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This tutorial teaches you how to create a Salesforce data table that magically refreshes itself whenever related records are changed or created. No more manual page refreshes are needed - new updates appear instantly, right before your eyes!
We'll use Platform Events, a Trigger Flow, and a Screen Flow to make this happen.
We need a way to signal when a record changes. Platform Events act like a message system, letting us broadcast these changes in real-time
Go to Setup and search for Platform Events.
Click New Platform Event.
Fill in the Label (e.g., "RecordChangeEvent"), Plural Label, and the API Name should auto-populate.
Set Publish Behavior to Publish After Commit.
Click Save.
We'll include a field in our Platform Event to store the ID of the record that was changed. This helps us target updates to the correct row in our datatable later on
After saving, click New Field within the Platform Event.
Choose a suitable data type (e.g., Text for record IDs).
Fill in the Field Label (e.g., "RecordId") and the Field Name should auto-populate.
Click Next, set any required properties, and click Save.
This field will help filter updates to specific records if needed.
This flow will automatically run whenever a record is created or updated. Its job is to send a Platform Event message when a change occurs. If needed, we can also add conditions to send messages only for specific changes.
Go to Setup and search for Flows.
Click New Flow and choose Record-Triggered Flow.
Configure the trigger:
Object: Select the object you want to monitor (e.g., Lead).
Trigger: Choose whether it should trigger on Create or Update.
Condition Requirements: Define any specific conditions for triggering the flow.
Add a Create Records element:
Label: Give it a suitable name (e.g., "Create Record Change Event").
Create a Record: Choose Manually for How to set record field values
Object: Select the Platform Event object you created (e.g., RecordChangeEvent__e).
Field Values: Set the fields to reflect the changes (e.g., set recordId to {!Record.Id}).
(Optional) Add a Decision Node:
If you only want to create the Platform Event under certain conditions, add a Decision element before the Create Records element.
Define your decision criteria.
Activate the flow by clicking Activate.
This is where we'll build the user interface with our live-updating datatable. The datatable will be configured to listen for the Platform Events we created earlier, so it can refresh itself automatically when it receives a message.
Go to Setup and search for Flows.
Click New Flow and choose Screen Flow.
Add a Screen element to the canvas.
Add a Data Table component to the screen.
Configure the Data Table:
Data Source: Set it to Query.
Object: Choose the object to display (e.g., Account).
Go to Advanced Options:
In Query Refresh Emp, specify the name of your Platform Event (e.g., RecordChangeEvent__e).
Save and activate the flow.
Finally, we need to make our Screen Flow accessible to users. We can embed it in a Lightning page, an App Page, or even add it to the Utility Bar for easy access.
Now you have a datatable that updates in real-time whenever the specified records are changed, thanks to the power of Platform Events and Salesforce Flows.
