Your First Apex Class

Apex is a strongly typed, object-oriented programming language that allows developers to execute flow and transaction control statements on the Salesforce platform. It uses syntax that looks like Java and acts like database stored procedures.

Class Structure

An Apex class typically follows this structure:

[access_modifier] class ClassName {
    // Properties
    // Methods
}

Access modifiers in Apex determine the visibility of your classes, methods, and variables:

• public: Accessible by all Apex code in your org
• private: Only accessible within the declaring class
• protected: Accessible by the declaring class and any class that extends it
• global: Accessible by any Apex code in your org, or other orgs through API calls

Properties vs Variables

In Apex, properties store values and can be accessed by other parts of your code. Variables declared inside methods have limited scope.

public class Person {
	// Property
	public String name;

	// Method with a local variable
	public void greet() {
		String greeting = 'Hello ' + name + '!';
		System.debug(greeting);
	}
}

Constructor Methods

Constructor methods initialize a new instance of a class. They have the same name as the class and don't specify a return type.

public class Person {
	public String name;

	// Constructor
	public Person(String initialName) {
		this.name = initialName;
	}
}