Getting classes, triggers and VF pages from Org in the VSCode

Question

I am new to VSCode.

I have set up VSCode and connected it an Org.

But not able to see the classes from the Org in the VSCode.

I need to use classes, triggers and VF pages from the Org, in VSCode?

I right clicked on force-app folder and then clicked on SFDX: Retrieve Source from Org:

Got message like this in output:

sfdx force:source:retrieve --sourcepath c:\Users\MyUser\Documents\Projects\MyProject\MyProject\force-app ended with exit code 0
=== Retrieved Source
No results found

I tried retrieving files from Org in the MyProject->.sfdx->org->[email protected] like this:

Getting the following error in output:

Error deploying or retrieving source: The file or directory that you tried to deploy or retrieve isn't in a package directory that's specified in your sfdx-project.json file. Add this location to your "packageDirectories" value, or deploy or retrieve a different file or directory. For details about sfdx-project.json, see: https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.sfdx_dev.meta/sfdx_dev/sfdx_dev_ws_config.htm

What I am missing here?

Answer 1

Create package.xml file as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Package xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <types>
        <members>*</members>
        <name>ApexClass</name>
    </types>
    <types>
        <members>*</members>
        <name>ApexPage</name>
    </types>
    <types>
        <members>*</members>
        <name>ApexTrigger</name>
    </types>
    <version>46.0</version>
</Package>

Save the above file in either src or force-app folder. This depends on how you created project. (sfdx creates force-app and forcecode extension creates src folder)

Then you can use sfdx force:source:retrieve -x src/package.xml in vs code terminal to retrieve files mentioned in package. (-x is the path to package.xml)

For example, below is folder structure when project is created using forceCode extension.

You need to be in the project to get it.

Wait for 1-2 minutes.

You will see list of imported files.

Refresh the explorer:

You will be able to see apex classes under the classes under force-app\main\default\classes similarly triggers and other components

There are other direct ways of getting like below:

sfdx force:source:retrieve -m CustomObject,ApexClass

sfdx force:source:retrieve -m ApexClass:MyApexClass

You can get the commands from https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.sfdx_cli_reference.meta/sfdx_cli_reference/cli_reference_force_source.htm