Apex Developer Guide
jChoose a Development Environment for Writing Apex
Agentforce for Developers
Agentforce for Developers is an AI-powered developer tool that generates Apex code from natural language prompts and automatically suggests code completions as you type. Use Agentforce for Developers to easily create unit test cases for your Apex code and get to the required Apex test coverage.
Agentforce for Developers extension (salesforcedx-einstein-gpt) is a part of the Salesforce Expanded Pack. Agentforce for Developers is enabled by default in VS Code. For more information, see Set Up Agentforce for Developers.
- To access Agentforce for Developers from inside an Apex file in the VS Code editor, see Generate Apex Code.
- To use AI-based autocomplete to accept suggestions for Apex code as you write it, see Inline Auto Completion.
- To use Agentforce for Developers to quickly generate unit tests, see Test Case Generation.
Salesforce Extensions for Visual Studio Code and Code Builder
The Salesforce Extensions for Visual Studio Code and Code Builder are 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 developer edition orgs), Apex, Lightning components, and Visualforce.
Code Builder is a browser-based version of the desktop experience, with everything installed and configured. It provides all the goodness of the desktop experience, but provides you with the flexibility to work anywhere, from any computer.
Developer Console
The Developer Console is an integrated development environment (IDE) built into Salesforce. Use it to create, debug, and test Apex classes and triggers.
To open the Developer Console from Lightning Experience: Click the quick access menu
(
), then click .
To open the Developer Console from Salesforce Classic: Click .
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 are 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 Setup Code Editors
All classes and triggers are compiled when they’re saved, and any syntax errors are flagged. You can’t 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.
- From Setup in the Quick Find box, enter Apex, and select an Apex class or trigger. To edit it, click Edit beside the class or trigger name.
- To create a trigger on an object, from Setup in the Quick Find box, enter Object and click . Click the object name and click Triggers. Click New and enter your code.
Additional Editors
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.
To develop an Apex IDE of your own, use SOAP API methods for compiling triggers and classes, and executing test methods. Use Metadata API methods for deploying code to production environments. For more information, see Deploying Apex.