Custom settings are a natural fit for data that controls application behavior. They are similar to custom sObjects
but are cached, and so do not have to be retrieved from the Salesforce database each time they are accessed. For more information, refer to the Custom Settings Overview page in the Salesforce online help. Unlike custom sObjects
, custom settings do not have a configurable user interface provided by the platform, which can make maintenance a challenge for inexperienced administrators.
In this recipe, we will create a Visualforce frontend to an existing custom setting that allows an administrator to take an application in and out of maintenance, with an associated message to display to users.