Transactions and Savepoints

Every time a trigger fires, a button is clicked, or (in this course's examples) a block of Execute Anonymous code runs, Apex treats that entire unit of work as one transaction. If an unhandled exception occurs anywhere inside it, every DML statement that already ran in that same transaction is automatically rolled back — nothing partial gets left behind from an outright crash.

Savepoint sp = Database.setSavepoint();

Account acc = new Account(Name = 'Riverbend Farms');
insert acc;

Contact con = new Contact(LastName = 'INVALID DATA THAT WILL FAIL LATER');
// ... later logic determines this whole operation should be undone

Database.rollback(sp);

1. Savepoint sp = Database.setSavepoint(); — Database.setSavepoint() marks a specific point in the transaction.
2. (blank line)
3. Account acc = new Account(Name = 'Riverbend Farms'); — a record to insert.
4. insert acc; — actually saved to the database.
5. (blank line)
6. Contact con = new Contact(LastName = 'INVALID DATA THAT WILL FAIL LATER'); — a placeholder for later logic.
7. // ... later logic determines this whole operation should be undone — sets up the scenario.
8. (blank line)
9. Database.rollback(sp); — undoes everything that happened after the savepoint — including the insert acc above — as if it never ran, even though no exception was thrown.

Savepoint sp = Database.setSavepoint();

try {
    Order__c order = new Order__c(Status__c = 'Processing');
    insert order;

    Payment__c payment = new Payment__c(Order__c = order.Id, Amount__c = -50); // invalid amount
    insert payment; // this throws

} catch (DmlException e) {
    Database.rollback(sp);
    System.debug('Order processing failed, all changes rolled back: ' + e.getMessage());
}

1. Savepoint sp = Database.setSavepoint(); — marks the starting point.
2. (blank line)
3. try { — wraps the multi-step process.
4. Order__c order = new Order__c(Status__c = 'Processing'); — the first step.
5. insert order; — saved successfully.
6. (blank line)
7. Payment__c payment = new Payment__c(Order__c = order.Id, Amount__c = -50); — an invalid amount.
8. insert payment; — this throws a DmlException.
9. (blank line)
10. } catch (DmlException e) { — catches the failure.
11. Database.rollback(sp); — undoes the already-inserted Order__c too, keeping the two genuinely in sync rather than leaving an orphaned order with no valid payment.
12. System.debug('Order processing failed, all changes rolled back: ' + e.getMessage()); — logs what happened.
13. } — closes the catch.