VisualForce: How To INSERT Custom Object(s) From VF Form?

Question

PREFACE: This is my first VF project but I have spent some R&D time getting familiar with relationship between VFPages and VFControllers, attempting to understand Getters & Setters, and VF Page Order of Execution.

OBJECTIVE: With that said I current have a new Shipment form that I am working on. Essentially this will use the url parameter to fetch an Account in order to pre-populated the form with known shipment details (otherwise all fields are blank). Using details from the Account object, as well as record details from a custom Inventory object that is related to the Account. I need this form to create a new Shipment__c object rather than using the standard Saleforce workflow.

Also, once the Shipment is INSERTED (much like Opportunities and OpportunityLineItems), I expect that all Inventory item returned in the InventoryLineItems getter will be added to this Shipment object as a new ShipmentLineItem__c (which is a child object of Shipment__c). Someday this form could require a checklist that allows me to select which Inventory items to insert as ShipmentLineItem__c(s), but at the moment just inserting them all is fine.

Once the transaction is complete I would like the user to be redirected to the newly created Shipment__c record.

PROBLEM: I am not familiar with how to post/set the data I need in order to create and insert the custom objects I need. I'm very familiar with trigger development so I feel like if I could better understand how to work with the data throughout this process I could figure out the rest

VisualForce Controller Extension:

public with sharing class ShipmentExtension {

    ApexPages.StandardController standardController;
    String accountId;

    /* Setup Carrier Options */
    public String carrier { get; set; }

    public List<SelectOption> carrier_options { get; private set; } {
        carrier_options = new List<SelectOption>();
        carrier_options.add( new SelectOption('Private Freight', 'Private Freight') );
        carrier_options.add( new SelectOption('UPS', 'UPS') );
        carrier_options.add( new SelectOption('Other', 'Other') );
    }

    public ShipmentExtension(ApexPages.StandardController standardController) {
        this.standardController = standardController;
        this.accountId = ApexPages.currentPage().getParameters().get('accountid');
        this.carrier = 'Private Freight'; /* Default Option */


    }

     /* List Inventory Line Items */
    public List<Custom_Inventory__c> InventoryLineItems {
        get { return [SELECT Product__c, Product_Name__c, Balance__c FROM Custom_Inventory__c WHERE Account__c = :this.AccountId AND Difference__c > 0]; }
        set;
    }

    public Account getAccount() {
        if(!string.isEmpty(this.accountId)){
            return [
                SELECT Id, Name, Owner.Name, ShippingStreet, ShippingCity, ShippingCountry, ShippingState, ShippingPostalCode FROM Account
                WHERE Id = :this.AccountId
            ];
        } else {
            return new Account();
        }
    }

    public PageReference createShipment(){
        Shipment__c new_shipment = new Shipment__c();

        System.debug('::CREATE SHIPMENT:: ');
        System.debug(Apexpages.currentPage().getParameters());

        new_shipment.Account__c = ...;
        new_shipment.Carrier__c = ...;
        new_shipment.Shipment_Address__c = ...;

        INSERT new_shipment;

        List<ShipmentLineItem> new_shipmentLineItems = new List<ShipmentLineItem>();
        for(Custom_Inventory record : InventoryLineItems){
            ShipmentLineItem__c newSLI = new ShipmentLineItem__c();
            newSLI.Product__c = record.Product__c;
            newSLI.Shipment__c = new_shipment.Id;
            new_shipmentLineItems.add(newSLI);
        }

        return null;
    }
}

VisualForce Page:

<apex:page standardController="Shipment__c" extensions="ShipmentExtension">

    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">

        <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
            <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                <apex:outputPanel layout="block">Shipment Overview for: {!Account.Name}</apex:outputPanel>
            </apex:outputPanel>
        </apex:outputPanel>

        <apex:form id="createShipmentForm">
            <apex:pageBlock >

                 <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                      <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                          <apex:outputPanel layout="block">Shipping Information</apex:outputPanel>
                    </apex:outputPanel>
                </apex:outputPanel>

