FAQ
ProvarDX™
ProvarDX™ (Developer eXperience) is the first automated testing solution built specifically for teams using Salesforce DX. ProvarDX™ helps customers radically simplify the process of executing Provar tests in conjunction with Salesforce DX. Provar customers can use ProvarDX™ to extend their tests to be used earlier in the application lifecycle providing valuable feedback and reducing development costs.
ProvarDX™ is:
- A Salesforce CLI plugin that enables Provar test case execution from the Salesforce Command Line Interface (CLI).
- A Visual Studio Code Extension that provides access to ProvarDX™ CLI commands using the Visual Studio (VS) code command autocomplete menu. The VS code extension download includes the ProvarDX™ plugin, the code extension and the Salesforce CLI plugin.
ProvarDX™ fits seamlessly into the Salesforce DX ecosystem to help developers find and fix bugs earlier. ProvarDX™ can be used to test any Salesforce org, including scratch orgs, providing immediate feedback early in the development cycle, and throughout the entire lifecycle. Using ProvarDX™ and Salesforce DX together, Salesforce teams can test releases prior to deployment as part of a Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipeline.
Combined with Provar’s metadata-based testing approach, ProvarDX™ helps developers reuse existing Provar tests executed from the Salesforce CLI to provide a level of smoke testing during the development of each new change before the changes are code reviewed or system tested. ProvarDX™ supports Dev Hub org aliases, greatly simplifying authentication and reducing the testing overhead required to manage environments.
ProvarDX™ has a Salesforce CLI plugin and a VS extension that allow developers to execute Provar tests from the Salesforce CLI and VS Code. Provar test cases developed locally can immediately be accessed directly by ProvarDX™ or when Provar tests are stored in your version control repository. They can also be synchronized and run alongside your SalesforceDX project without requiring a full Provar Desktop installation. A developer can generate a scratch org, push the latest Salesforce customizations and use ProvarDX™ to run Provar tests inside the scratch org. ProvarDX™ works with both scratch orgs and sandboxes, allowing the Salesforce DX user to manage full lifecycle testing from the Salesforce CLI.
Yes. Provar Desktop can be used to export existing test plans as a ProvarDX™ configuration file, where they can be executed from the Salesforce CLI using the ProvarDX™ plugin. Simple connection overrides can be used to dynamically amend test execution environments from the command line without requiring tests to be edited.
Scratch orgs are meant to be created and deleted quickly for developing and testing specific Salesforce functionality under change. Developers should typically create a scratch org for every story they are working on. The challenge with testing on scratch orgs is to have a reusable test plan that can be executed against any of your environments without having to be customized every time. ProvarDX™ supports Dev Hub org aliases so that your commands and scripts don’t need to know the specifics about the org you wish to test. As a result the same tests can be reused by every developer in your team.
When running tests against scratch orgs, there is generally an overhead of finding the randomly generated username and password and worrying about how to authenticate to the scratch org via the CLI. Because ProvarDX™ recognizes org aliases, you can authenticate and run your Provar tests against scratch orgs without having to know your scratch org username or password, You only need to specify the scratch org user alias in the ProvarDX™ configuration/property file.
Definitely yes.
ProvarDX™ leverages the Salesforce CLI and Dev Hub. This means every org connected to Dev Hub can be tested, whether it’s a production, sandbox, pre-release or scratch org. ProvarDX™ is a way to allow Salesforce developers to execute any Provar test through the Salesforce CLI. If an admin or developer wants to do low code testing and test a flow as an easy way of checking a planned deployment (instead of building a unit test), ProvarDX™ can help. With Provar, developers can use drag-and-drop functionality to build tests that create, read, update and delete records to provide a great acid test, and run the test in ProvarDX™. ProvarDX™ can execute the Provar API tests, reducing times for test execution. For developers using Salesforce DX, ProvarDX™ is an essential tool that will dramatically improve testing capability through the entire application lifecycle.
