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

   
   

   

   Install the Force.com Plugin

   
   

2. Click Add
3. Under the Add Repository message
• Set the Name to "Force.com IDE" and 
• Set the Location to "http://media.developerforce.com/force-ide/eclipse42" then click OK

4. 
   

   

   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.

   
   

   

   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

https://developer.salesforce.com/page/An_Introduction_to_Force_IDE

https://developer.salesforce.com/page/Force.com_IDE_FAQ

Sign up for a salesforce developer account

You will need a developer org to begin development applications.

• Sign up here:  https://developer.salesforce.com/signup

• Activate and login to your account:  https://login.salesforce.com

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

Workbooks

Various Helpful Tutorials and workbooks

• Get started with Force.com as a platform:  Force.com Workbook

• Get started with the Apex language:  PDF Apex Workbook

• All Downloadable Developer Workbooks:  Developer Workbooks

Online Interactive Courses

• Free online cources on Salesforce at Udacity:  http://udacity.com/salesforce

Regular Webinars host by Salesforce personnel 

• Force.com Fridays half-hour webinars:  Weekly Webinars

• Archived intro video webinars on Youtube:  Youtube Force.com and Apex Webinars

More In-depth Apex Learning Resources for more Advanced Techniques

• Apex Quickstart:  Apex Code Quick Start
• Intro to common Apex Concepts and Terms: An Introduction to Force.com Apex Code
• Apex Training Course "Apex Programming on the Force.com Platform"
• Chatter in Apex Quick Start
• Intro-Level Apex Code Dreamforce Sessions:
  • Introduction to Programming with Force.com Apex Code
  • Hands-On: Introduction to Force.com Code (Apex) for Non-Developers
  • Hands-On: Introduction to Force.com Apex Code Patterns for Developers
• Apex Code Cheat Sheet

Configure your IDE environment

Select the Force.com 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 Name	Required. 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.
Username	Required. 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.
Password	Required. The password for the specified username.
Security Token	The 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 your security token from your Salesforce control panel
Environment	Required. 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