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JerryHJerryH 

Does My Apex Page Need An Apex Tab?

I'm in the final stages of developing a SalesForce plugin, but I can't figure out how the end user would get to my Apex Page if I don't wrap the page in an Apex Tab.

 

My assumption (possibly incorrect, since I can't find anything that addresses this topic) is that something magical occurs when a plugin is packaged and made available in the AppExchange -- by "magical" I mean that any user who installs my plugin will suddenly "see" a new tab (?) or something (?) after the installation, and they'll be able to click on this thing (whatever it is) to display my Apex Page.

 

Is this actually the case?  Is some sort of "here's the application / plugin you've just installed" tab (or something?), or do I need to add some Apex Tab code to my Apex Page, or do I need to do something else entirely to give the user some sort of clue about how to access the plugin they've just installed?

 

Clues and tips gratefully accepted, URL's to existing SalesForce PDF's (unless you can explicitly provide the relevant quote from said PDF in your reply) not appreciated.  I've downloaded and read dozens of SalesForce PDF's, and done all sorts of Google and other searches of the internet, and I'm not finding an answer to this question.  So any replies consisting of just the comment "read this PDF" will be ignored.

 

Thanks!

 

Jerry H.

 

Best Answer chosen by Admin (Salesforce Developers) 
cgosscgoss

Your subscribers (installers/customers) will not "magically" see your new page(s). You'll have to give them a button, link, tab, action override or some other way of hitting the page for them to see it. The packaging process simply "copies" certain parts of your application out to the Appexchange, then "pastes" them in to the subscriber org. If anything, some magic is removed as some things are not packageable.

 

If you choose to go the tab route, you'll either have to create an "App" for your tab to live in (top right hand corner drop-down) or have the installer add your tab to an existing app of theirs.

All Answers

cgosscgoss

Your subscribers (installers/customers) will not "magically" see your new page(s). You'll have to give them a button, link, tab, action override or some other way of hitting the page for them to see it. The packaging process simply "copies" certain parts of your application out to the Appexchange, then "pastes" them in to the subscriber org. If anything, some magic is removed as some things are not packageable.

 

If you choose to go the tab route, you'll either have to create an "App" for your tab to live in (top right hand corner drop-down) or have the installer add your tab to an existing app of theirs.

This was selected as the best answer
JerryHJerryH

> The packaging process [...] "copies" [...] then "pastes" them in to the subscriber org

 

Ah-HA!  That's exactly what I was trying to figure out!  Thank you!

 

So I arrange everything in my developer account the way I want them to appear in a subscriber's account, then I package all of the relevant SalesForce bits (in my case it would be an Application > Tab > Apex Page (configuration) > supporting Apex Classes for the plugin) and AppExchange "pastes" all of the bits included in the package into the target of the installation.

 

The whole copy / paste analogy is exactly what I needed to point me in the right direction.  Much appreciated!

 

Jerry H.