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### Who is this for? Salesforce Administrators

A flow is an application usually built by Salesforce administrators that asks you for inputs and does something in Salesforce based on those inputs. Flows are designed using Cloud Flow Designer which has a bunch of tools that allow for automation of business processes without the use of custom code. You can do many things from a flow like execute logic, interact with Salesforce, call Apex classes, collect data from user with screen elements, etc. Recently, in Winter 18, a new feature was released to allow the use of Lightning Components in Flows which is the focus of this blog post.

### **Using Lightning Components in Flows**

The ability to add Lightning Components in Flow means that the flow screens can do much more than just inputs, choices and outputs. With the use of Lightning Components inflows we can make the flow much more interactive and achieve more. Here are a few examples of what we can do with Lightning components inflows

- A progress tracker
- Ask different input based on previous values
- Record selection
- Displaying data
- Embedding video, images, etc

### **How It Works**

Once the Lightning Component is developed and ready to use, you can follow the following steps to add a Lightning Component to your flows.

1. Open the flow screen on which we want to add the lightning component. The key points to make lightning components available for flow screens are as follows:
   - Lightning component should implement **lightning:availableForFlowScreens** interface
   - To make an attribute’s value customizable in the Cloud Flow Designer, add it to the component's design resource. This will allow the flow admins to pass values between that attribute and the flow when they configure the screen field.
2. Drag and drop the Lightning component element on to the screen.![Screen Shot 2018-07-23 at 2.43.14 pm](/uploads/Screen-Shot-2018-07-23-at-2.43.14-pm.png)
3. Map the flow variables to Lightning Component attributes
   - Set a unique name for the component
   - Select the lightning component
   - Use the Inputs tab to set an attribute using values from the flow. Use the Outputs tab to store an attribute’s value in a flow variable.
   - Save the screen, save and activate the flow.

![Screen Shot 2018-07-23 at 3.45.51 pm](/uploads/Screen-Shot-2018-07-23-at-3.45.51-pm-1024x411.png)

Here is how this flow looks when we run it using the Debug option.

![Screen Shot 2018-07-23 at 3.44.48 pm.png](/uploads/Screen-Shot-2018-07-23-at-3.44.48-pm.png)

### **Embed flows in Lightning Communities**

In Winter’18, there was another new feature that allows users to embed flows in Lightning Communities. There are multiple use cases for this feature. The ability to publish surveys for community users to complete is one such use case.

### **Using Quick Actions to launch Flows**

Lightning Flows with screens can also be launched using Action. Here are key points to keep in mind while setting up Quick Actions to launch Flows.

- **Flow Type**: Flow actions support only flows that include screens.
- **Flow Status**: The flow must be active. If you later deactivate the flow, the action doesn’t appear at runtime.
- **Action Types**: Flow actions are available only as object-specific actions.
- **Action Title**: The title that appears on the modal is the action’s label instead of the flow name. We recommend entering the flow name as the action label.
- **Input Variables**: Flow actions let you pass the value of the record's ID field into the flow, but that's it. If your flow has a Text input variable called recordId, the action passes the record's ID into that variable at runtime. If not, it doesn't and the flow tries to run anyway. This is a very useful feature that users can utilize to build flows using lightning components to accomplish lots of different things.
- **Help Text**: A flow action’s screen-level help text isn’t available for feed-based page layouts.

### **Resources:**

- [Configure Components for Flow Screens](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.lightning.meta/lightning/components_config_for_flow_screens.htm)
- [Trailhead: Add a Flow As an Action on a Record](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/modules/screen_flow_distribution/units/screen_flow_distribution_action)

Read also [Salesforce Lightning components overview](https://cloudanswers.com/salesforce-lightning-components-overview/)


How to use Lightning Components in Flows? A flow is an application usually built by Salesforce administrators.

how-to-use-lightning-components-in-flows

How to use Lightning Components in Flows


## **Avoiding Custom Development**

Recently, one of our customers asked us to make an update to their custom “wizard”.

Here's why we decided to replace a custom-coded solution with one built with Salesforce's point and click configuration tool, Flows.

**Barr Foundation** is an amazing organization that supports non-profits. Among them, there are groups working on education, the environment, and economic equality. In order to track their engagements and measure the impact of their support, they rely on Salesforce as their system of record.

Their “**wizard”** was a custom development project launched through a button click on an Opportunity. It presented the user with two Visualforce pages and created records that are children and grandchildren to an Opportunity. In addition to the wizard, **Process Builders** were used to keep the tool up to date as the underlying processes change.

Wizards are great because they help simplify laborious processes for users. In this case, rather than creating 5 child records manually, with the right data, _then_ creating two child records for each of _those_ records, you can have a process build them in the background with minimal input. You don’t need to worry about people forgetting to enter the last records or making a mistake dividing values from the Opportunity.

Barr also has a full-time **Salesforce Admin** that is capable of using all of the points and click features. So, ideally, they would not need to reach out to their former consulting partner or us to help them make little updates to their process over time; their Admin should be able to update this in the same way that he updates a **Workflow Rule.**

So, instead of editing someone else’s code or having us rebuild the project and spend a lot of time and effort, we used Flows.

In Salesforce, Flow is a tool that can show screens to users, ask questions, and process their input. A common use case is scripting calls for support agents. When you start a Flow your users will get a screen with the right fields, text, or images. Then your Flow can take that data and update/create things in the background. This is different than standard records because your Flow can take data from one screen and update several other related records without you needing to manually find them.

In this scenario, we were able to convert 1000 lines of code into a point and click tool that prompts the user for input on two screens and creates a dozen related records.

One of the major benefits of converting to Flows was the ease of maintenance. Rather than needing a developer to make changes. An Admin can open the Flow to add a new field or take one away. They can easily add a new related task for follow up. Flows don’t require a Sandbox with Test Coverage as custom code does.

The other major benefit is cost. Rather than needing to pay an expensive developer and wait for weeks for changes, they can make changes in minutes with someone who already works in their org. This means that they are saving money as well as the time to make the change, avoiding mistakes speeding up data entry.

While a Flow is a great efficiency tool, it doesn’t fit every use case. If you need to edit hundreds or thousands of records, you are going to want custom code. If you need a very custom look and feel, you might also want code. Outside of these edge cases, Flows are a great way to empower users to work faster, make fewer mistakes, and avoid confusion.


In Salesforce, Flow is a tool that can show screens to users, ask questions, and process their input. A common use case is scripting calls for support agents. %

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