Creating Visualforce page code against your standard page layout using AJAX toolkit

I was wondering if we somehow, could automate this and I came across a post by Jeff Douglas. This was simply amazing. I got the base. he had done it using web service API in .NET and this was somewhat disappointing because I never worked on it. I decided to run it, got environment setup using some tutorials on .NET and the result.. wow..

My next step was to simplify it without using the WSDL and all that stuff. But this is not possible in Apex (please correct me, if I am wrong), so I had to look for an alternate way. My search ended up with AJAX Toolkit. And I learned AJAX for the first time then only. (Credit goes to Jeff, he made me learn two new technologies). I must tell you this is simply powerfullll. I used it in a visualforce page along with a small controller class (I had to use the class, its a different story). Later on I found that it is possible even without using the class. Here is how it looks like.

Input Screen

And here is the generated visualforce code

The logic is almost the same. You can even see variable names not very different. Below is the code for all this. (Please excuse me, code with no comments :)).

Page Code

<apex:page controller="OutputController">
<apex:form >

<script type="text/javascript">
var __sfdcSessionId = '{!GETSESSIONID()}';
</script>

<script src="../../soap/ajax/19.0/connection.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">
//var output='';
function setupPage() {
    var obj = document.getElementById("obj");
    var opt = document.getElementById("opt");
    var rct = document.getElementById("rct");
    var result;
    try{
        if(rct.value != '' && rct.value != null){
            result = sforce.connection.describeLayout(obj.value, new Array(rct.value));        
        }else {
            result = sforce.connection.describeLayout(obj.value);
            alert(result);
            alert('please note that you have not provided record type id. if the object has more than one record type and different page layout assignments, you will get the code with all the page layouts');
        }
        //call methods edit or details
        if(opt.value == 'Edit')editLayoutResults(result, obj);
        else detailLayoutResults(result, obj);
    }catch(error){       
        var er = new String(error);
        if(er.indexOf('INVALID_TYPE') != -1)alert('please check object api name');
        document.getElementById("{!$Component.hide}").value = '';
    }
}


//edit*****************************************layout
function editLayoutResults(result, obj) {
    output = '';
    var layouts = result.getArray("layouts");

    output += '<' + 'apex' + ':' + 'page standardController=' + '"' + obj.value + '"' + '>';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + 'apex' + ':' + 'sectionHeader' + ' title=' + '"' + obj.value + ' Edit' + '"' + ' subtitle=' + '"' + '{' + '!' + obj.value + '.name}' + '"' + '/>';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + 'apex' + ':' + 'form' + '>';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + 'apex' + ':' + 'pageBlock title=' + '"' + obj.value + ' Edit' + '"' + ' mode=' + '"edit">';
    output += '\n';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + 'apex' + ':' + 'pageBlockButtons location=' + '"top">';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + 'apex:commandButton value=' + '"' + 'Save' + '" ' + 'action=' + '"' + '{' + '!' + 'save' + '}"' + '/>';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + 'apex:commandButton value=' + '"' + 'Save & New' + '"' + ' action=' + '"' + '{' + '!save}" />';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + 'apex:commandButton value="Cancel" action=' + '"' + '{' + '!cancel}' + '"/>';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + '/apex:pageBlockButtons>';
    output += '\n';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + 'apex' + ':' + 'pageBlockButtons location=' + '"bottom">';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + 'apex:commandButton value=' + '"' + 'Save' + '" ' + 'action=' + '"' + '{' + '!' + 'save' + '}"' + '/>';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + 'apex:commandButton value=' + '"' + 'Save & New' + '"' + ' action=' + '"' + '{' + '!save}" />';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + 'apex:commandButton value="Cancel" action=' + '"' + '{' + '!cancel}' + '"/>';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + '/apex:pageBlockButtons>';

   
    //adding fields and sections
    var allTheLayouts = result.getArray("layouts");
    for (var i = 0; i < allTheLayouts.length; i++){
        var layout = allTheLayouts[i];
        if (layout.editLayoutSections != null){
            var elSections = layout.getArray("editLayoutSections");
            for (var j = 0; j < elSections.length; j++){
                var els = elSections[j];
                
                output += '\n';
                output += '\n';
                output += '<' + 'apex:pageBlockSection title=' + '"' + els.heading + '" ' +  'columns=' + '"' + els.columns + '"' + '>';
                output += '\n';

