Why does readMetadata() give me incorrect data?

Question

I have a script that uses the metadata API to update the 'New' and 'Edit' action overrides for Account so those actions navigate to a couple of custom VisualForce pages.

The script works. I can use setup->customize->Account->Buttons, Links, and Actions to see that the overrides now have the new type, content, and comments, and I can click the New and Edit buttons for Account and they do indeed redirect to my custom pages.

The problem is that when I use readMetadata on Account to programmatically check if the overrides are set, the metadata that is returned says that the type of the Edit actionOverride is 'Default' instead of 'Visualforce'. Why is it lying to me?

Answer 1

I have an 'Edit' action override on the OpportunityLineItem to a Visualforce page. This was configured via the UI rather than via the metadata API.

Performing a call to retrieve with a RetrieveRequest containing a PackageTypeMembers with:

• name = "CustomObject"
• members = ["OpportunityLineItem"]

Gives a package containing:

package.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Package xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <types>
        <members>OpportunityLineItem</members>
        <name>CustomObject</name>
    </types>
    <version>34.0</version>
</Package>

objects/OpportunityLineItem.object

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<CustomObject xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <!-- ... -->
    <actionOverrides>
        <actionName>Delete</actionName>
        <type>Default</type>
    </actionOverrides>
    <actionOverrides>
        <actionName>Edit</actionName>
        <comment>Redirect the editing of XYZ to the ABC page.</comment>
        <content>XyzOliEditPageRedirect</content>
        <skipRecordTypeSelect>false</skipRecordTypeSelect>
        <type>Visualforce</type>
    </actionOverrides>
    <!-- ... -->
</CustomObject>

So, in this case it does return the expected ActionOveride via the CustomObject.

Note that the docs for ActionOverrideType states:

default—The override uses a custom override provided by an installed package. If there isn’t one available, the standard Salesforce behavior is used.

So, either:

or, Salesforce is only partially lying to you about the nature of reality and will still find the Visualforce page even if the value is default.

See also:

• How to retrieve action overrides?