SalesForce Training in Indira Nagar

What is Visualforce?

Visualforce is a framework that allows developers to build sophisticated, custom user interfaces that can be hosted natively on the Lightning platform. The Visualforce framework includes a tag-based markup language, similar to HTML, and a set of server-side “standard controllers” that make basic database operations, such as queries and saves, very simple to perform.

In the Visualforce markup language, each Visualforce tag corresponds to a coarse or fine-grained user interface component, such as a section of a page, a related list, or a field. The behavior of Visualforce components can either be controlled by the same logic that is used in standard Salesforce pages, or developers can associate their own logic with a controller class written in Apex.

When Should I Use Visualforce?

The Salesforce prebuilt applications provide powerful CRM functionality. In addition, Salesforce provides the ability to customize the prebuilt applications to fit your organization. However, your organization may have complex business processes that are unsupported by the existing functionality. In this case, Lightning Platform provides various ways for advanced administrators and developers to build custom functionality. These include Visualforce, Apex, and the SOAP API.

Visualforce

Visualforce consists of a tag-based markup language that gives developers a more powerful way of building applications and customizing the Salesforce user interface. With Visualforce you can:

• Build wizards and other multistep processes.
• Create your own custom flow control through an application.
• Define navigation patterns and data-specific rules for optimal, efficient application interaction.

Apex

Use Apex if you want to:

• Create Web services.
• Create email services.
• Perform complex validation over multiple objects.
• Create complex business processes that are not supported by workflow.
• Create custom transactional logic (logic that occurs over the entire transaction, not just with a single record or object).
• Attach custom logic to another operation, such as saving a record, so that it occurs whenever the operation is executed, regardless of whether it originates in the user interface, a Visualforce page, or from SOAP API.

SOAP API

Use standard SOAP API calls if you want to add functionality to a composite application that processes only one type of record at a time and does not require any transactional control (such as setting a Savepoint or rolling back changes).

What are the Benefits of Visualforce?

As a markup language, Visualforce provides the following benefits:

User-friendly development

• Developers can edit their Visualforce markup in the same window that displays the resulting page. Consequently, developers can instantly verify the result of an edit just by saving their code. The Visualforce editor pane also includes auto-completion and syntax highlighting.
• Visualforce also supports “quick fixes” that allow developers to create supporting components on the fly. For example, a developer can define a new Visualforce page simply by logging in to Salesforce and then entering the name of the new page in a URL. Much like a wiki, if the page does not yet exist, the platform creates it for you.
• Integration with other Web-based user interface technologies
• Because Visualforce markup is ultimately rendered into HTML, designers can use Visualforce tags alongside standard HTML, JavaScript, Flash, or any other code that can execute within an HTML page on the platform, including Lightning platform merge fields and expressions.

Model-View-Controller (MVC) style development

• Visualforce conforms to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) development pattern by providing a clear division between the view of an application  and the controller that determines how the application works.
• With this architecture, designers and developers can easily split up the work that goes with building a new application—designers can focus on the look and feel of the user interface, while developers can work on the business logic that drives the app.

Concise syntax

Visualforce pages can implement the same functionality as s-controls but with approximately 90% fewer lines of code.

Data-driven defaults

Visualforce components are rendered intelligently by the platform. The Visualforce renderer displays the appropriate edit interface for each field.

Hosted platform

Visualforce pages are compiled and rendered entirely by the Lightning platform. Because they are so tightly integrated, they display the same performance as standard Salesforce pages, regardless of the amount of data being displayed or edited.

Automatically upgradeable

Visualforce pages do not need to be rewritten when other parts of the Lightning platform are upgraded. Because the pages are stored as metadata, they are automatically upgraded with the rest of the system.