Apex SDK reference
Read time: 1 minute
Last edited: Mar 16, 2023
Overview
This topic documents how to get started with the Apex SDK, and links to reference information on all of the supported features.
LaunchDarkly's SDKs are open source. In addition to this reference guide, we provide source, API reference documentation, and a sample application:
Resource | Location |
---|---|
SDK API documentation | SDK API docs |
GitHub repository | apex-server-sdk |
Sample application | Apex |
Published module | None |
Getting started
After you complete the Getting Started process, follow these instructions to start using the LaunchDarkly SDK in your Salesforce Apex application.
The first step is deploying the SDK to Salesforce:
git clone https://github.com/launchdarkly/apex-server-sdk.gitcd apex-server-sdksfdx force:source:deploy --targetusername='YOUR TARGET ORG' --sourcepath='force-app'
Initializing the client
Initialize the client as follows:
LDClient client = new LDClient();
You can use client
to check which variation a particular user will receive for a given feature flag.
Here's how:
LDUser user = new LDUser.Builder('user-key-123abc').setName('Sandy').build();Boolean value = client.boolVariation(user, flagKey, false);if (value) {// Application code to show the feature} else {// The code to run if the feature is off}
After the SDK is deployed to Salesforce, start the bridge to begin evaluating flags. The bridge must be running in order to receive flag updates and publish events to LaunchDarkly.
Using the LaunchDarkly Salesforce bridge
The Apex server-side SDK is architected differently than our other SDKs. In most of our SDKs, the SDK downloads feature configurations and sends events by itself. The Apex SDK instead uses an external bridging application to connect LaunchDarkly and Salesforce.
Because the SDK uses a bridge to handle state management, there is no initialization delay required to download flags. Additionally, the lack of state inside the SDK means that initializing multiple instances of the SDK is not problematic.
The Apex SDK exposes two HTTP endpoints that the bridge uses: /store
and /event
. The bridge pushes flag updates to Salesforce through one endpoint, and pulls events from Salesforce with the other.
The bridge is a Go application configured with environment variables. The bridge needs authorization for both LaunchDarkly and Salesforce.
To build the bridge from source install Go 1.14 or higher. To install Go, read Go's documentation.
Build and run the bridge like this:
cd bridge && go build .export LD_SDK_KEY='Your LaunchDarkly SDK key'export SALESFORCE_URL='Your Salesforce Apex REST URL'export OAUTH_ID='Your Salesforce OAuth Id'export OAUTH_SECRET='Your Salesforce OAuth secret'export OAUTH_USERNAME='Your Salesforce username'export OAUTH_PASSWORD='Your Salesforce password + security token'./bridge
The logs indicate if the bridge is running. If it fails, the logs show the errors that occurred. You must deploy the SDK to Salesforce before you run the bridge.
Supported features
This SDK supports the following features: