Introduction to SDF

The SuiteCloud Development Framework (SDF) is NetSuite's modern development platform for building, managing, and deploying customizations. This guide provides comprehensive coverage of SDF development from fundamentals to real-world scenarios.

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What is SDF?

SDF is a development framework that allows you to:

• Build customizations locally using your preferred IDE (VSCode)
• Version control all customizations as code (XML and JavaScript)
• Deploy changes consistently across accounts (Sandbox → Production)
• Collaborate with team members using Git workflows

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         SDF DEVELOPMENT WORKFLOW                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

  ┌──────────────┐      ┌──────────────┐      ┌──────────────┐
  │   VSCode     │      │    GitHub    │      │   NetSuite   │
  │   (Local)    │ ──── │   (Source)   │ ──── │  (Deployed)  │
  └──────────────┘      └──────────────┘      └──────────────┘
        │                      │                      │
        ▼                      ▼                      ▼
   Write Code            Version Control         Live System
   Test Locally          Collaboration           Users Access
   Validate              Code Review             Production

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SDF vs Traditional Development

Aspect	Traditional (UI-Based)	SDF (Code-Based)
Development	Point-and-click in NetSuite UI	Write code in VSCode locally
Version Control	Manual backups, no history	Full Git integration
Deployment	Copy/paste, manual recreation	Automated, consistent deployment
Collaboration	One person at a time	Multiple developers, branching
Rollback	Difficult, manual	Easy with Git history
Testing	Only in NetSuite	Local validation before deploy

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What Can You Build with SDF?

Scripts (SuiteScript 2.1)

Script Type	Purpose	Trigger
Suitelet	Custom pages/forms, reports	URL access
User Event	Record validation, automation	Record save/load
Client Script	UI validation, field changes	User interaction
Scheduled Script	Background jobs, reports	Time-based schedule
Map/Reduce	Large data processing	Manual or scheduled
RESTlet	External API integration	HTTP requests
Workflow Action	Custom workflow logic	Workflow execution

Custom Objects

Object Type	Purpose
Custom Records	New data tables
Custom Fields	Extend standard records
Custom Lists	Dropdown values
Saved Searches	Reusable queries
Workflows	Business process automation
Forms	Custom entry forms
Roles	User permissions

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SDF Project Components

📁 MySuiteProject/
├── 📄 suitecloud.config.js      # Project configuration
├── 📄 manifest.xml              # What to deploy
├── 📄 deploy.xml                # Deployment settings
├── 📁 src/
│   ├── 📁 FileCabinet/
│   │   └── 📁 SuiteScripts/     # JavaScript files
│   │       ├── 📁 Suitelets/
│   │       ├── 📁 UserEvents/
│   │       ├── 📁 ClientScripts/
│   │       ├── 📁 ScheduledScripts/
│   │       ├── 📁 MapReduce/
│   │       ├── 📁 RESTlets/
│   │       └── 📁 Libraries/
│   └── 📁 Objects/              # XML definitions
│       ├── customrecord_*.xml
│       ├── customsearch_*.xml
│       ├── custworkflow_*.xml
│       └── ...
└── 📁 .git/                     # Version control

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Development Lifecycle

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                           SDF DEVELOPMENT LIFECYCLE                          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

     ┌──────────┐
     │  PLAN    │  Define requirements, design solution
     └────┬─────┘
          │
          ▼
     ┌──────────┐
     │  BUILD   │  Write scripts, create objects in VSCode
     └────┬─────┘
          │
          ▼
     ┌──────────┐
     │ VALIDATE │  SuiteCloud: Validate Project
     └────┬─────┘
          │
          ▼
     ┌──────────┐
     │  DEPLOY  │  Deploy to Sandbox
     └────┬─────┘
          │
          ▼
     ┌──────────┐
     │   TEST   │  Test in Sandbox environment
     └────┬─────┘
          │
          ▼
     ┌──────────┐
     │  REVIEW  │  Code review via Pull Request
     └────┬─────┘
          │
          ▼
     ┌──────────┐
     │ RELEASE  │  Deploy to Production
     └──────────┘

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Prerequisites

Before starting SDF development, ensure you have:

Requirement	Purpose
VSCode	Primary development IDE
SuiteCloud Extension	NetSuite integration for VSCode
Node.js	Required for SuiteCloud CLI
Git	Version control
NetSuite Account	Sandbox for development/testing
Token-Based Auth	Secure API authentication

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SuiteScript 2.1 Overview

This guide uses SuiteScript 2.1 which provides modern JavaScript syntax:

/**
 * @NApiVersion 2.1
 * @NScriptType Suitelet
 */
define(['N/ui/serverWidget', 'N/record', 'N/search'],
    (serverWidget, record, search) => {

    // Arrow functions
    const onRequest = (context) => {
        // Const/let instead of var
        const form = serverWidget.createForm({ title: 'My Form' });

        // Template literals
        const message = `Request method: ${context.request.method}`;

        // Destructuring
        const { parameters } = context.request;

        context.response.writePage(form);
    };

    return { onRequest };
});

Key SuiteScript 2.1 Features

Feature	Example
Arrow Functions	const fn = (x) => x * 2;
Template Literals	`Hello ${name}`
Const/Let	const x = 1; let y = 2;
Destructuring	const { id, name } = record;
Default Parameters	function fn(x = 10) {}
Spread Operator	const arr = [...items, newItem];

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What You'll Learn

This documentation covers:

Fundamentals

1. Getting Started - Project setup, configuration, structure
2. Script Types - All 7 script types with examples
3. Custom Objects - Records, fields, searches, workflows

Practical Application

4. Real-World Scenarios - Complete end-to-end implementations
5. Deployment - Sandbox, production, rollback
6. Best Practices - Standards, error handling, performance

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Quick Links

Section	Description
Project Setup	Create your first SDF project
Suitelet Development	Build custom pages
User Event Scripts	Automate record operations
Invoice Approval Scenario	Complete workflow implementation

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Next Steps

Start with SDF Project Setup to create your first SDF project.