Visualforce - Beyond Basics Series 2 - Use $Action & avoid URL Hacks

What is URL Hacks ?

The technique of reverse engineering standard salesforce URL & using them to build a custom solution.

Problems of using URL Hacks ?

The standard salesforce URL formats & parameters is undocumented. So, it could be changed anytime during standard release or during bug fixes. So, it's better to avoid

How to avoid it ?

Salesforce provides standard ways to access the URL & parameters in Visualforce & Apex. Developers must use them instead of hardcoding the URL's in the code.

Where is the code ?

Instead of using something like '/006/o' to redirect to opportunity tab page, one could use $Action.Opportunity.Tab with the help of URLFOR function to get the URL.

For illustration, i have shown how to get the URL's for create, view, edit delete for an opportunity record

Where can i find more information ?

For more information, you can see the possible action values for all sObjects,
$Action - Salesforce doc