Tools for Visualforce Development

Before you begin developing Visualforce pages and components, familiarize yourself with the different places to create them:
  • The best way to build Visualforce is by enabling Visualforce development mode. Visualforce development mode is only available for users with the “Customize Application” permission. Development mode provides you with:
    • A special development footer on every Visualforce page that includes the page’s view state, any associated controller, a link to the component reference documentation, and a page markup editor that offers highlighting, find-replace functionality, and auto-suggest for component tag and attribute names.
    • The ability to define new Visualforce pages just by entering a unique URL.
    • Error messages that include more detailed stack traces than what standard users receive.
    To enable Visualforce development mode:
    1. From your personal settings, enter Advanced User Details in the Quick Find box, then select Advanced User Details. No results? Enter Personal Information in the Quick Find box, then select Personal Information.
    2. Click Edit.
    3. Select the Development Mode checkbox.
    4. Optionally, select the Show View State in Development Mode checkbox to enable the View State tab on the development footer. This tab is useful for monitoring the performance of your Visualforce pages.
    5. Click Save.
  • You can also develop Visualforce pages through the Salesforce user interface from Setup by entering Visualforce Pages in the Quick Find box, then selecting Visualforce Pages. For Visualforce components, from Setup, enter Components in the Quick Find box, then select Visualforce Components.
  • The Force.com IDE, a plug-in for the Eclipse IDE, offers capabilities not found elsewhere. The Force.com IDE provides a unified interface for building and deploying Force.com applications, and includes tools such as source code editors, project wizards, and integrated help. The IDE is designed for advanced developers and development teams.
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