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I finally hunted down a deep dive into how properties work that you should read top to bottom: Apex Properties from the Apex Developer Guide.

If you want to declare a setter, you must set the property equal to the incoming value.

public String userInput
{
    get { return userInput; }
    set { userInput = value; }
}

You can also use the simplified form here since you are not doing anything more fancy:

public String userInput { get; set; }

The problem with your code as posted was that you set userInput to itself, so it is always null.

@sfdcfox has astutely pointed you towards Building a Custom Controller from the Visualforce Developer Guide, but I think his own explanation is actually a better read for you here: Apex Controllers: What do the get; set; do?

There's also a useful link from Summer 08 on the Salesforce Developers Blog called Property Accessors in Apex in Summer ’08.

Basically, instead of writing the following in a class:

String prop;
public String getProp() { return prop; }
public void setProp (String p) { prop = p; }

we can now write this:

public String prop {get; set;}

Many keystrokes saved. Note that the latter doesn’t actually generate a getProp() method, see below.

Syntax examples

That’s actually an abbreviated abbreviated syntax. The get and set can be expanded somewhat to contain custom code. For example:

public String prop { get {return prop;} set {prop = value;} }

A couple of things to note here:

• The get body must end in a return, sensibly…
• The set body receives an implicit argument called value of the same data type as the property.

You can also omit a get or a set, in which case the property becomes write or read only, respectively.

I finally hunted down a deep dive into how properties work that you should read top to bottom: Apex Properties from the Apex Developer Guide.

If you want to declare a setter, you must set the property equal to the incoming value.

public String userInput
{
    get { return userInput; }
    set { userInput = value; }
}

You can also use the simplified form here since you are not doing anything more fancy:

public String userInput { get; set; }

The problem with your code as posted was that you set userInput to itself, so it is always null.

@sfdcfox has astutely pointed you towards Building a Custom Controller from the Visualforce Developer Guide, but I think his own explanation is actually a better read for you here: Apex Controllers: What do the get; set; do?

There's also a useful link from Summer 08 on the Salesforce Developers Blog called Property Accessors in Apex in Summer ’08.

Basically, instead of writing the following in a class:

String prop;
public String getProp() { return prop; }
public void setProp (String p) { prop = p; }

we can now write this:

public String prop {get; set;}

Many keystrokes saved. Note that the latter doesn’t actually generate a getProp() method, see below.

Syntax examples

That’s actually an abbreviated abbreviated syntax. The get and set can be expanded somewhat to contain custom code. For example:

public String prop { get {return prop;} set {prop = value;} }

A couple of things to note here:

• The get body must end in a return, sensibly…
• The set body receives an implicit argument called value of the same data type as the property.

You can also omit a get or a set, in which case the property becomes write or read only, respectively.

If you want to declare a setter, you must set the property equal to the incoming value.

public String userInput
{
    get { return userInput; }
    set { userInput = value; }
}

You can also use the simplified form here since you are not doing anything more fancy:

public String userInput { get; set; }

@sfdcfox has astutely pointed you towards Building a Custom Controller from the Visualforce Developer Guide, but I think his own explanation is actually a better read for you here: Apex Controllers: What do the get; set; do?

There's also a more useful link from Summer 08 on the Salesforce Developers Blog called Property Accessors in Apex in Summer ’08:

Basically, instead of writing the following in a class:

String prop;
public String getProp() { return prop; }
public void setProp (String p) { prop = p; }

we can now write this:

public String prop {get; set;}

Many keystrokes saved. Note that the latter doesn’t actually generate a getProp() method, see below.

Syntax examples

That’s actually an abbreviated abbreviated syntax. The get and set can be expanded somewhat to contain custom code. For example:

public String prop { get {return prop;} set {prop = value;} }

A couple of things to note here:

• The get body must end in a return, sensibly…
• The set body receives an implicit argument called value of the same data type as the property.

You can also omit a get or a set, in which case the property becomes write or read only, respectively.

I finally hunted down a deep dive into how properties work that you should read top to bottom: Apex Properties from the Apex Developer Guide.

If you want to declare a setter, you must set the property equal to the incoming value.

public String userInput
{
    get { return userInput; }
    set { userInput = value; }
}

You can also use the simplified form here since you are not doing anything more fancy:

public String userInput { get; set; }

The problem with your code as posted was that you set userInput to itself, so it is always null.

@sfdcfox has astutely pointed you towards Building a Custom Controller from the Visualforce Developer Guide, but I think his own explanation is actually a better read for you here: Apex Controllers: What do the get; set; do?

There's also a useful link from Summer 08 on the Salesforce Developers Blog called Property Accessors in Apex in Summer ’08.

Basically, instead of writing the following in a class:

String prop;
public String getProp() { return prop; }
public void setProp (String p) { prop = p; }

we can now write this:

public String prop {get; set;}

Many keystrokes saved. Note that the latter doesn’t actually generate a getProp() method, see below.

Syntax examples

That’s actually an abbreviated abbreviated syntax. The get and set can be expanded somewhat to contain custom code. For example:

public String prop { get {return prop;} set {prop = value;} }

A couple of things to note here:

• The get body must end in a return, sensibly…
• The set body receives an implicit argument called value of the same data type as the property.

You can also omit a get or a set, in which case the property becomes write or read only, respectively.

If you want to declare a setter, you must set the property equal to the incoming value.

public String userInput
{
    get { return userInput; }
    set { userInput = value; }
}

You can also use the simplified form here since you are not doing anything more fancy:

public String userInput { get; set; }

@sfdcfox has astutely pointed you towards Building a Custom Controller from the Visualforce Developer Guide, but I think his own explanation is actually a better read for you here: Apex Controllers: What do the get; set; do?

If you want to declare a setter, you must set the property equal to the incoming value.

public String userInput
{
    get { return userInput; }
    set { userInput = value; }
}

You can also use the simplified form here since you are not doing anything more fancy:

public String userInput { get; set; }

@sfdcfox has astutely pointed you towards Building a Custom Controller from the Visualforce Developer Guide, but I think his own explanation is actually a better read for you here: Apex Controllers: What do the get; set; do?

There's also a more useful link from Summer 08 on the Salesforce Developers Blog called Property Accessors in Apex in Summer ’08:

Basically, instead of writing the following in a class:

String prop;
public String getProp() { return prop; }
public void setProp (String p) { prop = p; }

we can now write this:

public String prop {get; set;}

Many keystrokes saved. Note that the latter doesn’t actually generate a getProp() method, see below.

Syntax examples

That’s actually an abbreviated abbreviated syntax. The get and set can be expanded somewhat to contain custom code. For example:

public String prop { get {return prop;} set {prop = value;} }

A couple of things to note here:

• The get body must end in a return, sensibly…
• The set body receives an implicit argument called value of the same data type as the property.

You can also omit a get or a set, in which case the property becomes write or read only, respectively.