How Do I Override the Standard Controller's Save Action in My Controller Extension?

Question

I am trying to build a controller extension for the Opportunity standard controller.

According to documentation and stackexchange I ought to be able to override the Save() action in the controller extension. I have a VF page that is embedded in the standard Opportunity layout and a save() method in the controller extension, but the save() method in my controller extension never gets called.

What am I doing wrong?

The VF page - embedded in the standard Opportunity layout:

<apex:page standardController="Opportunity" extensions="TestExtension" showHeader="false" >
</apex:page>

The controller extension class - I get the constructor debug message, but not the one from save():

public without sharing class TestExtension {

    ApexPages.StandardController stdController = null;

    public TestExtension(ApexPages.StandardController stdController) {
        this.stdController = stdController;
        System.debug('==== TestExtension: TestExtension() ====');
    }
    public PageReference save() {       
        System.debug('==== TestExtension: save() ====');
        // do some stuff
        Pagereference ref = stdController.save();
        // some more stuff
        // give control back to standard controller
        return ref;
    }
}

Answer 1

The examples you are referencing only apply if your controller extension is managing the entire page. You cannot change the standard save behavior for an object by embedding a Visualforce page in its layout; page embedding is not a "hook" into the save process.

Your only direct solution is overriding the entire action with a Visualforce page or Lightning (Aura) component, which requires you to reimplement the page layout. It's an expensive, clumsy, inflexible solution that I usually recommend against.

In most cases, a better solution is to rethink your overall objective such that you can achieve it with some combination of

• Quick Actions, for streamlining create operations with prepopulated fields.
• Screen Flows, for interactive wizard-style UIs.
• Apex triggers or record-save flows, for non-UI automation.