A Beginner’s Guide to Salesforce Libraries: Enhance Your Development Skills

Salesforce offers a variety of libraries that simplify and enhance the development process. These libraries, ranging from official Salesforce offerings to community-driven projects, empower developers to build scalable and efficient solutions. In this guide, we will explore the most commonly used Salesforce libraries, their use cases, and examples to get you started.

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Table of Contents

1. Lightning Web Components (LWC)
2. Salesforce Apex
3. SLDS (Salesforce Lightning Design System)
4. Salesforce CLI
5. JSforce
6. FuseIT SFDC Explorer
7. OmniScript
8. Chart.js with LWC
9. Moment.js
10. External Libraries and Tools

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1. Lightning Web Components (LWC)

Description:

LWC is a modern JavaScript framework for building responsive and dynamic user interfaces in Salesforce. It leverages web standards, ensuring faster and lightweight development.

Use Case:

Building custom components for Salesforce applications.

Example:

import { LightningElement, api } from 'lwc';

export default class HelloWorld extends LightningElement {
    @api greeting = 'World';
}

Documentation:

Lightning Web Components Official Guide

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2. Salesforce Apex

Description:

Apex is a strongly-typed, object-oriented programming language tailored for Salesforce. It allows developers to execute transactional control and business logic on the Salesforce platform.

Use Case:

Creating triggers, controllers, and batch processes.

Example:

public class HelloWorld {
    public static String getGreeting() {
        return 'Hello, World!';
    }
}

Documentation:

Apex Developer Guide

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3. SLDS (Salesforce Lightning Design System)

Description:

SLDS provides a collection of CSS and design tokens to create visually consistent and responsive user interfaces.

Use Case:

Styling Lightning components or Visualforce pages.

Example:

<div class="slds-box slds-theme_default">
    Hello, styled world!
</div>

Documentation:

SLDS Documentation

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4. Salesforce CLI

Description:

A command-line interface that simplifies scripting and automation for Salesforce tasks.

Use Case:

Deploying metadata, retrieving data, or setting up scratch orgs.

Example:

sfdx force:org:create -s -f config/project-scratch-def.json -a MyScratchOrg

Documentation:

Salesforce CLI Guide

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5. JSforce

Description:

A JavaScript library for integrating Salesforce with external applications. It supports REST and SOAP APIs.

Use Case:

Building Node.js applications that interact with Salesforce.

Example:

const jsforce = require('jsforce');
const conn = new jsforce.Connection();

conn.login('username', 'password', function(err, userInfo) {
    if (err) { return console.error(err); }
    console.log('Connected to Salesforce as: ' + userInfo.id);
});

Documentation:

JSforce GitHub Repository

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6. OmniScript

Description:

Part of Salesforce Industries, OmniScript helps in creating guided workflows with minimal coding.

Use Case:

Designing guided flows for users.

Example:

Drag-and-drop UI to create an order management flow.

Documentation:

OmniStudio Developer Guide

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8. Chart.js with LWC

Description:

Chart.js is a popular JavaScript library for creating interactive charts and can be used within LWC components.

Use Case:

Visualizing Salesforce data.

Example:

import Chart from 'chart.js';

connectedCallback() {
    const ctx = this.template.querySelector('canvas').getContext('2d');
    new Chart(ctx, {
        type: 'bar',
        data: {
            labels: ['Red', 'Blue'],
            datasets: [{
                label: '# of Votes',
                data: [12, 19]
            }]
        }
    });
}

Documentation:

Chart.js Official Site

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9. Moment.js

Description:

A library for parsing, validating, and formatting dates in JavaScript.

Use Case:

Handling complex date operations in LWC or Visualforce.

Example:

import moment from 'moment';
console.log(moment().format('MMMM Do YYYY, h:mm:ss a'));

Documentation:

Moment.js Documentation

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10. External Libraries and Tools

10.1 PapaParse

Description:

A fast CSV parser for JavaScript. It can be used in LWC or Visualforce for reading and writing CSV files.

Use Case:

Importing/exporting data from/to CSV in Salesforce applications.

Example:

import Papa from 'papaparse';

const csvData = `name,age\nJohn,30\nJane,25`;
Papa.parse(csvData, {
    complete: function(results) {
        console.log(results.data);
    }
});

Documentation:

PapaParse Documentation

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10.2 Lodash

Description:

A modern JavaScript utility library delivering modularity, performance, and extras.

Use Case:

Handling data transformations and utility functions in Salesforce JavaScript development.

Example:

import _ from 'lodash';

const users = [
    { 'user': 'John', 'age': 30 },
    { 'user': 'Jane', 'age': 25 }
];
const sortedUsers = _.sortBy(users, ['age']);
console.log(sortedUsers);

Documentation:

Lodash Documentation

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You can also read – https://sfdc247.com/2025/09/stop-the-headaches-how-to-deploy-data-cloud-changes-like-a-pro.html

Conclusion

These Salesforce libraries, tools, and frameworks serve as building blocks for every Salesforce developer. They not only streamline development but also ensure scalability and performance in applications. Explore the provided documentation and start experimenting with these libraries to master the Salesforce ecosystem.

Got any questions or suggestions? Drop them in the comments below!