Getting Started with Apex Development on the Salesforce Force.com Platform using the Force.com IDE


Getting Started with Apex Development on the Salesforce Force.com Platform using the Force.com IDE


Below I will describe the steps to getting started using the SFDC plugin in Eclipse to start developing custom Apex classes and Visualforce pages for Salesforce.  This guide does not focus on configuration or "click" based development.

You may prefer to use the built-in developer console instead of the Eclipse IDE.


Download and Install the Eclipse IDE



Latest version of Eclipse as of 4/25/2014:  Eclipse Standard 4.3.2 for Windows 64 bit



Download Page:  http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/



Install the Force.com Plugin for Eclipse



  1. From the top menu, Click Help > Install New Software

    Eclipse Force.com IDE install new software
    Install the Force.com Plugin

  2. Click Add
  3. Under the Add Repository message

  4. Eclipse Force.com IDE Repo Location
    Add the Force.com Plugin repo location
  5. Eclipse will download the list of all available plugins.
  6. Check the box for the Force.com IDE plugin and then click Next.

    Force.com IDE Plugin download
    Download the Force.com plugin for the Eclipse IDE

  7. Within the Install Details dialog, click Next.
  8. In the Review Licenses dialog, click accept to the terms then click Finish.
  9. Eclipse will then download and install the Force.com IDE and any required dependencies. After installation is complete, you will be prompted to restart the IDE. Click on Yes.
  10. Select Window > Open Perspective > Other, select Force.com and click OK

Additional info on the Force.com IDE

More in-depth info



Sign up for a salesforce developer account

You will need a developer org to begin development applications.





Read up on the Force.com platform and the Apex Language


Workbooks

Various Helpful Tutorials and workbooks


Online Interactive Courses

Regular Webinars host by Salesforce personnel 

More In-depth Apex Learning Resources for more Advanced Techniques



Configure your IDE environment



Select the Force.com perspective 


Open Force.com IDE perspective
Select the Force.com Perspective


Create a new Force.com Project in Eclipse



Launch the Force.com Project wizard, select File | New | Force.com Project.



  • On the first page, enter the appropriate properties for the project.  Enter the salesforce login from your developer account.


Project NameRequired. A project is associated with one organization. Project names must be unique. You can create more than one project that connects to the same organization, but they cannot have the same project name.
UsernameRequired. The username you use to log in to the organization associated with this project (“home organization”).The username associated with this connection must have the “Modify All Data” permission. Typically, this is only enabled for System Administrator users.
PasswordRequired. The password for the specified username.
Security TokenThe security token is appended to your password as an added security measure. If you are using a security token, enter the value here. For more information, see the Salesforce online help topic Setting Login Restrictions.
Get security token from salesforce
Get your security token from your Salesforce control panel


EnvironmentRequired. Choose the appropriate environment for your connection:
  • Production/Developer Edition - Choose this option if you are connecting to a production or Developer Edition organization.
  • Sandbox - Choose this option if you are connecting to a sandbox organization. Sandbox organizations have an URL that starts with test.
  • Pre-Release - Choose this option if you are connecting to a prerelease server.
  • Other (Specify) - Choose this option if you want to connect to a specific instance.



Click Finish to create the project.





Moving forward, you will want to move on to configuring your SFDC org and create some custom objects, custom settings, sites and other objects in your Salesforce org and start customizing them.  The best way to go about this is to go through the workbooks.  

List of All Downloadable Workbooks:  Developer Workbooks

How to Create a new app and custom objects:  Work through this online workbook

Intro to Force.com Sites
https://developer.salesforce.com/page/An_Introduction_to_Force.com_Sites


More on visualforce:
https://developer.salesforce.com/page/An_Introduction_to_Visualforce





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