Can I run SFDX commands on a button click?

Question

Is it possible to run SFDX commands on some UI events?

If so, like we have used a Node.js application for it as SFDX commands are Node.js based. Are there any packages which we can install and use?

sfdx force:data:soql:query -q "SELECT Id, Name, Account.Name FROM Contact LIMIT 10" -u [email protected] --perflog --json

Answer 1

Locally (or in a container) for Node.js applications there are numerous libraries that enable executing Bash command/scripts. Some of them:

1. ShellJS - Unix shell commands for Node.js.

   ShellJS is a portable (Windows/Linux/macOS) implementation of Unix shell commands on top of the Node.js API. You can use it to eliminate your shell script's dependency on Unix while still keeping its familiar and powerful commands. You can also install it globally so you can run it from outside Node projects - say goodbye to those gnarly Bash scripts!

   Example:

   var shell = require('shelljs');
   // Of course you should log in first
   shell.exec('sfdx force:data:soql:query -q "SELECT Id, Name, Account.Name FROM Contact LIMIT 10" -u [email protected] --perflog --json');
   

2. The child_process module provides the ability to spawn subprocesses.

   Example (asynchronous):

   const { exec } = require("child_process");
   
   const query = 'sfdx force:data:soql:query -q "SELECT Id, Name, Account.Name FROM Contact LIMIT 10" -u [email protected] --perflog --json';
   exec(query, (error, stdout, stderr) => {
       if (error) {
           console.log(`error: ${error.message}`);
           return;
       }
       if (stderr) {
           console.log(`stderr: ${stderr}`);
           return;
       }
       console.log(`stdout: ${stdout}`); // Result
   });
   

   The stdout and stderr arguments passed to the callback will contain the stdout and stderr output of the child process. The error object is not null when the child_process module fails to execute a command.

As soon as Salesforce Functions are available it will be possible to integrate Salesforce with Node.js, but for now, I can't say too much about its possibilities/limitations.