Creating a Parent Record from a Child and then updating Child with lookup to Parent

Question

Scenario:

Custom Convert button on Opportunity that creates a Project (custom object that can have multiple Opportunities associated to it) that the Opportunity is associated to via lookup field on Opportunity. Once the Project has been created I want to update the Project__c lookup on the originating Opportunity with the Project Id.

I sort of have this working by using custom button with URL encoding which passes the originating Opportunity Id to the Opportunity_Id__c field in the edit page on the soon to be created Project. Once the Project is inserted I then have a trigger that uses the Opportunity Id values stored on the Project to update the Project__c lookup on the relevant Opportunities.

Here's the button URL:

/a0B/e?retURL=/{!Opportunity.Id}&Name={!Opportunity.Name}&00N3C000000Hekv=
   {!Opportunity.Amount_As_Numeric__c}&CF00N5000000A3T6Y=
   {!Opportunity.Account}&00N3C000000Hn4y={!Opportunity.Id}

Here's the service class associated with the after insert trigger on the newly created Project:

public with sharing class ProjectService {

public static void associateConvertedOpportunityToNewlyCreatedProject(List<Project__c> newList){

    Map<Id,Id> opptyProjMap = new Map<Id, Id>();
    List<Id> updateOpptyIds = new List<Id>();
    List<Opportunity> updateOpptys = new List<Opportunity>();

    for(Project__c p: newList){
        Id opptyId = Id.valueOf(p.Opportunity_Id__c);
        opptyProjMap.put(opptyId, p.Id);
        updateOpptyIds.add(opptyId);

        System.debug('opptyProjMap: ' + opptyProjMap);
        System.debug('updateOpptyIds: ' + updateOpptyIds);  
    }

    if (!opptyProjMap.isEmpty()) {
        for (Opportunity o : [select Id, Design_Atelier_Project__c from Opportunity where Id in :updateOpptyIds]) {
            if (opptyProjMap.containsKey(o.Id)) {
                o.Design_Atelier_Project__c = opptyProjMap.get(o.Id);
                updateOpptys.add(o);
            }
        }       
    }

    System.debug('updateOpptys: ' + updateOpptys);
    Utility.logUpdate(updateOpptys);
}
}

This works, but it forces me to have the Opportunity_Id__c field visible on the edit screen of the new soon to be created Project. I'm guessing I could probably do this in a more elegant fashion but its 3am and my brain is fried. Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Good night and thanks!

Answer 1

Unfortunately if you want to do this without code then the field will have to be visible/editable on the layout...

A couple of workarounds that are not ideal

1. You could do it via a VF page using the URL params to set the value then redirect to standard edit page but the record would be inserted before being take to the edit screen....

2. Use a VF page to recreate the edit screen and use a custom save method to grab the URL params. Makes it difficult to use page layouts etc

Ultimately, most just leave the field on the layout as it is usually a non issue and if it does become an issue it comes down to user training.