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ColdFusion Tips
ColdFusion is a Web application development tool that allows developers
to build dynamic data-driven applications for use on the Internet and
intranets. ColdFusion employs a high level server-side markup language
called CFML (ColdFusion Markup Language) to interact with relational
databases, Crystal Reports, SMTP and POP servers, and a whole host of
other network technologies. CFML is a markup language similar in
structure to HTML in that all of the language constructs are contained
within tags. HTML is used for layout control while the CFML handles the
brunt of the work such as database queries, arithmetic and string
functions, and other server side processing tasks. Files created with
CFML are saved as ColdFusion templates and are designated by a ".cfm"
extension. The following tips will help ensure that your ColdFusion code
is in good format.
Use cfloop rather than multiple SQL statements when you have a
predefined number of groups in a database and you want to populate
all the records segregated by groups. This allows the query to run
through a number of groups whether it is one or 100.
All SQL statements should be written in one place and then called
when needed. Often times, the same statement will be used in
multiple places. By writing them in one place, and then calling them,
you will avoid writing redundant code.
When using font colors on a CFML variable name, try to avoid using
RGB coding in #RGB as in #FFFFFF for the color white instead use
'White' as in this example or remove the pound sign (#) altogether.
Ben Forta's Web App construction kit is an excellent reference for ColdFusion
related questions. Ben Forta is regarded as one of the world's
most knowledgeable ColdFusion programmers, and this book is an
all-in-one kit that gives you everything you need to create Web-based
applications----including the latest version of the ColdFusion
Application Server and development environment.
