826
Chapter 37: Managing Files on the Server
Reading, writing, and appending to a text file
In addition to managing files on the server, you can use
cffile
to read, create, and modify text
files. As a result, you can do the following things:
•
Create log files. (You can also use
cflog
to create and write to log files.)
•
Generate static HTML documents.
•
Use text files to store information that can be incorporated into web pages.
Reading a text file
You can use
cffile
to read an existing text file. The file is read into a local variable that you can
use anywhere in the application page. For example, you could read a text file and then insert its
contents into a database, or you could read a text file and then use one of the string replacement
functions to modify the contents.
To read a text file:
1
Create a ColdFusion page with the following content:
<html>
<head>
<title>Read a Text File</title>
</head>
<body>
Ready to read the file:<br>
<cffile action="read"
file="C:\inetpub\wwwroot\mine\message.txt"
variable="Message">
<cfoutput>
#Message#
</cfoutput>
</body>
</html>
2
Replace C:\inetpub\wwwroot\mine\message.txt with the location and name of a text file on the
server.
3
Save the file as readtext.cfm in the myapps directory under your
web_root
and view it in the
browser.
Writing a text file on the server
You can use
cffile
to write a text file based on dynamic content. For example, you could create
static HTML files or log actions in a text file.
To create a form in to capture data for a text file:
1
Create a ColdFusion page with the following content:
<html>
<head>
<title>Put Information into a Text File</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Put Information into a Text File</h2>
Summary of Contents for COLDFUSION MX 61-DEVELOPING COLDFUSION MX
Page 1: ...Developing ColdFusion MX Applications...
Page 22: ...22 Contents...
Page 38: ......
Page 52: ...52 Chapter 2 Elements of CFML...
Page 162: ......
Page 218: ...218 Chapter 10 Writing and Calling User Defined Functions...
Page 250: ...250 Chapter 11 Building and Using ColdFusion Components...
Page 264: ...264 Chapter 12 Building Custom CFXAPI Tags...
Page 266: ......
Page 314: ...314 Chapter 14 Handling Errors...
Page 344: ...344 Chapter 15 Using Persistent Data and Locking...
Page 349: ...About user security 349...
Page 357: ...Security scenarios 357...
Page 370: ...370 Chapter 16 Securing Applications...
Page 388: ...388 Chapter 17 Developing Globalized Applications...
Page 408: ...408 Chapter 18 Debugging and Troubleshooting Applications...
Page 410: ......
Page 426: ...426 Chapter 19 Introduction to Databases and SQL...
Page 476: ...476 Chapter 22 Using Query of Queries...
Page 534: ...534 Chapter 24 Building a Search Interface...
Page 556: ...556 Chapter 25 Using Verity Search Expressions...
Page 558: ......
Page 582: ...582 Chapter 26 Retrieving and Formatting Data...
Page 668: ......
Page 734: ...734 Chapter 32 Using Web Services...
Page 760: ...760 Chapter 33 Integrating J2EE and Java Elements in CFML Applications...
Page 786: ...786 Chapter 34 Integrating COM and CORBA Objects in CFML Applications...
Page 788: ......