Documentation Typographical Conventions
Apex and Visualforce documentation uses these typographical conventions.
| Convention | Description |
|---|---|
| Courier font | In descriptions of syntax, a monospace font indicates items that you should type as shown, except for brackets. For example: Public class HelloWorld |
| Italics | In descriptions of syntax, italics represent variables. You supply the
actual value. In the following example, three values must be supplied:
datatype variable_name [ =
value]; If the syntax is bold and italic, the text represents a code element that needs a value supplied by you, such as a class name or variable value: public static class YourClassHere { ... } |
| Bold Courier font | In code samples and syntax descriptions, a bold courier font emphasizes a portion of the code or syntax. |
| < > | In descriptions of syntax, less-than and greater-than symbols (< >) are typed exactly as shown. For an example, see Angle brackets (< >) typed exactly as shown. |
| { } | In descriptions of syntax, braces ({ }) are typed exactly as shown. For an example, see Braces ({ }) typed exactly as shown. |
| [ ] | In descriptions of syntax, anything included in brackets is optional. In the following example, specifying value is optional. For an example, see Brackets ([ ]) indicating optional items. |
| | | In descriptions of syntax, the pipe sign means “or”. You can do one of the following (not all). In the following example, you can create a new unpopulated set in one of two ways, or you can populate the set. For an example, see Pipe symbol (|) meaning “or”. |