The integration of real-time systems and non-blocking event processing is supported by pub/sub messaging and event-driven architecture. Platform Events in Salesforce and similar apps allow the apps to post changes so that other subscribers can react. High-volume real-time data flows can be supported by this pub/sub architecture. However, misusing platform events might result in a “Platform Event Trap,” which is a situation in which these powerful events work against us and cause unpredictable faults, outages, or data loss. Here, we’ll go over the idea of a platform event trap, the many pitfalls developers encounter, and some advice and comparisons that can assist in avoiding or fixing these problems.
What Is a Platform Event Trap?
“Platform Event Traps” are traps that can arise when a team misuses or misunderstands platform events. For example, according to one expert, it’s the chaos that arises when Salesforce Platform Events are brought online without properly configuring the asynchronous attributes and constraints, which can lead to inaccurate data or system failure. In other words, it’s like setting up a trap for your own systems: you design an event-driven flow that should work in theory, but in practice, asynchronous quirks and hidden dependencies cause unexpected errors.
Imagine shouting a message across a crowded room; it will be lost if no one is listening at that exact moment. Platform Events work similarly. They are broadcast instantly and asynchronously, and they do not remain. According to one blogger, platform events are like shouted messages: if you heard them, great; if not, the sound is gone. If the system is overloaded with events or if no subscriber is paying attention when the event happens, important information might be lost.
Common Mistakes That Lead to a Platform Event Trap
Developers and architects typically fall into the platform event trap due to a few recurrent mistakes. The most common pitfalls are as follows:
By their very nature, platform events are asynchronous
once an event is published, it is immediately returned, and subscribers process it afterwards. Accordingly, platform events ought to be handled as synchronous processes. If you try to use them as a direct API request or as an instant UI update, you will be disappointed. If the user clicks a button and publishes an event, for example, expecting instant feedback, they may not notice any change for a few seconds. Because events can be delayed, using them for instantaneous interface responses or sequential logic can cause misunderstandings and disturb the user experience. This is a great analogy: expecting a broadcast message to reply immediately is like expecting a shout in a canyon to reply with a ping. Use platform events for offline work, system integrations, background tasks, and anything else that can wait a little while.
Ignoring Delivery Order and Duplication
Strict ordering or a single event delivery is not guaranteed by Salesforce. In reality, a subscriber may receive two events that were published in succession out of order, and network issues may occasionally result in the same event being delivered twice. assuming a one-time delivery trap that is ordered. If your workflow relies on sequential actions, like placing an order before a credit card is charged, out-of-order arrivals could potentially destroy data. Likewise, several occurrences could lead to duplicate charges or records. To avoid this, create idempotent event handlers that can recognize and ignore repeats using unique keys or replay IDs. In other words, instead of making your business logic sensitive to the exact order of events, write defensive code and treat each incoming event as possibly out of order or duplicated.
Ignoring Volume Limits Limits of the Governor
The number of platform events that can be published and delivered in a given period of time is limited for each Salesforce organization. For instance, Enterprise Editions would start with 250,000 events every day, whereas Developer Editions might have 10,000 events apiece. A common trap occurs when your integration suddenly generates more events than the threshold, causing the events to be reduced or ignored, leading to incomplete processing and a data break. Subscribers and batch size are also limited. If you don’t monitor how events are being used, you might lose money. The solution is doubled, scaled down, or scaled up. Platform Events with a High Volume HVPE should be used when carrying out a large-scale integration. You must also install dashboards and alarms that notify you when you are 80 percent of your daily capacity so that you can throttle or refactor before hitting the ceiling.
Testing Only in Limited Developer Environments
Event logic is easily tested in a small sandbox or DE, but these environments are simpler and have less stringent requirements. It’s common to make the mistake of assuming that something that worked in development will work in production. In reality, after being deployed, even systems that work perfectly on the development platform often break down. Concurrency, time, constraints, multiple subscribers, and other systems all react differently to real integrations and production loads. Always test in production-like conditions and use a full or partial sandbox with realistic data quantities and integration patterns. Simulate users concurrently while monitoring for issues.
Disregarding Event Durability Message Loss
Platform events are intended to be transient. Once an event has been published and delivered—or even if it hasn’t been delivered—it is deleted. Unlike database records, platform events are not permanent. Relying on an event as a record of truth is a mistake. If no subscriber reacts to the event at the time of publication, that message is essentially lost. Salesforce may try again for a brief period of time, but it won’t store events like a queue. This could lead to a silent message loss. For example, if an inventory update event is missed, stock might not sync and oversell. To avoid this, make sure your architecture has backup logging or retry queues for critical messages.
Design for Decoupled, Asynchronous Processing
Assume that events are asynchronous from the beginning. Keep your UI interactions and business logic validation apart from your event publishing. Use a platform event for any procedure that doesn’t require instantaneous user updates, such as alerting an ERP system of a sale. In actuality, this entails creating external listeners that can withstand delays, triggers, or flows for subscribers. Make sure your subscribers have strong error handling and retry logic so that processing can fail gracefully and try again. Troubleshooting can also be aided by recording each event and its success or failure status. To put it briefly, accept loose coupling, allow your system’s components to communicate during events, and be ready for them to show up at any time.
Actively Monitor Performance and Limits
Don’t wait for an alert. Set up your system to monitor event metrics. For instance, monitor the hourly or daily publish rate and notify you if it surpasses, say, 80% of your limit. In a similar vein, keep an eye on the interval between publish and process latency; if events begin to back up, you should scale your subscriber base. Monitor subscriber performance and event processing failure error rates. Custom dashboards or Salesforce’s Event Monitoring tools can be useful. Before a production outage happens, you can modify queues, optimize code, or boost capacity by identifying trends early on, such as persistently high volume or increasing latency.
Test in Realistic, Production-Like Environments
Run your event-driven logic in a sandbox that mimics your production environment, including the same number of users, similar data volumes, and real integration endpoints, whenever possible, by using staging or mimicking. To test the system, use load and concurrency tests. For example, simulate 100 users submitting events simultaneously or replay a large data import that sets off multiple events. Verify the accuracy of the order assumptions and limits. If you test more in real-world situations, you’re less likely to discover a trap after going live. One article warns that systems created in a constrained development organization often break down after they are put into use.
Document and Share Your Event Flows
Maintain detailed records of your events’ progression through the system. Draw a diagram of the subscribers and producers, indicating which processes are triggered by which events, and noting any special requirements related to uniqueness, priority, or order. The team’s existing event structure and error mechanisms prevent new team members from getting into trouble when making changes. They will know how an event should behave if they ever need to change its direction. Paperwork is insurance because it helps the crew become familiar with the asynchronous plumbing and avoids fat-finger errors.
Conclusion
Robust integrations that are triggered by Salesforce events and other Platform Events are the key to event-driven integrations that happen in real time. When used properly, they will facilitate system integration across cloud services, loose coupling, and asynchronous processing. Like any strong tool, they can have drawbacks, though, such as implementation issues, data loss, or more complicated problems if one assumes too much about their asynchronous, pub/sub nature.