The Component Search is a feature that gives admins the power to locate, investigate and find references to a metadata component by Label, API name and ID simultaneously. It navigates the intricacies of the org metadata structure and allows the transition from manual examination to automated scan where results are easily turned into action-oriented work items to be picked up by developers.
Prerequisites
Space on Enterprise or Consulting plan with a Salesforce org connected
Editor permissions for the Org model to start the search
Viewer permissions for the Org model to view shared results
Metadata types available for search
Right now you can perform the search for hard coded references in the metadata types listed below.
Apex Classes
Apex Triggers
Flows
More metadata types (formula fields, validation rules, aura components, lightning components, email templates, visual force components and pages) are coming throughout Q1 2024.
How to access Component Search
To access the feature, please navigate to the target Org model. When the metadata dictionary is displayed, please look for the metadata component you are interested in finding dependencies for and select it.
Once the individual node row is highlighted in blue you can access the ‘Component Search’ by accessing the context menu (by right click on Windows and double tap on Mac) or the Dependency tab in the right panel - in both situations, please find the ‘Search for references’ option.
After selecting the ‘Search for references’ option, a new browser tab will open and the search for references will start. The ‘Component Search’ will look for selected metadata component dependencies by its Label, API name and ID (both 15 and 18 characters).
You can close the browser tab if you want, and come back to view the results when you are ready. The search will process independently of the browser being opened or dismissed.
Analyzing results
The results are presented in a table of metadata where the references to the desired component were found by any means of reference. The preset of columns allows filtering and sorting, you can also reorder the column's sequence.
The columns displayed in the results are
API name of the component in which the reference was found
Type of metadata where the reference was found
What is the value of the ID or string found
What kind of reference it is (Label / API Name / ID)
Number of times this reference was found in this metadata (by this type of reference)
TIPS
You can share the results of your search by clicking on the ‘Share’ button in the top right corner, right under your profile icon.
You can select any row an open the right panel for the selected metadata. The right panel will open for the component in which the reference was found.
Working with results
The results of your search allow you to take action on the selected references found.
Please select the lines with references you are interested in taking action on. The actions you can perform are:
mass tag (replace or add),
create a single story for all selected nodes
create an individual story for each of the selected nodes
bulk update the Optimisation status for the selected nodes
bulk update the Node assignee for the selected nodes
open a dependency grid for further investigation
To perform any of those actions, please access the context menu the same way you have access to the ‘Node Search’ feature at the very beginning.