Getting a Quick Start with Visualforce

To showcase the essential elements of Visualforce, this chapter includes a set of examples that demonstrate features of the language. While the examples do not go into every detail, rule, or exception for every tag or controller, new Visualforce developers can use this tutorial to understand how Visualforce works before proceeding to the more detailed descriptions in the remainder of this guide.

The examples are broken up into beginner and advanced sections. The beginner examples primarily use Visualforce markup. The advanced examples use Lightning Platform Apex code in addition to Visualforce markup.

Advanced examples that require Apex are in their own chapter.

Compile Visualforce Successfully

Learn the requirements of compiling Visualforce pages and components.
Creating Your First Page
Displaying Field Values with Visualforce
Using the Visualforce Component Library
Override an Existing Page with a Visualforce Page

Replace an existing page, such as a standard record detail page, with a Visualforce page that uses custom tabs to organize the record information into sections.
Redirecting to a Standard Object List Page
Using Input Components in a Page
Adding and Customizing Input Field Labels
Setting the Tab Order for Fields in a Form

Visualforce forms have a “natural order” for tabbing through the input fields: left-to-right, top-to-bottom. For some forms, this might not be the most efficient or accessible arrangement. You can use the tabIndex and tabOrderHint attributes on input and other components in your page to change the tab order to anything you’d like.
Adding Dependent Fields to a Page
Create Visualforce Dashboard Components

Use Visualforce pages as dashboard components. A dashboard shows data from source reports as visual components, such as charts, gauges, tables, metrics, or Visualforce pages. The components provide a snapshot of key metrics and performance indicators. Each dashboard can have up to 20 components.
Displaying Related Lists for Custom Objects
Enabling Inline Editing
Converting a Page to a PDF File
Building a Table of Data in a Page
Editing a Table of Data in a Page
Using Query String Parameters in a Page

As shown in earlier examples, the default page context—that is, the record that provides the source of data displayed on the page—is controlled by a query string parameter named id in the page URL. You can also get and set query string parameters in the Visualforce markup.
Use Ajax in a Page

Some Visualforce components are Ajax aware. With these components, you can add Ajax behaviors to a page without writing any JavaScript.
Put Visualforce Pages on External Domains

To frame your Visualforce content on a trusted external domain, enable clickjack protection, and then specify the domains where you allow framing. If your Visualforce page requires authentication, use a custom domain to serve your Visualforce content on the same domain that frames the page.