Project Overview

Every real application must protect its data.

Imagine a sales team creating Accounts without phone numbers or entering random revenue values.

Soon reports become unreliable, automations break, and management decisions become wrong.

In this project, we will build a Validation Trigger that blocks invalid Account records before they are saved.

→ Think of this trigger as a security gate that checks data before it enters Salesforce.

Business Requirement

The business wants to enforce two simple rules while creating an Account:

● Phone must not be empty
● Annual Revenue must be at least 10,000

If any rule is violated:

● The record should not save
● User should see a meaningful error message

Example

Invalid Account

Phone: (empty)  
Annual Revenue: 5,000

Result → Save blocked with error message.

Valid Account

Phone: +91 9876543210  
Annual Revenue: 50,000

Result → Record saved successfully.

Data Model (Objects / Fields)

We will use the standard Account object.

Fields involved:

● Phone
● AnnualRevenue

No custom fields or objects required.

Functional Flow (How It Works)

Here’s what happens behind the scenes:

1. User clicks New Account.

2. User enters details and clicks Save.

3. Salesforce fires the trigger before insert.

4. Trigger checks each record.

5. If any rule fails → error is attached → save is blocked.

6. If all rules pass → record is saved.

→ This happens instantly and automatically.

Apex Design (What We Are Building)

We will build:

● A before insert trigger on Account
● A handler class to keep logic clean
● Bulk-safe loop
● Field-level error messages using addError()

Why handler class?

● Easier maintenance
● Cleaner code
● Enterprise best practice

Implementation Steps

Let’s build the Validation Trigger step by step using Developer Console.

◆ Step 1 – Open Developer Console

1. Go to Salesforce.

2. Click the ⚙️ Gear icon (top right).

3. Click Developer Console.

Developer Console will open in a new window.

→ Salesforce no longer allows creating triggers directly from the Apex Triggers page.

◆ Step 2 – Create Apex Trigger

In Developer Console:

1. Click File → New → Apex Trigger.

2. Trigger Name:

AccountValidationTrigger

Select Object:

Account

Click Submit.

Now replace the generated code with:

trigger AccountValidationTrigger on Account (before insert) {
    AccountValidationHandler.validateAccounts(Trigger.new);
}

Click Save.

◆ Step 3 – Create Handler Class

In Developer Console:

1. Click File → New → Apex Class.

2. Class Name:

AccountValidationHandler

Click OK.

Paste the following code and save:

public class AccountValidationHandler {

    public static void validateAccounts(List<Account> accounts) {

        for (Account acc : accounts) {

            // Phone validation
            if (String.isBlank(acc.Phone)) {
                acc.Phone.addError('Phone number is required.');
            }

            // Annual Revenue validation
            if (acc.AnnualRevenue == null || acc.AnnualRevenue < 10000) {
                acc.AnnualRevenue.addError('Annual Revenue must be at least 10,000.');
            }
        }
    }
}

◆ Step 4 – Compile and Verify

1. Click File → Save All in Developer Console.

2. Ensure there are no compilation errors.

◆ Step 5 – Test in Salesforce UI

1. Go to Accounts tab.

2. Click New.

3. Leave Phone empty or enter Annual Revenue less than 10,000.

4. Click Save.

5. Validation error should appear.

Output

Testing Strategy

Manual Testing:

● Empty Phone → should fail
● Revenue < 10,000 → should fail
● Valid values → should succeed

Happy Coding! 🚀

Build strong foundations — real systems depend on it.

Apex Beginner to Advance

Project 1 – Validation Trigger in Apex