Useful Apex Utility Classes for Salesforce: String Capitalization & Future Date Validation

 Apex utility classes help keep your Salesforce code clean, reusable, and efficient. In this blog, we’ll look at two handy Apex utility classes: one for capitalizing the first letter of a string and another for checking if a date is in the future. These examples follow good programming practices, making them easy to reuse across your org.

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1. String Utility: Capitalize First Letter

Formatting text fields like names or titles is a common requirement. This utility method ensures that the first letter is uppercase and the rest are lowercase.

public class StringUtils {
    // Capitalizes the first letter of the input string
    public static String capitalizeFirst(String input) {
        if (String.isBlank(input)) return input;
        return input.substring(0,1).toUpperCase() + input.substring(1).toLowerCase();
    }
}

Usage Example:

String result = StringUtils.capitalizeFirst('salesforce');
System.debug(result); // Output: Salesforce

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2. Date Utility: Check if Date Is in the Future

Validating that a date is in the future can help with event planning, subscription management, and more.

public class DateUtils {
    // Checks if the given date is in the future
    public static Boolean isFutureDate(Date inputDate) {
        if (inputDate == null) return false;
        return inputDate > Date.today();
    }
}

Usage Example:

Boolean isFuture = DateUtils.isFutureDate(Date.today().addDays(5));
System.debug(isFuture); // Output: true

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Why Use Utility Classes?

• Reusable: Centralizes logic for easy maintenance.
• Efficient: Reduces code duplication and errors.
• Clean: Keeps triggers and controllers focused on business logic.

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Happy coding with Apex!