Force.com IDE Developer Guide

Get Started with the Force.com IDE
Develop with the Force.com IDE
Project Basics
Create a Force.com Project
Project Properties
Add or Remove Metadata Components
Component Properties
Upgrade Project
Apex Code in the Force.com IDE
Lightning Components in the Force.com IDE
Server Synchronization
Test Code with the Force.com IDE
Deploy Code with the Force.com IDE
Get Started with the Apex Debugger
Solutions to Common Force.com IDE Problems
Force.com IDE Release Notes
Useful References
PDF

Create a Force.com Project

To launch the Create New Force.com Project wizard, select File | New | Force.com Project.

Force.com IDE is in a maintenance-only state. We still provide support for the product through our official channels, but updates prior to October 12, 2019 will be only for critical security issues that arise. On October 12, 2019, we will no longer provide support or updates of any kind for Force.com IDE. On that date, we will also begin archiving documentation and removing download links for the product. We recommend that you start migrating to Salesforce Extensions for Visual Studio Code or one of the great tools made by our partners. For more information, see The Future of Salesforce IDEs on the Salesforce Developers Blog.

Warning

If you don’t see Force.com Project, you’re not using the Force.com perspective. You can still create a Force.com project without using the Force.com perspective by selecting File | New | Other | Force.com | Force.com Project. However, we suggest that you use the Force.com perspective because it includes other views and features that aid development. To activate the Force.com perspective, select Window | Open Perspective | Other | Force.com Perspective.

Note

The New Force.com Project wizard has two pages.

  1. On the first page of the wizard, enter the properties for the project. For details on these settings, see Project Properties. Click Next.

    When you create a project, you are sometimes prompted for a new master password. This password is a separate password of your choosing required by Eclipse secure storage and is not associated with your Salesforce credentials. For details on Eclipse secure storage, see the Eclipse Workbench User Guide.

    Note

  2. On the Project Contents page, choose which metadata components are retrieved.
    Field Description
    Apex, Lightning, and Visualforce (classes, triggers, Lightning component bundles, pages, Visualforce components, and static resources) Select this option to retrieve only Apex, Lightning, and Visualforce components, including classes, triggers, components, pages, and static resources.
    Selected metadata components To open the Choose Metadata Components dialog, select this option and click Choose.
    Contents of package To retrieve the contents of a particular package, select this option and then choose a package from the Choose package drop-down menu. The Contents of package option is available only when packages are installed in the org you’re connected to.
    None Select this option to retrieve no components. For example, select this option if you’re working in a team-based environment where source files are checked out from a source-control system. When creating a project offline, None is the only option available.
  3. To create the project, click Finish.

The selections you make in the New Force.com Project wizard determine the contents of the package.xml file, which defines the components downloaded from the server into your project. To modify the project contents later, right-click your project and select Properties | Force.com | Project Contents. In special cases, you can also edit the package.xml file manually. For information on changing the contents of your project manifests after project creation, see About Package.xml.

Note