                var allTheLayoutRows = els.getArray("layoutRows");
                for (var k = 0; k < allTheLayoutRows.length; k++){
                    var lr = allTheLayoutRows[k];
                    var lis = lr.getArray("layoutItems");
                    for (var h = 0; h < lis.length; h++){
                        var li = lis[h];
                        //only in case of Lead and Contact First Name, which includes Salutation also
                        if (li.layoutComponents != null && li.layoutComponents.length == 2){                           
                            output += '<' + 'apex:inputField value=' + '"' + '{' + '!' + obj.value + '.' + li.layoutComponents[1].value + '}' + '" ' + 'required=' + '"' + li.required.toString() + '"' + '/>';
                            output += '\n';
                        }
                        //for all other fields
                        else if (li.layoutComponents != null){
                            output += '<' + 'apex:inputField value=' + '"' + '{' + '!' + obj.value + '.' + li.layoutComponents.value + '}' + '" ' + 'required=' + '"' + li.required.toString() + '"' + '/>';
                            output += '\n';
                        }
                    }
                }
                output += '<' + '/apex:pageBlockSection>';
                output += '\n';
            }
        }
    }
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + '/apex:pageBlock>';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + '/apex:form>';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + '/apex:page>';
 
    document.getElementById("{!$Component.hide}").value = output; 
}


//details**********************************layout
function detailLayoutResults(result, obj) {
    var layouts = result.getArray("layouts");
    var output = '';

    output += '<' + 'apex' + ':' + 'page standardController=' + '"' + obj.value + '"' + '>';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + 'apex' + ':' + 'sectionHeader' + ' title=' + '"' + obj.value + '"' + ' subtitle=' + '"' + '{' + '!' + obj.value + '.name}' + '"' + '/>';
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + 'apex' + ':' + 'pageBlock title=' + '"' + obj.value + '"' + '>';
    output += '\n';
   
    //adding fields and sections
    var allTheLayouts = result.getArray("layouts");
    for (var i = 0; i < allTheLayouts.length; i++){
        var layout = allTheLayouts[i];
        if (layout.editLayoutSections != null){
            var elSections = layout.getArray("editLayoutSections");
            for (var j = 0; j < elSections.length; j++){
                var els = elSections[j];
                
                output += '\n';
                output += '<' + 'apex:pageBlockSection title=' + '"' + els.heading + '" ' +  'columns=' + '"' + els.columns + '"' + '>';
                output += '\n';

                var allTheLayoutRows = els.getArray("layoutRows");
                for (var k = 0; k < allTheLayoutRows.length; k++){
                    var lr = allTheLayoutRows[k];
                    var lis = lr.getArray("layoutItems");
                    for (var h = 0; h < lis.length; h++){
                        var li = lis[h];
                        //only in case of Lead and Contact First Name, which includes Salutation also
                        if (li.layoutComponents != null && li.layoutComponents.length == 2){                           
                            output += '<' + 'apex:outputField title=' + '"' + li.label + '" value="' + '{' + '!' + obj.value + '.' + li.layoutComponents[1].value + '}' + '"' + '/>';
                            output += '\n';
                        }
                        //for all other fields
                        else if (li.layoutComponents != null){
                            output += '<' + 'apex:outputField title=' + '"' + li.label + '" value="' + '{' + '!' + obj.value + '.' + li.layoutComponents.value + '}' + '"' + '/>';
                            output += '\n';
                        }
                    }
                }
                output += '<' + '/apex:pageBlockSection>';
                output += '\n';
            }
        }
    }
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + '/apex:pageBlock>';   
    output += '\n';
    output += '<' + '/apex:page>';

    document.getElementById("{!$Component.hide}").value = output;
}
</script>

<p><b>Enter the object API Name and record type Id associated to create visualforce code of the page layout for the selected page type.</b></p>

<table>
<tr >
<td><b>Object API Name</b></td>
<td><input type="text" id="obj"/></td>
</tr>

<tr >
<td><b>Record Type Id</b></td>
<td><input type="text" id="rct"/></td>
</tr>

<tr >
<td><b>Page Type</b></td>
<td><select id="opt">
  <option value="Edit">Edit</option>
  <option value="Detail">Detail</option>
</select></td>
</tr>
</table>

<center><apex:commandButton id="but" value="Create Page Code" onclick="setupPage()" action="{!create}" rerender="pan" status="pageStatus"/></center>
<apex:inputHidden id="hide" value="{!hide}"/>

<br><br></br></br>
<apex:actionStatus id="pageStatus" startText="Getting page code..." stopText="Page Code"/>
<table >
<tr>
<td>
<apex:outputPanel id="pan">
{!output}
</apex:outputPanel>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

</apex:form>
</apex:page>

Controller Class

public class OutputController {       
    //variables and getter/setter
    public String output {get;set;}
    public String hide {get;set;}   
   
    //action method of the button
    public PageReference create() {
        output = hide;
        return null;
    }        
   
    //test method
    public static testMethod void testPage(){
        Test.setCurrentPage(Page.VisualforceCodeCreator);
        Test.startTest();
        OutputController oc = new OutputController();
        oc.create();
        Test.stopTest();
    }
}

An This Is It.

The controller, I had to use for a reason. We cannot just print some text with HTML encoding in it in a visualforce page. The option I came across later on is to use HTMLENCODE() function in the page and you'll get rid of the controller.


Happy Clouding.
And its not my dialog but I love it...Human Knowledge belongs to the world.