4/24/25, 3:09 PM Extending a Class | Apex Developer Guide | Salesforce Developers
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Extending a Class
Apex Developer Guide / Writing Apex / Classes, Objects, and Interfaces / Classes / Extending a Class
Extending a Class
You can extend a class to provide more specialized behavior.
A class that extends another class inherits all the methods and properties of the extended class. In
addition, the extending class can override the existing virtual methods by using the override
keyword in the method definition. Overriding a virtual method allows you to provide a different
implementation for an existing method. This means that the behavior of a particular method is
different based on the object you’re calling it on. This is referred to as polymorphism.
A class extends another class using the extends keyword in the class definition. A class can only
extend one other class, but it can implement more than one interface.
This example shows how the YellowMarker class extends the Marker class. To run the inheritance
examples in this section, first create the Marker class.
public virtual class Marker {
public virtual void write() {
System.debug('Writing some text.');
}
public virtual Double discount() {
return .05;
}
}
Then create the YellowMarker class, which extends the Marker class.
// Extension for the Marker class
public class YellowMarker extends Marker {
public override void write() {
System.debug('Writing some text using the yellow marker.');
}
}
This code segment shows polymorphism. The example declares two objects of the same type
( Marker ). Even though both objects are markers, the second object is assigned to an instance of the
YellowMarker class. Hence, calling the write method on it yields a different result than calling this
method on the first object, because this method has been overridden. However, you can call the
discount method on the second object even though this method isn't part of the YellowMarker
class definition. But it’s part of the extended class, and hence, is available to the extending class,
YellowMarker . Run this snippet in the Execute Anonymous window of the Developer Console.
Marker obj1, obj2;
obj1 = new Marker();
// This outputs 'Writing some text.'
obj1.write();
obj2 = new YellowMarker();
// This outputs 'Writing some text using the yellow marker.'
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4/24/25, 3:09 PM Extending a Class | Apex Developer Guide | Salesforce Developers
obj2.write();
// We get the discount method for free
// and can call it from the YellowMarker instance.
Double d = obj2.discount();
The extending class can have more method definitions that aren't common with the original
extended class. In this example, the RedMarker class extends the Marker class and has one extra
method, computePrice , that isn't available for the Marker class. To call the extra methods, the object
type must be the extending class.
Before running the next snippet, create the RedMarker class, which requires the Marker class in your
org.
// Extension for the Marker class
public class RedMarker extends Marker {
public override void write() {
System.debug('Writing some text in red.');
}
// Method only in this class
public Double computePrice() {
return 1.5;
}
}
This snippet shows how to call the additional method on the RedMarker class. Run this snippet in
the Execute Anonymous window of the Developer Console.
RedMarker obj = new RedMarker();
// Call method specific to RedMarker only
Double price = obj.computePrice();
Extensions also apply to interfaces—an interface can extend another interface. As with classes, when
an interface extends another interface, all the methods and properties of the extended interface
are available to the extending interface.
Versioned Behavior Changes
In API version 50.0 and later, scope and accessibility rules are enforced on Apex variables,
methods, inner classes, and interfaces that are annotated with @namespaceAccessible . For
accessibility considerations, see NamespaceAccessible Annotation. For more information on
namespace-based visibility, see Namespace-Based Visibility for Apex Classes in Second-Generation
Packages.
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4/24/25, 3:09 PM Extending a Class | Apex Developer Guide | Salesforce Developers
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