Winter 09

Welcome to the Winter '09 Release Preview page for developers. Here is where you will find the latest information on what's new and hot for developers in the Winter '09 release.

Winter '09 production begins October 3, 2008. Sign up for a Pre-release free trial here, and attend the live Winter '09 Developer Highlights webinar to learn more.

What's Hot in Winter '09 for Developers

  Force.com IDE

The Force.com IDE allows for creating and editing Apex code and Visualforce pages as well as for testing, versioning, and deploying applications across environments.

The Force.com IDE will now be Generally Available (GA) and can be downloaded for free here.

   Visualforce

The most exciting of Visualforce enhancements will be the support for packaging. You will now be able to distribute Visualforce pages and components—including pages and component libraries—through the Force.com AppExchange.

       Apex

With the introduction of Dynamic Apex, you will be able to retrieve and evaluate application customizations and also inspect and programmatically enforce user permissions.


Developer Edition gets an upgrade as well as a face lift

When you sign for a new DE org, you will now have access to even more features. In addition to all the new and improved features found in Winter '09, new Developer Edition organizations add the following features :

  • Salesforce Partner
  • Salesforce Customer Portal

The number and types of licenses have also increased:

  • 2 Salesforce CRM licenses (currently found in today's DE org)
  • 2 Salesforce Mobile licenses
  • 3 Salesforce Platform licenses
  • 5 Partner licenses
  • 10 Customer Portal Manager licenses


Available Resources


Release Schedule

  • Visit the trust.salesforce.com maintenance page for the most up-to-date information on the Winter '09 release schedule.



Below is a list of new and updated features for developers.
See the release notes for more detailed information.

Visualforce

  • Packaging for Visualforce
  • Visualforce list controllers, including pagination support
  • Visualforce custom buttons
  • Visualforce input-file component
  • Visualforce email templates


Database Services

  • Advanced SOQL Joins
  • Criteria-based sharing
  • Cross-object Formulas Enhancements
    • Support for self-relationship
    • More intuitive syntax


App Framework

  • Custom application messages
  • Offline custom objects
  • Approval workflow recall actions
  • Schedule and email reports
  • Improved storage management
  • Manage tags programmatically
  • SAML 2.0 support


Apex Code

  • User-specific Apex tests
  • Dynamic Apex
  • Asynchronous Apex
  • Class Inheritance


Packaging and AppExchange

  • Visualforce and Visualforce components now packageable
  • All packageable components in Force.com IDE and metadata API


Tools

  • Force.com IDE generally available
  • Connect for Outlook and Lotus Notes enhanced


Other

  • Developer Sandboxes
Retrieved from "http://wiki.developerforce.com/index.php/Winter_09"