Installing Java

You need the Java Developer Kit (JDK) version 8.0 or later to use Salesforce APIs. Java is a robust, cross-platform, widely used language that integrates well with Salesforce.

To install the JDK, you need a Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux system that has internet access. Depending on your system, you might also need administrator level access to install the JDK.

If you think you already have the JDK installed, use the steps listed in Verifying your JDK install to verify your version of Java. Most versions of Mac OS X and Linux come pre-installed with a version of the JDK.

Note

The JDK is a development kit required to build Java applications. The JDK includes the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) which is required to run Java applications.

Navigate to http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html in your browser on your local system. Download the latest version of the JDK for your operating system. Make sure you are downloading the JDK, and not the JRE.
On Windows, double-click the installer executable and follow the steps to install the JDK and the included JRE to your local machine. On Mac OS X, open the .dmg file and double-click the installer package. On Linux, if you downloaded an .rpm file, in a command prompt window type rpm —ivh jdk install rpm file. If you downloaded a .tar file, extract the files from the tar archive and copy to a location of your choice.
Add the JDK executables to your path.
1. On Windows, click Start | Control Panel | System and Security | System | Advanced system settings. Click Environment Variables and find the PATH variable in System variables. Add the location of the bin folder of the JDK installation path to the end of your path value. Your path might look something like: %SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_162_x64\bin. Click Ok to apply the changes.
2. On Mac OS X or Linux, you must update your $PATH environment variable. On Mac OS X, you can also use the java_home command to set your Java paths.

Verifying your JDK install

To verify your JDK install, in a command prompt window type java —version. You should see something like:

1java version "1.8.0_162"
2Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_162-b12)
3Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 225.162-b12, mixed mode)

You can also verify that the Java compiler was properly installed by typing javac —version in a command prompt window. The output should look something like:

1javac 1.80_162

If you get an error indicating that either java or javac is an unknown executable, your installation might have failed, or you might not have set your path environment as described in Step 3.