No, but it will definitely make testing scratch orgs a lot easier. From a developer’s perspective, executing existing tests from the Salesforce CLI is a big deal in terms of using the same developer interface and avoiding the overhead of creating a new test for each scratch org. It’s also essential that the test tool works with the developer’s VCS and CI/CD tools of choice. ProvarDX™ delivers all of that and more.
ProvarDX™ is currently available as a free, open-source extension that makes use of your local Provar installation licenses. It can also be used with a Provar execution-only license and the Provar CLI distribution as part of your private or cloud test server infrastructure.
ProvarDX™ is licensed under the open-source 3-Clause-BSD license, and you are welcome to contribute enhancements. To create and maintain your test cases with ProvarDX™, you need to be a Provar customer with a paid product license. Provar is working on ways to deliver the power of ProvarDX™ to the broader Salesforce developer community.
No. Provar does maintain backward compatibility and recommends taking the latest ProvarDX™ and its corresponding Provar CLI to ensure trouble-free operation.
ProvarDX™ currently works with Provar releases v2.2.0 and later.
Building the ProvarDX™ plugin specifically for the Salesforce CLI is another example of Provar’s Salesforce-first approach. Salesforce CLI updates can automatically update any third-party plugin, including ProvarDX™ so you do not need to manually install updates.
You can download the ProvarDXTM Salesforce CLI plugin here.
You can download the ProvarDXTM VS code extension here. If you install the VS code extension, it will install SalesforceDX and ProvarDX™ if they haven’t already been installed when you use your first Provar command.
Visit the Provar website and review the documentation.
- Salesforce CLI
- ProvarDXTM plugin and/or the ProvarDXTM VS extension
- Your favorite editor or IDE, VCS tools, and CI/CD tools
- If you are using scratch orgs; DevHub and a scratch org
- Learn how to configure a Salesforce DX environment
ProvarDX™ can be used by anyone who wants to automate testing via the Salesforce CLI. Because ProvarDX™ works with scratch orgs and sandbox orgs, it can be used by anyone throughout the entire development, integration and deployment lifecycle.
Provar and ProvarDX™ provide the test automation solution for Salesforce DX teams. With ProvarDX™, Salesforce developers can run existing Provar tests in scratch orgs during development. Because ProvarDX™ works for scratch orgs and sandbox orgs, it can be used throughout the entire lifecycle. And, Provar and ProvarDX™ are already integrated with the key CI/CD tools in the Salesforce DX ecosystem.
If your team is doing source-driven development, using the Salesforce CLI, VCS and CI/CD tools, ProvarDX™ is a perfect fit. With ProvarDX™, your team can leverage all of the benefits of Provar test automation (no-code test building, reusability, low maintenance, connection management) along with seamless integration to your development ecosystem.
If your team is interested in Salesforce DX and developing with scratch orgs, finding a simple, efficient way to test scratch orgs is an essential part of making a move to Salesforce DX successful. ProvarDX™ is the solution.
Whether you’re an individual developer or working in a large team, Salesforce DX provides you with an integrated, end-to-end lifecycle designed for high-performance agile development. It enables true source-driven development, team collaboration with governance, facilitates automated testing, and continuous integration with the goal of improving the agility and efficiency of the release cycle. Salesforce DX is the alternative to change set development and enables teams to shift the source of truth from an org to a Version Control System (VCS).
The scratch org is a source-driven and disposable deployment of Salesforce code and metadata. Consider it to be a personal (for the developer) Salesforce org that is temporary (the default is seven days, max 30 days lifetime), similar to a dev sandbox in size but designed to be disposable with inherent change tracking. Unlike sandboxes, scratch orgs can be created for any permitted shape and are not limited by the features or existing configuration of your primary org. They are fully-configurable, allowing developers to emulate different Salesforce editions with different features and preferences. Scratch org configuration files are often managed in a source control repository where they can be shared with other team members so that everyone has the same org configurations in which to undertake development.