Apex

(Introduction to Apex)
Exercise Guide
Table of Contents
Exercise 0-2: Creating a Sandbox Organization ......................................................................... 1
Exercise 1-1: Retrieving the Force.com (Apex) Developer’s Guide ............................................ 3
Exercise 1-2: Installing and Configuring the Force.com IDE ....................................................... 5
Exercise 1-3: Creating a Force.com IDE Project ........................................................................ 7
Exercise 1-4: Examining a Hello World Example........................................................................ 9
Exercise 0-2: Creating a Sandbox Organization

Goal:
Create a development environment that resembles production.

Scenario:
Universal Containers developers have successfully deployed their application to production.
However, now the customers are so pleased that they want to add more features and change
the current features.

Tasks:
1. Download your lab files.
2. Create a sandbox (full) organization.

Time:
5 minutes

Instructions:
1. Download your lab files.
A. In your org, navigate to the Documents tab.
B. Ensure that Shared Documents is selected for the Folder option, and click Go!.
C. Select the View option for LabFilesForDEV501.
D. When prompted, download the zip file to your Desktop.
E. Unpack the zip file to a folder on the Desktop.
2. Create the sandbox (full) organization
A. Navigate to Setup | Sandboxes
B. Click New Sandbox
C. On this screen, where you add Sandbox Information and choose the Sandbox License:
i. Name: Dev
ii. Description: This is a development environment
iii. Type: Full (Warning: Make sure you select this correctly!)
iv. Click Next
D. On this screen, where you choose your Sandbox Options:
i. Object data included: All
ii. Include Chatter Data: Selected
iii. Click Create

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Exercise Guide – Page 1 of 11
 Note: The time it takes to complete the full copy will depend on the length of the queue
at the time requested. You will receive an email letting you know when it has been
completed.

Review
1. Why are you creating a sandbox?

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Exercise Guide – Page 2 of 11
Exercise 1-1: Retrieving the Force.com (Apex) Developer’s Guide

Goal:
Retrieve the Force.com Apex Code Developer's Guide PDF version and view the HTML version.

Scenario:
The Force.com Apex Developer’s Guide provides a resource that can be referenced for
questions regarding Apex language.

Tasks:
1. Review the Apex Code Developer’s Guide.
2. Review the Apex Code Cheat Sheet. (Optional)

Time:
10 minutes

Instructions:
1. Review the Apex Code Developer’s Guide.
A. Open a browser window and navigate to the developerforce website:
http://developer.force.com.
B. From the site menu, navigate to Library | Documentation.
C. Scroll down to locate the Force.com Apex Code Developer’s Guide. Click on it to view
the HTML version of the guide.
D. Right click the PDF Download link. Save the PDF to your desktop by choosing Save
Target As.
2. Review the Apex Code Cheat Sheet. (Optional)
A. In a web browswer, navigate to:
https://developer.salesforce.com/page/Cheat_Sheets
B. Locate, download, and review the App Logic: Apex Code Cheat Sheet. The Cheat Sheet
is a handy guide to Apex syntax.

Review:
1. What type of information can you find in the Reference section of the documentation?

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Exercise Guide – Page 3 of 11
2. Does the Apex documentation contain the full specifications for SOQL syntax?

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Exercise Guide – Page 4 of 11
Exercise 1-2: Installing and Configuring the Force.com IDE

Goal:
Install and configure the Force.com IDE.

Scenario:
Universal Containers wants to use the Force.com IDE for its development needs. The company
needs to understand how to install and configure the Force.com IDE before it can begin
developing in its Salesforce org. Note: Supporting sites for the Force.com IDE are located at
Developer Force under the Tools section.
http://wiki.developerforce.com/page/Force.com_IDE_Installation

Tasks:
1. Add a remote site to Eclipse.
2. Download and install the Force.com IDE plug-in from the remote site.
3. Restart Eclipse.

