Using the with sharing or without sharing Keywords

Use the with sharing or without sharing keywords on a class to specify whether or not to enforce sharing rules.

The with sharing keyword allows you to specify that the sharing rules for the current user be taken into account for a class. You have to explicitly set this keyword for the class because Apex code runs in system context. In system context, Apex code has access to all objects and fields— object permissions, field-level security, sharing rules aren’t applied for the current user. This is to ensure that code won’t fail to run because of hidden fields or objects for a user. The only exceptions to this rule are Apex code that is executed with the executeAnonymous call and Chatter in Apex. executeAnonymous always executes using the full permissions of the current user. For more information on executeAnonymous, see Anonymous Blocks.

Use the with sharing keywords when declaring a class to enforce the sharing rules that apply to the current user. For example:

1	public with sharing class sharingClass {

2

3	// Code here

4

5

}

Use the without sharing keywords when declaring a class to ensure that the sharing rules for the current user are notenforced. For example, you may want to explicitly turn off sharing rule enforcement when a class acquires sharing rules when it is called from another class that is declared using with sharing.

1	public without sharing class noSharing {

2

3	// Code here

4

5

}

Some things to note about sharing keywords:

• The sharing setting of the class where the method is defined is applied, not of the class where the method is called. For example, if a method is defined in a class declared with with sharing is called by a class declared with without sharing, the method will execute with sharing rules enforced.
• If a class isn’t declared as either with or without sharing, the current sharing rules remain in effect. This means that the class doesn’t enforce sharing rules except if it acquires sharing rules from another class. For example, if the class is called by another class that has sharing enforced, then sharing is enforced for the called class.
• Both inner classes and outer classes can be declared as with sharing. The sharing setting applies to all code contained in the class, including initialization code, constructors, and methods.
• Inner classes do not inherit the sharing setting from their container class.
• Classes inherit this setting from a parent class when one class extends or implements another.