Visualforce Developer Guide

Introducing Visualforce
Tools for Visualforce Development
Getting a Quick Start with Visualforce
Customizing the Appearance and Output of Visualforce Pages
Standard Controllers
Standard List Controllers
Custom Controllers and Controller Extensions
Live Controller (Pilot)
Advanced Examples
Creating Your First Custom Controller
Creating a Custom Controller Class
Defining Getter Methods
Defining Action Methods
Defining Navigation Methods
Creating a Wizard
Advanced Visualforce Dashboard Components
Integrating Visualforce and Google Charts
Mass-Updating Records with a Custom List Controller
Overriding Buttons, Links, and Tabs with Visualforce
Using Static Resources
Creating and Using Custom Components
Dynamic Visualforce Bindings
Dynamic Visualforce Components
Integrating Email with Visualforce
Visualforce Charting
Creating Maps with Visualforce
Render Flows with Visualforce
Templating with Visualforce
Developing Salesforce Apps with Visualforce
Adding Visualforce to a Salesforce AppExchange App
Using JavaScript in Visualforce Pages
Communicating Across the DOM with Lightning Message Service
Best Practices
Standard Component Reference
Appendices
Glossary
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Creating a Custom Controller Class

A custom controller is simply an Apex class. For example, the following code is a valid, though ineffective, controller class:

You can create a controller class and add it to your page in two different ways:
  • Add the controller attribute to your page and use a “quick fix” to create the controller class on the fly:
    1. In the page editor, add the controller attribute to the <apex:page> tag. For example:
    2. Use the quick fix option to automatically create a new Apex class named MyController.
  • Create and save the controller class in the Apex editor of your choice, and then reference it in your page:
    1. In the application, from Setup, enter “Apex Classes” in the Quick Find box, then select Apex Classes and click New to create a new class.
    2. Return to your page and add the controller attribute to the <apex:page> tag as described in the example above.

A page can only reference one controller at a time. You can’t use both the standardController attribute and the controller attribute in an <apex:page> tag.

Note

As soon as you save a page that references a valid custom controller, a second Controller editor tab is available next to the Page Editor. This editor allows you to toggle back and forth between your page markup and the Apex that defines the page’s logic.

The Custom Controller Editor A Visualforce page displaying a callout to the Controller Editor