Time:
30 minutes

Instructions:
1. Add a remote site to Eclipse.
A. Double-click the Eclipse icon to launch Eclipse.
B. In Eclipse, navigate to Help | Install New Software…

C. Click Add…

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Exercise Guide – Page 5 of 11
 D. In the Add Site dialog box, type the following:
i. Name: Force.com IDE
ii. Location: http:// media.developerforce.com/force-ide/eclipse42
E. Click OK.
2. Download and install the Force.com IDE plug-In from the remote site.
A. Deselect the checkbox Show only latest versions of available software.
B. Select the checkbox for the latest version that starts with the number 30. If that version
doesn’t exist, select the topmost checkbox Force.com IDE.
C. Click Next.
D. In the Install Details dialog box, click Next again.
E. Select I accept the terms…, and click Finish.
3. Restart Eclipse
A. After taking a few minutes to install, Eclipse will prompt you to restart the application.
Click Yes.
B. After Eclipse restarts, select Window | Open Perspective | Other and select
Force.com. Click OK.

Review:
1. Do you have to use the Force.com IDE for Apex development? Is there another option?

2. After developing Apex code in a sandbox, how can the Force.com IDE help you move that
code to production?

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Exercise Guide – Page 6 of 11
Exercise 1-3: Creating a Force.com IDE Project

Goal:
Create a Force.com Project using the Force.com IDE.

Scenario:
Universal Containers needs to create an environment for developers to be able create and
update Salesforce code. To get their environment ready, they will need to prepare a project
workspace within the Force.com IDE.

Tasks:
1. Create a new Force.com project.
2. Retrieve the Universal Containers organization code into the project.

Time:
15 minutes

Instructions:
1. Double-click the Eclipse shortcut on the desktop to launch Eclipse.
2. On the Eclipse menu bar, select Window | Open Perspective | Other | Force.com and
then click OK.
3. Navigate to File | New | Force.com Project.
4. Enter the following information on the Create New Force.com Project dialog box:
A. Project name: (enter your Salesforce org username as the project name)
B. Username: (enter your Salesforce username for this course, appended with '.dvorg')
C. Password: (enter your Salesforce password for this course)
D. Security Token: (leave blank unless instructed differently)
E. Environment: Sandbox
Note: Remember that if you are creating a project in sandbox, you will need to use those
credentials for this project.
F. Click Next.
G. Select Selected metadata components and click Choose…
H. Click Select All to choose all metadata component types and click OK.
I. Click Finish. If you receive a message to enable password recovery, click No.
5. Right-click the newly created project in the left-hand navigation pane and select Properties.
Review the contents of the window and click OK when done.

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Exercise Guide – Page 7 of 11
Review:
1. When would we use the Security Token in the connection information?

2. When would we want to select None as our default project contents?

3. How do we ensure we see the specific menu items and layout associated with Force.com?

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Exercise Guide – Page 8 of 11
Exercise 1-4: Examining a Hello World Example

Goal:
Examine an Apex code sample and answer some discussion questions about it.

Scenario:
Universal Containers is new to Apex, so its developers want to start with the basics. Analyze the
class and trigger and clarify some questions that they have.

Tasks:
Examine the following class and trigger code and answer the following questions.

Time:
10 minutes

Instructions:
1. Examine the following class and trigger code and answer the following questions.

Class
C1 public class HelloWorldPositionClass {
C2 public static void helloWorld(List<Position__c> positions){
C3 for (Position__c p:positions){
C4 if (p.Hello__c != 'World') {
C5 p.Hello__c = 'World';
C6 }
C7 }
C8 }
C9 }

Trigger
T1 trigger HelloWorldPositionTrigger on Position__c (before insert,
before update) {
T2 List<Position__c> positions = Trigger.new;
T3 HelloWorldPositionClass.helloWorld(positions);
T4 }

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Exercise Guide – Page 9 of 11
Discussion Questions

1. What does this code do? Log in to your org and create and save some positions to verify
this.

2. What do before insert and before update indicate in line T1? What other options are
likely available?

3. What is Trigger.new in line T2? What does it contain?

4. What does List<Position__c> represent? Why is there __c after Position?

5. How many times does the FOR loop in line C3 execute?

6. What does p.Hello__c represent? Why is it p.Hello__c instead of

positions.Hello__c?

7. Did we need the class here or could we have made this work just in a trigger? What might
be a reason to architect the functionality with a class?

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Exercise Guide – Page 10 of 11
8. What are some examples of ways you could use triggers?

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Exercise Guide – Page 11 of 11