---
title: Field Declarations Should Be At Start
description: "**Impact area** Manageability **Severity** Medium **Affected element** Apex Class ## Rule ID SF-DECL-AT-START ## Impact Increase the effort needed to read and understand source code. Remediation Field declarations should appear before method declarations within a class. ### Time to fix…"
url: "https://community-staging.qualityclouds.com/qcdocs/qc/pmd-rules/field-declarations-should-be-at-start/"
updated: "2025-03-21"
category: PMD Rules
---

# Field Declarations Should Be At Start

**Impact area**

Manageability

**Severity**

Medium

**Affected element**

Apex Class

## Rule ID

SF-DECL-AT-START

## Impact

Increase the effort needed to read and understand source code.

Remediation

Field declarations should appear before method declarations within a class.

### Time to fix

10 min

## References

This rule is linked to [FieldDeclarationsShouldBeAtStart](https://pmd.github.io/pmd/pmd_rules_apex_codestyle.html#fielddeclarationsshouldbeatstart)