Component Reference, Visualforce
The Component Reference (Visualforce) is the official documentation that lists all available Visualforce components, their attributes, and usage examples.
Definition
The Component Reference (Visualforce) is the official documentation that lists all available Visualforce components, their attributes, and usage examples. Developers consult this reference to find the correct tags (like <apex:pageBlock>, <apex:inputField>, <apex:dataTable>) and their properties when building Visualforce pages. It is accessible through Salesforce Developer Documentation.
In plain English
“The Visualforce Component Reference is the official documentation listing every Visualforce tag you can use, what each one does, and what attributes you can set on it. Developers look it up when they need to remember how to use a specific component like a button or a table.”
Worked example
A developer at Underholm Software builds a new Visualforce page and needs to embed a data table with sortable columns. She references the Component Reference, Visualforce in Salesforce documentation: looks up <apex:dataTable>, sees the supported attributes (var, value, columnClasses, headerClass), reviews an example, and finds <apex:sortColumnLink> for sortable headers. With the reference open in another tab, she writes the markup correctly the first time. The Component Reference is what every Visualforce developer keeps bookmarked - a comprehensive index of every tag, every attribute, with usage examples.
Why Component Reference, Visualforce matters
The Component Reference for Visualforce is the official Salesforce documentation that lists every available Visualforce component, complete with descriptions, attributes, supported events, and usage examples. Developers consult it when building Visualforce pages to find the right tag for what they need to do (like apex:pageBlock, apex:inputField, apex:dataTable) and to confirm the correct attribute names and values. The reference is accessible through the Salesforce Developer Documentation site and is also available via the Visualforce Developer's Guide.
While Visualforce is a legacy framework (Lightning Web Components is the modern recommendation for new development), the Component Reference is still useful for developers maintaining existing Visualforce pages. New work generally happens in LWC, which has its own component reference and documentation. The Visualforce reference is best treated as a reliable source for legacy code, not as a starting point for new development. Developers learning Visualforce for the first time today are typically doing so because they need to maintain or migrate existing code, not because they're building new pages from scratch.
How organizations use Component Reference, Visualforce
Maintains a library of Visualforce pages from before LWC was widely adopted. Developers reference the Visualforce Component Reference whenever they need to modify these legacy pages, since the component syntax isn't something they use day-to-day anymore.
Used the Component Reference during a migration project that converted Visualforce pages to LWC. The reference helped them understand exactly what each existing tag did before deciding how to replicate the behavior in LWC.
Trains junior developers who need to support legacy Visualforce code by walking them through the Component Reference and the patterns it documents.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Component Reference, Visualforce.
- Standard Visualforce Component ReferenceSalesforce Developers
Test your knowledge
Q1. What is the Component Reference for Visualforce?
Q2. Is Visualforce still the recommended UI framework for new development?
Q3. What's a primary use case for the Visualforce Component Reference today?
Discussion
Loading discussion…