MACROMEDIA COLDFUSION MX 61-DEVELOPING COLDFUSION MX, Develop Manual

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About ColdFusion MX 31
CFML includes approximately one hundred tags. ColdFusion tags serve many functions. They
provide programming constructs, such as conditional processing and loop structures. They also
provide services, such as charting and graphing, full-text search, access to protocols such as FTP,
SMTP/POP, and HTTP, and much more. The following table lists a few examples of commonly
used ColdFusion tags:
CFML Reference describes the CFML tags in detail.
CFML functions and CFScript
CFML includes approximately 270 built-in functions. These functions perform a variety of roles,
including string manipulation, data management, and system functions. CFML also includes a
built-in scripting language, CFScript, that lets you write code in a manner that is familiar to
programmers and JavaScript writers.
CFML extensions
You can extend CFML further by creating custom tags or user-defined functions (UDFs), or by
integrating COM, C++, and Java components (such as JSP tag libraries). You can also create
ColdFusion components (CFCs), which encapsulate related functions and properties and provide
a consistent interface for accessing them.
All these features let you easily create reusable functionality that is customized to the types of
applications or websites that you are building.
CFML development tools
Macromedia Dreamweaver MX helps you develop ColdFusion applications efficiently. It includes
many features that simplify and enhance ColdFusion development, including tools for debugging
CFML. Because CFML is written in an HTML-like text format, and you often use HTML in
ColdFusion pages, you can also use an HTML editor or a text editor, such as Notepad, to write
ColdFusion applications.
Tag Purpose
cfquery Establishes a connection to a database (if one does not exist), executes a query, and
returns results to the ColdFusion environment.
cfoutput
Displays output that can contain the results of processing ColdFusion functions,
variables, and expressions.
cfset Sets the value of a ColdFusion variable.
cfmail Lets an application send SMTP mail messages using application variables, query
results, or server files. (Another tag,
cfpop
, gets mail.)
cfchart
Converts application data or query results into graphs, such as bar charts or pie charts,
in Flash, JPG, or PNG format.
cfobject
Invokes objects written in other programming languages, including COM (Component
Object Model) components, Java objects such as Enterprise JavaBeans, or Common
CORBA (Object Request Broker Architecture) objects.