Salesforce with Ankit

In this article, we will cover different types of variables we use in Apex and some examples of them.

1. Primitives –
   • Primitive datatypes are foundational datatypes that are used to hold data we are most familiar with.
   • We define a variable with a primitive data type using the following syntax pattern:
     • Datatype variableName = value;
   • Camel Case is followed while writing a code in Apex.
2. Blob –
   • Blob is set of binary data stored in a single object.
   • You can create Blob by either assigning it the value of attachment or document body, or through converting a string to Blob object.
     • For Example: Blob myDataBlob = Blob.valueOf(“My text to convert”);
   • Blob values are commonly used in process of encrypting and decrypting.
3. Boolean –
   • Boolean values are simple true or false values, used for logical processing or holding some state which is either on or off.
   • Example:
     • Boolean isChecked = false;
   • Boolean values golds default value as null. Therefore it is best practice to assign it either true or false, else it will throw nullPointerException.
4. Date –
   • Date data type stores information on a particular day without holding any information on the time of day.
   • We can define date using following syntax:
     • Date christmas = Date.newInstance(2024,12,25);
     • Date todayDate = Date.today ( );
     • Date newYearEve = Date.parse(’31/12/2024′);
5. DateTime –
   • Datetime is primitive holding both a date and a particular time on that date.
   • We can define Datetime using following syntax:
     • Datetime thisMoment = Datetime.now();
     • Datetime meetingStart = Datetime.newInstance(2024,9,1,9,30,0);
6. Decimal –
   • The decimal data-type is used for storing numerical data including decimals, but that have a fixed scale that can set explicitly or form data creating variable.
   • Example:
     • Decimal itemCost = 1.99;
     • Decimal percentComplete = 15.2665345;
7. Double –
   • Similar to decimal, double again a number involving decimal point,but in this instance a 64-bit with a maximum value of 2⁶³ -1, and minimum value of -2⁶³.
   • Example:
     • Double goldenRatio = 1.618023548975;
8. Id –
   • This is special data-type available to Apex and Salesforce programmers, and is 18-character Id for particular record.
   • Example:
     • Id accountId = ‘00004QRSVp8BQE152o’;
9. Integer –
   • The integer day-type can hold ny whole number between 2,147,483,647 and -2,1147,483,648.
   • Example:
     • Integer count= 100;
10. Long –
    • A long value is very big integer, which is value without decimal point between 2⁶³-1 and -2⁶³.
    • Example:
      • Long revenue = 3147483647L;
11. Object –
    • All other data types, including primitives, inherit from object data type.
    • Example:
      • Object myData = 1618;
      • Integer myIntegerData = (Integer)myData;
12. String-
    • The string data-type is for any collection of characters enclosed within single quotation marks.
    • Example:
      • String myName = ‘Paul’;
      • String favoriteIceCream = ‘Mint Choco Chip’;
      • String empty = ‘ ‘;
      • String greeting = ‘Hello; + myName;
    • More Examples of String:
      • String tab = ‘My \t tab String’; (My tab String)
      • String carriageReturn = ‘My\r carriage return string’; (My [/n] carriage return string)
      • String lineFeed = ‘My \n line feed string’; (My [\n] line feed string)
      • String singleQuote = ‘My \’single quote string\”; (My ‘single quote string’)
      • String doubleQuote =’My \”double-quote string\”;’ (My “double-quote string”)
      • String backSlash = ‘My \\backslash string’ (my \backslash string)
13. Time –
    • It represents time-stamp that is not dependent on day.
    • Example:
      • Time coffeeTime = Time.newInstance(10,35,23,400);
14. Nulls –
    • If variable is declared without a value then it is given a value of null.
    • Null is special data-type meaning nothing or absence of data.
    • If we ask apex to perform some action on value that does not exist (null value) then it will throw nullPointerException.
15. Constants –
    • To store value that will be going to stay fixed, we use contants.
    • For Example:
      • static final double PI = 3.14;
    • Naming convention for constants is that we declare them all in uppercase.
16. sObject, sObjects & sObject Instances –
    • In order to work with records within Apex, Salesforce provides the sObject (Salesforce object) data-type.
    • For Example:
      • Account acc = new Account();
      • acc.Name = ‘Acme’;
      • Job__c job = new Job__c();

Thank you for reading the article till the end, in next article we will discuss DML in Salesforce.