Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Why yank the Component Types table from SFMT Guide?

It seems that in the new Force.com Migration Tool Guide for Winter '14, the big table of component types - what are allowed in the element - has been removed.  In its place now is a link to the Metadata Types in the Metadata API Guide.  That's a major rollback of usability without any apparent gain for a number of reasons.

  • While the FMT tool is based on the Metadata API, its element usage doesn't necessarily translate nicely from what in the API.  The Tool Guide users are definitely looking for ready-to-use information for the ANT plug-in.
  • The Metadata API component page is missing specific information needed for FMT users (folder location, wildcard applicability, etc.)
  • The PDF version is intended for self-contained consumption - offline reference, for instance, but even that version opts for the link instead, making it much less convenient for certain circumstances.
See below for the change comparison.
component table removed

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