What is Variable and How to create a Variable
in Apex?
The variable is the basic unit of storage in any programming language. A variable is defined by the combination of an identifier, a type, and an optional initializer. In addition, all variables have a scope, which defines their visibility, and a lifetime.
Declaring a Variable :- In Apex all variables must be declared before they can be used. The basic form of a variable. declaration is shown here:
type identifier [ = value][, identifier [= value] ...] ;
Integer i = 0;
String str;
Account a;
Account[] accts;
Set<String> s;
Map<ID, Account> m;
All variables allow null as a value and are initialized to null if they are not assigned another value. For instance, in the following example, i, and k are assigned values, while j is set to null because it is not assigned:
Integer i = 0, j, k = 1;
Variables can be defined at any point in a block, and take on scope from that point forward. Sub-blocks cannot redefine a variable name that has already been used in a parent block, but parallel blocks can reuse a variable name. For example:
Integer i;
{
// Integer i; This declaration is not allowed
}
for (Integer j = 0; j < 10; j++);
for (Integer j = 0; j < 10; j++);
Case Sensitivity :-To avoid confusion with case-insensitive SOQL and SOSL queries, Apex is also case-insensitive. This means:
Variable and method names are case insensitive. For example:
Integer I;
//Integer i; This would be an error.
• References to object and field names are case insensitive. For example:
Account a1;
ACCOUNT a2;
• SOQL and SOSL statements are case insensitive. For example:
Account[] accts = [sELect ID From ACCouNT where nAme = 'fred'];
Constants :- Constants can be defined using the final keyword, which means that the variable can be assigned at most once, either in the declaration itself, or with a static initializer method if the constant is defined in a class. For example:
public class myCls {
static final Integer PRIVATE_INT_CONST;
static final Integer PRIVATE_INT_CONST2 = 200;
public static Integer calculate() {
return 2 + 7;
}
static {
PRIVATE_INT_CONST = calculate();
}
}
