                                    if (li.layoutComponents != null)
                                    {
                                        output("<apex:inputField value=\"{!" + txtObject.Text.ToLower() + "." + li.layoutComponents[0].value + "}\" required=\"" + li.required.ToString().ToLower() + "\"/>", 3);
                                        //Response.Write(" " + h + " " + li.layoutComponents[0].value + "(editable: " + li.editable + ") label: " + li.label + " required: " + li.required + "[br]");
                                    }
 
                                }
                            }
 
                            output("</apex:pageBlockSection>", 2);
 
                        }
                    }
                }
 
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Response.Write("An exceptions was caught: " + e.Message + "[br]");
            }
 
            output("</apex:pageBlock>", 1);
            output("</apex:form>", 1);
            output("</apex:page>", 0);
 
        }
 
        public bool login()
        {
 
            // use the existing session from the org
            if (sessionId != null)
            {
 
                try
                {
                    Response.Write("Using existing session[br]");
                    proxy.Url = serverUrl;
                    proxy.SessionHeaderValue = new sforce.SessionHeader();
                    proxy.SessionHeaderValue.sessionId = sessionId;
 
                    GetUserInfoResult userInfo = proxy.getUserInfo();
                    Response.Write("Logged in as " + userInfo.userFullName + " - " + userInfo.userName + "<hr />");
 
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    Response.Write("Error logging in with session: " + ex.Message + "[br]");
                    return false;
                }
 
                return true;
 
            }
            else
            {
 
                // this is for development
                Response.Write("Logging in with u/p[br]");
                sforce.LoginResult lr = proxy.login(username, password);
                if (!lr.passwordExpired)
                {
                    // Reset the SOAP endpoint to the returned server URL
                    proxy.Url = lr.serverUrl;
                    // Create a new session header object and add the session ID returned from the login
                    proxy.SessionHeaderValue = new sforce.SessionHeader();
                    proxy.SessionHeaderValue.sessionId = lr.sessionId;
 
                    GetUserInfoResult userInfo = lr.userInfo;
                    Response.Write("Logged in as " + userInfo.userFullName + " - " + userInfo.userName + "<hr />");
                }
                else
                {
                    Response.Write("Your password is expired.[br]");
                    return false;
                }
                return true;
            }
        }
 
        protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Code.Text = "";
            if (login())
            {
                Code.Text = Code.Text + "<hr />";
                if (ddlMode.Text == "Edit")
                {
                    generateEditPageLayout(txtObject.Text, txtRecordTypeId.Text);
                }
                else
                {
                    generateDisplayPageLayout(txtObject.Text, txtRecordTypeId.Text);
                }
            }
        }
 
    }
}
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Categories: .NET, Code Sample, Salesforce

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Comments Feed10 Comments

  1. John Coppedge February 10th, 2009

    That’s pretty cool Jeff. I may have to copy/paste this bad boy down the line. Hopefully as VF matures they’ll include this sort of functionality out of the box.

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  2. RM February 18th, 2009

    Nice tool Jeff. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Mario C February 27th, 2009

    Looks like this might come in REALLY handy for me. I tried it, but got the following Parser Error- Could not load type ‘Visualforce_Scaffolding._Default’.
    Am I missing something?

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  4. Doug March 20th, 2009

    Looks great but I am getting the same issue as Mario C.

    I am not a .net developer but I kind of think “using Visualforce_Scaffolding.sforce” means we need a file we don’t have.

    Any one have any luck getting this to run?

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  5. jeffdonthemic March 24th, 2009

    Mario, “sforce” is the name of the web reference that is created when you import the Saleforce.com WSDL into Visual Studio. I’m sure there are a number of tutorials for Visual Studio but here is one that may get you started… http://wiki.developerforce.com/index.php/Force.com_for_ASP.NET_Developers.

    Good luck!

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  6. Krishna April 30th, 2009

    I am finding the same issue even after adding the API in visual studio. Which API should be shared

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  7. osama January 12th, 2010

    Simply Amazing!

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  8. Ryan March 10th, 2010

    We purchased EasyPage to do this. It’s an AppExchange program that costs $250 a year for unlimited users and usage. Soooo glad we did.

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  9. Mohammad Swaleh August 5th, 2010

    Hi Jeff, I had seen this post of yours long ago and I thought of doing this using AJAX toolkit. Thought you’d like it :)
    http://forcecrazy.blogspot.com/2010/08/creating-visualforce-page-code-against.html

    Thanks.

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  10. Joey Chan August 19th, 2010

    I just found this Free AppExchange application that does the same thing. Not sure if does any better though.

    Etherios EasyPage – Visualforce Page Generator
    http://sites.force.com/appexchange/listingDetail?listingId=a0N300000016kP8EAI

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