Visualforce:

Using ActionFunction vs. RemoteAction

Tom Patros, Red Argyle, Principal

@tompatros

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All About Red Argyle

Force.com development and consulting shop in Upstate

New York. We specialize in custom apps, portal

development, product development and admin support.

Founded by Tom Patros (@tompatros) in 2010

Partnership with Garry Polmateer (@darthgarry) in 2011

Staff in Buffalo, Rochester, Albany and Corning, NY

www.redargyle.com

Goals for this session

Compare ActionFunction and RemoteAction.

Build a basic single-page web app backed by RemoteActions.

Integrate our web app with jQuery, Bootstrap and Backbone.

Answer questions and solve problems.

Our demo app

“This vs. That”

Battle__c object

Combatant__c object

<apex:actionFunction>

Standard Visualforce component.

Exposes Apex controller method as Javascript function.

Accepts String parameters.

Interacts with standard Visualforce features (rerender, status).

<apex:actionFunction action="{!saveBattle}" name="saveBattleJS" rerender="battleBlock" status="saveStatus">

<apex:param name="p_winnerSFID" assignTo="{!winnerSFID}" value="" />

</apex:actionFunction>

ActionFunction demo

What just happened?

1. ActionFunction saveBattleJS exposes saveBattle Apex

method.

2. saveBattleJS is wrapped in winnerClick with confirm call.

3. Onclick events of both buttons invoke winnerClick, passing

Combatant__c SFID as the winner.

4. ActionFunction’s param component passes SFID to

controller.

5. status and rerender settings handle ajax updates.

@RemoteAction

Apex method annotation (a la @future).

Exposes Apex controller method to Javascript.

Invoked as MyController.myMethod()

Accepts parameters (primitives, collections, sObjects, more...).

Invocation provides callback with status and returned values.

Visualforce.remoting.Manager.invokeAction(name, params, callback);

RemoteAction demo

What just happened?

1. saveBattle and loadCombatantOptions are @RemoteActions.

2. loadCombantantOptions is invoked during jQuery

document.ready event.

3. saveBattle is invoked when buttons are clicked, passing JS

object representing Battle__c object.

4. UI refreshes instantly, assuming successful insert of

Battle__c.

ActionFunction usage, pros and cons

Ideal for client-side processing before sending to Apex.

(confirm / validate / calculate / repeating)

Faster to wire up for basic use cases.

Access to built-in VF capabilities.

String-only parameters.

Callbacks are trickier (onstop / oncomplete).

RemoteAction usage, pros and cons

Ideal for custom app with flexible, responsive UI.

JS-centric approach (invoke, callback).

Parameters.

Performance (no viewstate = 2-3x faster).

Implementation is trickier.

Single-page app demo

What just happened?

Minimal VF page.

All Apex methods are @RemoteActions.

App logic and UI rendering in JS.

jQuery + Bootstrap + Underscore + Handlebars + Backbone!

RemoteAction doesn’t get in the way of other JS libraries.

Resources

ActionFunction Docs - http://bit.ly/O509ze

RemoteAction Docs - http://bit.ly/l1du9P

Demo App - https://github.com/tompatros/tp-df12-demo

Two VF Pages (AF & JS Remoting) - http://bit.ly/yFjd2M

Developing Apps with jQuery - http://bit.ly/NqzHcI

Salesforce Javascript Remoting - http://bit.ly/Lnr6wM