Visualize Your Salesforce Flows in VS Code

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is the holy grail for developers. This one application allows developers to do so many different aspects of their jobs. Writing code, running tests, executing anonymous code, viewing logs, it does it all. But what about admins? I’ve watched lots of different sessions on how admins can leverage VS Code, but I’m not sure many admins put these into practice and use VS Code consistently as part of their jobs.

That may change with the introduction of the Flow Visualizer extension for VS Code. In this post, I’ll go through what it is, how you can make use of it, and how it can benefit your everyday workflow.

What Is Flow Visualizer?

Flow Visualizer is a VS Code extension created by Todd Halfpenny, Salesforce MVP and Golden Hoodie recipient. This extension offers a seamless and engaging solution for visualizing Salesforce flows right within the user-friendly interface of Visual Studio Code. Bid farewell to the times of staring perplexedly at intricate flow XML files or the hassle of navigating through your Salesforce org.

Now, Salesforce professionals can quickly see a visual of their flow logic with just a few clicks, making it simpler to understand complicated structures and connections. The extension works with different types of flows, so whether you’re dealing with screen flows, autolaunched flows, or trigger flows, the Visualizer has got you covered.

How to Install Flow Visualizer

Flow Visualizer is extremely easy to install: simply go to Salesforce Flow Visualizer in the VS Code marketplace and hit install.

Using Flow Visualizer

Using the Flow Visualizer extension is incredibly easy. When In VS Code, all you need to do it is open the XML file for the flow you want to visualize, open the command palette (⇧⌘P on Mac or Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows) and select Flow Visualizer: Render. This will then open the flow into an easy-to-digest visual format.

Use Cases

In our free Migrate to Flow course, there is an entire section dedicated to documenting existing flows. With the Flow Visualizer extension, doing this suddenly becomes an awful lot easier thanks to the ability to export flows into a PNG format. Using this tool, you can export your flows into PNGs, and add these to your existing documentation. Easy-peasy!

Another use case is it negates the need to leave VS Code. If reading the XML for a flow isn’t something you’re comfortable with, this extension allows you to see the flow directly on the screen in a similar way you would in Flow Builder. Without actually being in Flow Builder. Cool, right?

For admins, this is also going to be extremely useful if you want to learn how to read XML. If you have built a flow using Flow Builder, you will know the different elements you used and how you put the flow together. To then see this next to the XML file, it is a really good way to understand how this translates into XML.

Even if an admin has no interest in learning to read XML, this tool is a brilliant way for admins to simply get to grips with using VS code. VS code is a tool that not many admins make use of in their day-to-day roles, so a tool like Flow Visualizer is a welcome addition to the toolkit available for admins to make use of.

The Future of Flow Visualizer

This is just the beginning with the Flow Visualizer tool. In the future, Todd is looking to include features such as choosing to output and save the markdown that is used behind the scenes, being able to click on a node to see more details (such as the conditions and description within a decision element), possible visual linting warnings (such as giving a node a red border if it performs DML within a loop), and even jumping to subflows!

Summary

Salesforce Flow Builder is a very visual tool, and that’s why so many admins are able to make use of it and create brilliant automations with it. VS Code, isn’t that. It is amazing for what it does, but it was created for the sole purpose of writing and deploying code. That’s where the Flow Visualizer tool comes in, it narrows the gap in what many admins are comfortable with and what they aren’t. It allows them to use VS Code in a visual way when working with Flows, which in turn will give them the confidence to do other things within VS Code. The Flow Visualizer tool really is a game changer. 

Check it out here.