Salesforce Platform Events enable seamless communication between applications, driving real-time updates, integrations and notifications in real time. When used improperly or excessively however, Platform Events may lead to unexpected issues that affect scalability, performance and reliability of an event-driven architecture. In this article we will introduce Platform Event Traps (PETs) and show how you can avoid common traps so your event-driven architecture runs seamlessly.
What Are Platform Event Traps (PETs)?
Platform Event Traps (PETs) refer to unanticipated design flaws or misconfigurations that hinder the performance and effectiveness of Platform Events within Salesforce, leading to issues like data loss, scaling difficulties and inconsistent system behaviors. Common Consequences of PETs
- Data Loss: Improper configuration of event subscribers poses the threat of losing critical event data.
- Scalability Issues: Poor event handling can create bottlenecks in high-volume situations, slowing the processing and leading to bottlenecks that result in reduced efficiency and high costs for businesses.
- Governance Limits: Failing to comply with Salesforce’s governor limits may lead to errors in event delivery.
- Unexpected Production Behaviors: Without extensive testing, platform events might not perform as anticipated in production environments.
Salesforce Platform Events
Provide applications with an asynchronous way of communicating, decoupling systems for improved performance and real-time integration. Recognizing their core features is key for effectively employing them:
- Real-Time Integration: Events can be consumed instantly across systems for real-time updates without manual intervention.
- Salesforce: can easily handle high event traffic loads, making it suitable for running complex business processes with high volumes.
- Loose Coupling: Platform Events serve to reduce interdependencies among systems, offering flexibility and improved manageability.
Common Platform Event Traps (PETs) and How to Avoid Them
1. Overusing Platform Events for Synchronous Use Cases
One of the most frequent mistakes developers make when using Platform Events for real-time UI updates or immediate user feedback scenarios is overusing them for synchronous use cases; though they might seem intuitively appropriate in these instances, Platform Events were designed for use only during asynchronous interactions.
Solution:
For decoupled background processes, platform events should be used exclusively. To provide real-time user feedback in real time, consider other features like Apex triggers or Lightning Messaging Services that have been specifically designed to handle synchronous interactions efficiently while avoiding delays related to event-based systems.
2. Ignoring Event Ordering and Delivery Guarantees
Another potential pitfall lies in presuming events will arrive sequentially or only once; in reality, Platform Events could arrive out-of-order or multiple times under certain conditions, particularly for high volume scenarios.
Solution:
Implement idempotent event handling to ensure its result remains unchanged no matter how often an event is processed. Use replay IDs or external keys to ensure events are processed only once and in their correct sequence.
3. Failing to Consider Volume and Governor Limits
Salesforce implements strict governor limits in order to ensure equitable usage of resources on its platform, but developers often forget about these constraints, especially when working with high-volume Platform Events, leading to errors and reduced performance.
Solution:
For optimal event usage and delivery, tools like the Event Monitoring Tool must be regularly employed. Adopt strategies to ensure events stay within their allowed limits, such as using High Volume Platform Events (HVPEs) for large scale event traffic; HVPEs have been specifically created to handle such volumes with seamless delivery.
4. Testing Only in Developer Edition
Testing in an isolated Developer Edition environment may be deceiving, since its size and complexity do not reflect that of an enterprise-scale production system.
Solution:
Whilst testing Platform Event implementation in full or partial copy sandboxes that mimic your production environment will enable you to identify any issues related to data volume, integration patterns or third-party system interactions before going live.
5. Failing to Secure Event Subscribers Properly
Some developers may neglect the importance of properly authenticating external subscribers for Platform Events when setting them up externally, leaving the event data vulnerable to unauthorized access. Without authentication protocols in place, any sensitive event data could become open for access by third-parties.
Solution: Protect event subscribers using OAuth scopes, Named Credentials and filtering logic. This ensures only authorized systems can subscribe and consume events.
Following these best practices for optimizing Platform
Event Implementations can help optimize Platform Event configurations and avoid potential pitfalls:
1. Plan for Asynchronous Processing
Always design your system assuming Platform Events will be processed asynchronously; this ensures your systems can handle delayed event processing without interrupting other operations.
2. Take Advantage of High Volume Platform Events (HVPE)
For high-volume use cases, consider making use of High Volume Platform Events (HVPE). Specifically designed to handle increased event traffic without impacting performance, HVPEs provide the perfect solution.
3. Utilize Idempotent Logic
Implementing Idempotent logic ensures that events are handled safely without unintended side effects if received multiple times, protecting your system from duplicate events and any unintentional results. By employing this form of event processing, you protect against duplicated responses as well as unintended outcomes.
4. Monitor Limits and Usage Regularly
To stay within defined event usage limits and adjust accordingly as necessary, regularly using the Salesforce Event Monitoring Tool allows you to track usage. Setting alerts helps stay informed of any potential problems.
5. Secure External Subscribers
To ensure external subscribers can only gain entry to your events when properly authenticated, OAuth authentication and Named Credentials provide effective safeguards between Salesforce instances and external systems.
6. Simulate Production-Like Environments
It is vital that Platform Event implementations be tested under real-world conditions so as to ensure they will function as expected when deployed in live conditions. Doing this helps ensure they will run seamlessly when deployed in live settings.
7. Document Event Flows Precisely
To increase transparency and facilitate troubleshooting, document event flows clearly – including how events are triggered, processed and what the expected outcomes should be.
When to Use Platform Events
Platform Events are ideal for scenarios requiring decoupled, event-driven communication between systems. Here are a few recommended use cases:
- System Integration: For use when integrating with third-party systems such as ERP or SAP.
- Real-Time Notifications: Real-time notifications enable applications to provide updates or alerts across their software suite in real-time.
- Decoupled Business Processes: These background processes should be initiated without being integrated directly into the primary flow.
Platform Events may not be suitable for synchronous user interactions and processes that require immediate feedback, as they are inherently asynchronous in nature.
Conclusion
Salesforce Platform Events provide an effective means of real-time communication and integration across systems. By understanding and avoiding common Platform Event Traps such as overusing in synchronous scenarios or exceeding governor limits, your event-driven architecture can become efficient, scalable, and reliable. By following best practices such as testing in production-like environments or securing subscribers you can avoid potential pitfalls while maximising Salesforce Platform Events to their fullest extent.
