Force.com IDE FAQ
More information is available at the Force.com IDE main page.
How do I install or upgrade to the latest Force.com IDE?
- See the Force.com IDE for Eclipse installation page.
What if I need to go back to the prior version of the Force.com IDE?
- If you need to return to a previous version of the IDE:
- Under Help | Software Updates | Manage Configuration reinstall an older version:
- Expand "Eclipse SDK" and select "Force.com IDE <version>"
- In the right panel, select "Replace With Another Version"
- Select a previous version and click "OK".
- Under Help | Software Updates | Manage Configuration reinstall an older version:
What Web Services API versions are supported by the Force.com IDE?
- The Summer '08 Developer Preview release of the Force.com IDE supports the Force.com Web Services API version 13.0.
What Eclipse versions are compatible with the Force.com IDE?
- The Force.com IDE plugin works with Eclipse 3.3 (Europa) and Eclipse 3.2.2 (Callisto). It has not been tested with Eclipse 3.4 (Ganymede), released on June 25, 2008.
Is there a tutorial or guide to help get me started with using the Force.com IDE?
- Yes. The Force.com IDE documentation contains a "Quickstart with Force.com IDE" section. To view the documentation, start Eclipse and select Help > Help Contents > Force.com IDE Library.
Where can I ask questions or discuss topics about the Force.com IDE?
- You may review posts or post a question or discussion topic to Apex public discussion forum.
Where can I find out about what is new in this release and what are known issues?
- Information about the latest Developer Preview version of the Force.com IDE can be found in the Release Notes.
Where can I find extra information, such as logs, to troubleshoot a Force.com IDE issue?
- Force.com IDE logs are stored here: $workspace/.metadata/.plugins/com.salesforce.toolkit/force-toolkit.log. You may view these logs at runtime using Eclipse's Plug-in Development Environment's Error Log view. Log level is set in the Force.com IDE's /log4j/log4j.xml configuration file.
Why am I getting an "Unexpected element. Parser was expecting element" message when creating a project?
- Typically, this exception occurs when the given Force.com Web Services API version is not supported by the installed version of the Force.com IDE.
When creating a project, my login credentials were not accepted but a project was created. How can I update my login credentials and download my Apex Code and s-controls?
- You may update your login credentials on the Force.com project properties page by right-clicking on the Force.com project, select Properties, and click on the Force.com node.
Why can't I save my Apex Code and s-controls? Why does the IDE always find a conflict?
- Delete your Force.com projects before installing the latest Force.com IDE, then recreate the project after installation. NOTE: Be sure to delete the files from the workspace when asked during deletion.
- The latest IDE includes enhancements that maintain metadata about each Apex Code and s-control artifact. This metadata is used to calculate differences between local copies and what is maintained in your home organization on salesforce.com servers.
Why are some of my Apex Code files read-only?
- If a file is in a managed package that was installed to the organization, it is shown in the Force.com IDE project but is read-only. While you can change the flag to permit saving these files locally, they cannot be saved back into the organization.
Why can't I edit Apex Code in my project against a production organization?
- Production organizations are the runtime environment for your Apex Code. Once Apex Code is compiled and persisted into an org it is live and can be immediately executed by users. For this reason all development of Apex Code must be performed in a development environment, either a Developer Edition account or on Sandbox. Once your code is ready and tested it can be promoted to your production environment through a controlled deployment process. Using a controlled deployment process assures that your code will compile and operate in your production system in the same manner which it did in your development environment.
- For more information about the deployment process and available implementations please refer to the appropriate chapter in the Apex Code language reference available for download from the salesforce online help.
Why can't I compile or save Apex Packages?
- Apex Packages have been deprecated and replaced by Apex Classes. See "Using Force.com IDE" in the product help for more information.
How can I avoid server timeouts?
- If you experience timeouts before all the items in your project can download, you can reset the timeout from 60 seconds to a maximum of 600 seconds. This is not usually necessary unless your project requires an unusually long-running server communication. For example, if you had a long-running test, or more than 50 artifacts, or unusually large or complex artifacts, you might consider adjusting this value.
Why does the body of my Apex Code and/or S-Control revert back to it's original body when I renamed the artifact?
- The Force.com IDE does not support renaming. Renaming an Apex Code and/or S-Control artifact from within the body will result in creating a new artifact of the same type with the new name.
How do I merge local changes with changes in your home organization on salesforce.com servers?
- Use the Synchronize Perspective by right-clicking on your Force.com project and select "Force.com > Synchronize with Server". You may use the arrows at the top right to select changes to accept locally. You may also perform global acceptance by right-clicking on an artifact and selecting to override the remote artifact or replace local with remote.
How do I refresh the contents of my Force.com project?
- You may refresh the contents of your Force.com project on a folder-by-folder basis. Right-click on a folder such as "Apex Classes" and select "Force.com > Refresh from Server". Note that by refreshing the folder, all content will be overwritten.
When I open a file, I get a pop-up dialog that the file is read-only. Why?
- Any components that are installed to a Salesforce instance as part of a managed package are not editable within that instance. They may of course be edited in the instance within which they were created.
My project is editing the Salesforce instance within which a managed package was defined. Why can't I edit the components in that package within Eclipse?
- The IDE currently needs to be configured with the instance`'s editable namespace. Make sure you specify the namespace in the project creation dialog. A future IDE release will remove this requirement.
How do I solve OutOfMemoryError issues?
- Allocate at least 512MB of memory for Eclipse via a JVM parameter on the start-up command-line or within eclipse.ini file. See How do I increase the heap size available to Eclipse? or Running Eclipse.