                <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                        <apex:outputPanel layout="block">Ship To:</apex:outputPanel>
                    </apex:outputPanel>
                </apex:outputPanel>

                <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                        <apex:inputText value="{!Account.Owner.Name}" /><!-- Name -->
                    </apex:outputPanel> 
                </apex:outputPanel>

                <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                        <apex:inputText value="{!Account.ShippingStreet}" /><!-- Street -->
                    </apex:outputPanel>
                </apex:outputPanel>

                <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                        <apex:inputText value="{!Account.ShippingCity}" /><!-- City -->
                    </apex:outputPanel> 

                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                        <apex:inputText value="{!Account.ShippingState}" style="text-align:center;"/><!-- State -->
                    </apex:outputPanel>

                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                        <apex:inputText value="{!Account.ShippingPostalCode}" /><!-- Postal Code -->
                    </apex:outputPanel>

                </apex:outputPanel>

                <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                        <apex:outputPanel layout="block">Refrigerant to be Shipped</apex:outputPanel>
                    </apex:outputPanel> 
                </apex:outputPanel>

                <apex:pageBlockTable value="{!InventoryLineItems}" var="i">
                    <apex:column headerValue="{!i.Product_Name__c}" value="{!i.Product_Name__c}"/><!-- Product Name -->
                    <apex:column headerValue="{!$ObjectType.Custom_Inventory__c.fields.Balance__c.label}" value="{!i.Balance__c} lbs"/><!-- Balance -->
                </apex:pageBlockTable>

                <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                        <apex:outputPanel layout="block">Shipping and Carrier Details</apex:outputPanel>
                    </apex:outputPanel>
                </apex:outputPanel>

                <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                    <!-- Shipping Via -->
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="inline">Shipping via:</apex:outputPanel>
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                        <apex:selectList value="{!carrier}" styleClass="editable" multiselect="false" size="3" >
                            <apex:selectOptions value="{!carrier_options}"/>
                        </apex:selectList>
                    </apex:outputPanel>

                    <!-- Tracking # -->
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">Tracking #:</apex:outputPanel>
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                        <apex:inputText />
                    </apex:outputPanel>
                </apex:outputPanel>

                <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                    <!-- Shipping Notes -->
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="inline">Shipping Notes:</apex:outputPanel>
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                        <apex:inputTextarea styleClass="editable" style="width:100%;"/>
                    </apex:outputPanel>

                    <!-- Ship Date -->
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">Expected to Ship on:</apex:outputPanel>
                    <apex:outputPanel layout="block">
                        <apex:inputText />
                    </apex:outputPanel>
                </apex:outputPanel>

            <apex:pageBlockButtons >
                <apex:commandButton value="Create Shipment" action="{!createShipment}">
                </apex:commandButton>
            </apex:pageBlockButtons>

        </apex:pageBlock>

    </apex:form>

</apex:outputPanel>

I know this is a more complex ask, and I've been researching what I can on my end to get this far, but any feedback that could help me link the missing pieces would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

You can start by defining an Account object that you would refer in your createShipment method.

public with sharing class ShipmentExtension {

    ApexPages.StandardController standardController;
    String accountId;
    public Account objAccount {get; set;}

Next, in your constructor you can initialize objAccount.

public ShipmentExtension(ApexPages.StandardController standardController) {
        this.standardController = standardController;
        this.accountId = ApexPages.currentPage().getParameters().get('accountid');
        this.carrier = 'Private Freight'; /* Default Option */

if(!string.isEmpty(this.accountId)){
            objAccount = [SELECT Id, Name, Owner.Name, ShippingStreet, ShippingCity, ShippingCountry, ShippingState, ShippingPostalCode FROM Account
                WHERE Id = :this.AccountId];
        } else {
            objAccount = new Account();
        }

    }

In your VF page, you would need to use {!objAccount.} instead of {!Account.}

In you createShipment() method, you would be able to get the updated values when you refer the objAccount object.

new_shipment.Account__c = objAccount.Id;

Finally, instead of returning null, you would return the PageReference of the new shipment record.