Get All Record Types

When you work with Salesforce, many objects (SObjects) have record types to help you categorize records with different business processes or page layouts. Sometimes, as a developer, you want to retrieve all record types of a particular object dynamically in Apex without hardcoding anything.

In this post, we’ll learn how to write a simple Apex method that:

• Takes the API name of an SObject (like Account, Case, or Contact)

• Returns a list of all record type names (except the default ‘Master’ record type)

• Uses the Schema class’s metadata methods, making it more flexible and efficient than querying the database

This is a great way to build dynamic components or logic that depend on record types without updating code every time a new record type is added.

🧠 What Are We Trying to Do?

Imagine you have a Visualforce page or Lightning component that lets users pick a record type for creating a new record. You want to show the list of all available record types for that SObject.

Our method will:

• Use Schema Describe methods to get metadata about the SObject

• Grab all record types via getRecordTypeInfosByDeveloperName()

• Filter out the ‘Master’ record type (which is the default, system one)

• Return a list of record type names that you can display or use elsewhere

🔍 Code Explanation

public with sharing class ApexUseCaseTwentyNine {
    public static List<String> retrieveRecordTypes(String sobjectName){

We start by defining a class called ApexUseCaseTwentyNine and a static method retrieveRecordTypes that accepts the SObject’s API name as a string and returns a list of record type names.

        List<String> recordTypeNames = new List<String>();

We create an empty list to store record type names.

Map<String, Schema.RecordTypeInfo> recordTypeInfos = Schema.getGlobalDescribe()
            .get(sobjectName).getDescribe().getRecordTypeInfosByDeveloperName();

Using Schema.getGlobalDescribe(), we fetch the metadata for the given SObject name. Then, we call getRecordTypeInfosByDeveloperName() which returns a map where the keys are developer names of record types and the values are RecordTypeInfo objects.

        for(String devName : recordTypeInfos.keySet()){
            if(devName != 'Master'){
                recordTypeNames.add(recordTypeInfos.get(devName).getName());
            }
        }

We loop through the developer names, skip the default ‘Master’ record type, and add the friendly name (getName()) of each record type to our list.

        return recordTypeNames;
    }
}

Finally, we return the list of record type names.

✅ Why This Is Useful

• No SOQL needed: This method uses metadata, so it won’t count against your governor limits.

• Dynamic: Works for any SObject — no need to update code if record types change.

• Great for UI: Perfect for building picklists or dropdowns that show record type choices.

• Cleaner & safer: Avoids hardcoding record type names or IDs.

🧾 Final Code Snippet

public with sharing class ApexUseCaseTwentyNine {
    public static List<String> retrieveRecordTypes(String sobjectName){
         List<String> recordTypeNames = new List<String>();

        Map<String, Schema.RecordTypeInfo> recordTypeInfos = Schema.getGlobalDescribe()
            .get(sobjectName).getDescribe().getRecordTypeInfosByDeveloperName();
        
        for(String devName : recordTypeInfos.keySet()){
            if(devName != 'Master'){
                recordTypeNames.add(recordTypeInfos.get(devName).getName());
            }
        }
        
        return recordTypeNames;
    }
}

🎥 Watch It in Action!

Prefer video tutorials? Watch this step-by-step demo showing how to get record types dynamically in Apex and how to use the returned list to create a Lightning dropdown.