Formula Debugger for Salesforce (Chrome Extension)

Overview

• Goal: Inspect, test, and debug Salesforce formulas directly in the Lightning formula editor.
• What it does: Injects a lightweight debugger UI on Salesforce formula edit pages that parses the formula, lets you enter sample values, and shows step-by-step evaluation and the final result — all locally in your browser.

Features

• Inline UI: Adds a “Formula Debugger” panel under the CalculatedFormula editor in Salesforce.
• Parser + evaluator: Tokenizes and parses formulas, then evaluates them with your sample inputs.
• Step-by-step: Displays intermediate calculation steps and their results to aid understanding.
• Variables input: Detects field references and creates inputs to try different values.
• Date support: Handles date comparisons and simple arithmetic (e.g., date ± days).
• Error reporting: Shows parse/evaluation errors with helpful messages.

Supported Syntax (Highlights)

• Operators: + - * / = != <> < <= > >= && ||
• Literals: Numbers, single-quoted strings, double-quoted strings, NULL
• Functions (examples): IF, CONTAINS, FIND, MID, FLOOR, CASE, AND, OR, NOT, ISPICKVAL, ISBLANK, NOW
• Notes:
  • String concatenation uses +.
  • NOW() can be supplied via a datetime input; date ± number treats the number as days.
  • Unsupported functions will show a clear error.

Installation

• Load unpacked:
  • Open chrome://extensions in Chrome.
  • Enable “Developer mode”.
  • Click “Load unpacked” and select this project directory.
• Confirm the extension appears with its icon and popup (popup.html:1).

Usage

• Navigate to a formula editor: Open your Salesforce Lightning org and go to an Object’s Fields & Relationships. Create or edit a Formula field so the formula editor loads.
• Debugger injection: On pages containing the formula editor, the extension injects a “Formula Debugger” panel below it.
• Analyze:
  • Click “Run Debug” to parse the current formula.
  • Review detected variables and enter sample values.
  • Click “Calculate” to compute the result and see each step evaluated.
• Troubleshooting: If the panel doesn’t appear, reload the page after the editor fully loads. Some editors render inside iframes; the extension waits for them and injects the UI when accessible.

Known Limitations

• Function coverage: Only a subset of Salesforce functions is implemented. Unsupported functions throw an error.
• Type coercion: Numeric/string/date coercions follow JavaScript-like behavior and may differ from Salesforce edge cases.
• Date math: Date ± number treats the number as days; time zones use your browser locale.

Tips

• Start with a small formula (e.g., IF(1=1, "yes", "no")) and add complexity.
• Use the variables panel to iterate quickly without editing live fields.
• Watch for red error banners; they generally point to the first problematic token/operator.

Support / Feedback

• Open an issue or share feedback with steps, the formula you tried, and a screenshot of the debugger panel and any error shown.