SuiteScript 2.0: How to write efficient code?

Question

I am new to SuiteScript and want to make our code more efficient. Looking at our code it seems there are many script of the same type for the same record type. For example, 3 clientscripts on a sales order. Is it bad practice to roll all of these scripts into the same script?

I also want to centralise the code. The last 3 years I've written in C# and any reusable code was placed in a relevant class. I want to rewrite the code we have in the same manner. For example, any method that is to do with a sales order is placed in a module called SalesOrderServices. This module can then be added to any of the scripts and the methods are all available if needed. My concern is this would make things less efficient due to loading all the modules in the Services module, even if they are not really needed. So as a second part to this question, is this a good idea or will it make our code be less efficient?

Answer 1

There is quite a lot to consider in a question like this, and there won't be one correct answer, but I'll chime in with my perspective.

It is not necessarily bad practice to combine the similar scripts into one, but it also is not bad practice to keep them separate. That's really a decision that only you and your team can decide on what is most efficient for you to maintain.

I do think you are right to want to break out any reusable functionality into separate modules, but I would be careful putting "everything related to a Sales Order" into one module. My personal preference is to design and group code based on features and business processes rather than around record types. If you try to modularize based on record type, what happens when you have an approval process that touches both Purchase Orders and Vendor Bills? Where will that live? I prefer small, focused modules rather than large monolithic ones, but that is just my preference. That doesn't work best for everyone and every team.

Have you proven that loading additional modules or Script records is a performance bottleneck for your system? I would be very surprised if that were the case, and so I would caution against premature optimization of these sorts of things. There are many facets of NetSuite that operate on the order of seconds and are out of your control, so saving a few micro- or milliseconds here and there isn't going to do anything appreciable for your users.