Advanced Salesforce Trigger Design Patterns: Ensuring Efficiency and Scalability

Salesforce triggers are a powerful tool for automating business logic, but poor implementation can lead to inefficiencies, recursion issues, and governor limits. In this blog post, we’ll explore advanced trigger design patterns to ensure your triggers are scalable, efficient, and easy to maintain.

Why Use Trigger Design Patterns?

A well-structured trigger follows best practices to prevent issues like:

• Recursive loops
• Unnecessary SOQL queries (leading to governor limits)
• Poor maintainability due to excessive logic in a single trigger

Implementing Trigger Handler Patterns can help maintain a clean and optimized approach to Salesforce automation.

Best Practices for Advanced Trigger Design

1. The One-Trigger-Per-Object Rule

Having multiple triggers on the same object can lead to execution order unpredictability. Instead, use a single trigger per object and delegate logic to a handler class.

Example: Using a Trigger Handler

trigger AccountTrigger on Account (before insert, before update, after insert, after update) {
    AccountTriggerHandler.handleTrigger(Trigger.new, Trigger.oldMap, Trigger.operationType);
}

By calling a separate handler class, we maintain cleaner, more structured code.

2. Using Trigger Frameworks for Scalability

Apex Trigger Frameworks like TriggerHandler help you scale automation by centralizing logic.

Example: Base Trigger Framework

public abstract class BaseTriggerHandler {
    public virtual void beforeInsert(List<SObject> newRecords) {}
    public virtual void beforeUpdate(List<SObject> newRecords, Map<Id, SObject> oldRecords) {}
}

3. Prevent Recursive Trigger Execution

If a trigger modifies records that cause another trigger to fire, an infinite loop may occur.

Solution: Use Static Variables

public class TriggerHelper {
    private static Boolean isTriggerRunning = false;
    
    public static Boolean shouldRun() {
        if (isTriggerRunning) return false;
        isTriggerRunning = true;
        return true;
    }
}

This ensures your trigger only runs once per transaction, preventing unintended recursion.

4. Bulkifying Apex Triggers

Hardcoded SOQL queries inside loops are a common mistake in trigger development.

Bad Example (Governor Limits Risk)

for (Account acc : Trigger.new) {
    Contact c = [SELECT Id FROM Contact WHERE AccountId = :acc.Id LIMIT 1]; 
}

Optimized Example

Map<Id, Account> accounts = new Map<Id, Account>([SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE Id IN :Trigger.newMap.keySet()]);

This approach retrieves all necessary records in a single SOQL query, preventing governor limit exceptions.

Conclusion

By implementing these advanced Apex trigger design patterns, you can ensure your Salesforce triggers remain efficient, scalable, and maintainable. Whether you’re handling complex business logic or automating workflows, following these best practices will future-proof your org’s automation.

Would you like to learn more about a specific trigger framework? Let us know in the comments!