Salesforce Platform Developer Practice Exam

If a user attempts to change a non-text field to external ID, what will occur?

1. Change will proceed

2. Error message will display

3. Field will act as external ID for other records

4. Field will remain without external ID designation

The correct answer is: Error message will display

When a user attempts to change a non-text field to an external ID, the system does not allow this action and an error message will display. External IDs are specifically designed to be used with fields that have text data types, as they are intended to contain unique identifiers that are typically expressed as strings. Therefore, non-text fields do not meet the requirements for being designated as external IDs, and this validation prevents such changes to ensure data integrity and proper functionality within the Salesforce platform. In this scenario, the attempt to alter a non-text field would trigger the system's validation rules, resulting in an error message that informs the user of the incompatible data type for external IDs. This behavior upholds Salesforce's data management standards and prevents misconfiguration in the schema.