Visualforce Page Development

Basic page

A basic VisualForce page can be created like this:

<apex:page>
  <h1>Hello, world!</h1>
</apex:page>

Using Standard Controllers

If your page is for displaying or editing information about a particular type of record, it may be helpful to use a standard controller to reduce the amount of boilerplate code you need to write.

By using a standard controller, your page will be displayed with an ?id=SALESFORCE_ID parameter, and you automatically get access to all merge fields on the record.

Add a standard controller to your page by specifying the standardController attribute on <apex:page>:

<apex:page standardController="Account">
  This is a page for {!Account.Name}
</apex:page>

You also get the standard controller methods for free:

• cancel() - returns the PageReference for the cancel page (usually navigates back to a list view)
• delete() - deletes the record and returns the PageReference for the delete page
• edit() - returns the PageReference for the standard edit page
• save() - saves the record and returns the PageReference to the updated record
• view() - returns the PageReference for the standard view page

You can use them like this:

<apex:page standardController="Account">
  Name: <apex:inputField value="{!Account.Name}" />
  <apex:commandButton value="Update record" action="{!save}" />
</apex:page>