Apex Developer Guide

Apex Developer Guide
Getting Started with Apex
Introducing Apex
Apex Development Process
What is the Apex Development Process?
Create a Developer or Sandbox Org
Learning Apex
Writing Apex Using Development Environments
Writing Tests
Deploying Apex to a Sandbox Organization
Deploying Apex to a Salesforce Production Organization
Adding Apex Code to a AppExchange App
Apex Quick Start
Writing Apex
Running Apex
Debugging, Testing, and Deploying Apex
Apex Language Reference
Appendices
Glossary
PDF

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Writing Apex Using Development Environments

There are several development environments for developing Apex code. The Developer Console and the Salesforce extensions for Visual Studio Code allow you to write, test, and debug your Apex code. The code editor in the user interface enables only writing code and doesn’t support debugging.

Developer Console

The Developer Console is an integrated development environment with a collection of tools you can use to create, debug, and test applications in your Salesforce organization.

The Developer Console supports these tasks:
  • Writing code—You can add code using the source code editor. Also, you can browse packages in your organization.
  • Compiling code—When you save a trigger or class, the code is automatically compiled. Any compilation errors will be reported.
  • Debugging—You can view debug logs and set checkpoints that aid in debugging.
  • Testing—You can execute tests of specific test classes or all tests in your organization, and you can view test results. Also, you can inspect code coverage.
  • Checking performance—You can inspect debug logs to locate performance bottlenecks.
  • SOQL queries—You can query data in your organization and view the results using the Query Editor.
  • Color coding and autocomplete—The source code editor uses a color scheme for easier readability of code elements and provides autocompletion for class and method names.

Salesforce Extensions for Visual Studio Code

The Salesforce extension pack for Visual Studio Code includes tools for developing on the Salesforce platform in the lightweight, extensible VS Code editor. These tools provide features for working with development orgs (scratch orgs, sandboxes, and DE orgs), Apex, Aura components, and Visualforce.

See the website for information about installation and usage.

If you want to develop an Apex IDE of your own, the SOAP API includes methods for compiling triggers and classes, and executing test methods, while the Metadata API includes methods for deploying code to production environments. For more information, see Deploying Apex and SOAP API and SOAP Headers for Apex.

Tip

Code Editor in the Salesforce User Interface

The Salesforce user interface. All classes and triggers are compiled when they are saved, and any syntax errors are flagged. You cannot save your code until it compiles without errors. The Salesforce user interface also numbers the lines in the code, and uses color coding to distinguish different elements, such as comments, keywords, literal strings, and so on.
  • For a trigger on an object, from the object’s management settings, go to Triggers, click New, and then enter your code in the Body text box.
  • For a class, from Setup, enter Apex Classes in the Quick Find box, then select Apex Classes. Click New, and then enter your code in the Body text box.

You can’t modify Apex using the Salesforce user interface in a Salesforce production org.

Note

Alternatively, you can use any text editor, such as Notepad, to write Apex code. Then either copy and paste the code into your application, or use one of the API calls to deploy it.