Notes and Attachments

Before we begin discussing on this related list, it is important to understand that Notes and Attachments are two separate object ‘Note’ and ‘Attachment’. You could check this out in Workbench or any Force IDE tools.

Though Salesforce uses NotesAndAttachment but it is read-only object contains all notes and attachments associated with an object.  

Notes and Attachments are available for Standard Controller by default and when we create a custom object than in that case you have to click on the checkbox to make it available.

Once this is done you can use it in any object by adding it in a Page Layout related list. This is a basic functional Idea of this object.

Customization:-

As we know that most of the objects in Salesforce can’t be always used in the way it is designed. So in some cases we need to customize it and use it the way we want to.

First way would be to display the section without using it in a related list tab in a Visual Force page so that you could add your own buttons and links.

For this simply create a Page Block table and use it in related lists.

VF Page related list looks like:-

Sample Code:-

<apex:page standardController="Account">

<apex:form >

<apex:pageblock title="Notes and Attachments" >

                <apex:pageBlockTable Value="{!Account.NotesAndAttachments}" var="item" columns="4" >

                                                                 

                                <apex:column HeaderValue="Title"  >    

                                                <apex:outputLink value="/{!item.id}" id="the_link" rendered="{!NOT(Contains(item.Title,'IN_'))}">

                                                <apex:outputField  value="{!item.Title}" /> 

                                                <apex:outputField  value="{!item.Title}" /> 

                                                </apex:outputLink>

                                </apex:column>

                                <apex:column HeaderValue="Last Modified Date" >

                                                <apex:outputField  value="{!item.LastModifiedDate }" /> 

                    </apex:column>

                                <apex:column HeaderValue="Created By" >

                                                <apex:outputField  value="{!item.Createdbyid }" /> 

                                                               

                                </apex:column>

                                                  

                </apex:pageBlockTable>

</apex:pageblock>

</apex:form>

</apex:page>

This was one of the way to use Notes and Attachments.

Let’s suppose there is a requirement when a user should not be allowed to Edit/delete/create new notes and attachment based on the opportunity stage value.

Let’s take Notes first:- It is nothing but a text associated with a custom object or any standard objects created in Salesforce.

Attachment: - It is a file which you would like to be associated with any Standard object.

So where do we write these triggers because they are standard object yet it is not displayed in the list of Standard Objects.

Even I had to look for it and find how to get it done.

Here is the solution, first thing you could use Force.com IDE there you can access the objects (Note/Attachment) directly and then write a trigger on the same. But what if you want to add the trigger on the Salesforce org itself. Well! For that you would need to use any custom objects and click on new trigger.

Once that is done, You could easily paste the code directly and it should work fine. Which means replace the object name in the syntax and it should work.

Code Sample:-

trigger DisablelinksonAttacments on Attachment(Before insert,before update,before delete) {

   

    //List<Attachment> atts = Trigger.new;

    List<Opportunity> opp = new List<Opportunity>();

   

    List<Id> OppIds = new List<Id>();

    String oppKeyPrefix = Opportunity.sObjectType.getDescribe().getKeyPrefix();

    List<Opportunity> oppRecs = new List<Opportunity>();

    Map<Id,String> oppByStage = new Map<Id,String>();

   

    if (Trigger.isDelete) {

        // FOR Delete

        // Get all the parent Ids from the attachment for Opportunity

        for(Attachment atItem: Trigger.old) {

            String ParentId = atItem.ParentId; 

            if(ParentId.startsWith(oppKeyPrefix)) {

                OppIds.add(ParentId);

            }

        }

    } else { // FOR Insert and Update

        // Get all the parent Ids from the attachment for Opportunity

        for(Attachment atItem: Trigger.new) {

            String ParentId = atItem.ParentId; 

            if(ParentId.startsWith(oppKeyPrefix)) {

                OppIds.add(ParentId);

            }

        }

    }

    If (OppIds.size() > 0) {

       

        oppRecs = [select Id,StageName from opportunity where id in: OppIds];

        for(Opportunity o:oppRecs)

        {

            oppByStage.put(o.id, o.StageName);

           

        }

    }

   

    if (Trigger.isDelete) {

        // FOR Delete

        for(Attachment a:Trigger.old){

            if (oppByStage.containsKey(a.ParentId) )

                if (oppByStage.get(a.ParentId) == 'Closed Lost') {

                    a.addError('Opportunity has been Lost. Modification not allowed!');

                }

        }

    } else {

        // FOR Insert and Update

        for(Attachment a:Trigger.new){

            if (oppByStage.containsKey(a.ParentId) )

                if (oppByStage.get(a.ParentId) == 'Closed Lost') {

                    a.addError('Opportunity has been Lost. Modification not allowed!');

                }

        }

    }

}

You can use the same code for Notes as well, by simply replacing the word Attachment as Note and doing some minor changes of Variables.

I hope this helps you in your understanding of these objects.

Feel free to write in at Forced2code@gmail.com for your views and suggestion.