Programming Coldfusion MX

Rob Brooks-Bilson is a freelance writer and a senior technology manager at Amkor Technology, where he?has worked since 1996. Rob's involvement with ColdFusion goes all the way?back to version 1.5 and includes several large-scale projects, the creation?of numerous open source custom tags, and more recently, the open source?Common Function Library?Project, where he coordinates several libraries of freely available?functions. Rob is a member of Team Macromedia and?is a frequent speaker at ColdFusion user groups and conferences. Rob also?has his CF certification as a Macromedia Certified Advanced ColdFusion 5.0?Developer.??Rob is the author of O'Reilly's Programming ColdFusion MX, 2nd Edition (covering CF MX 6.1). He has written several articles on ColdFusion for Intranet?Design Magazine, CF Advisor, and CNET's?Builder.com.

ColdFusion has enjoyed widespread use among developers as a powerful, easy-to-learn platform for creating and deploying dynamic web applications. ColdFusion's simple, tag-based language makes it easy to handle basic tasks, like processing form data and querying databases, but the language is also powerful enough to deliver highly scalable, robust applications. And now that Macromedia has integrated ColdFusion into its MX family of technologies, ColdFusion is capable of interacting with Flash MX applications, which opens up even more possibilities.The first edition of this book has been praised as "the best reference book available on the subject." This new edition, Programming ColdFusion MX, goes even further, documenting new techniques for using ColdFusion MX 6.1 to develop and serve dynamic web page content. This exhaustive guide covers everything from the basics to advanced topics, with numerous examples that you can use for your own applications. Contents include: Sharing application data using the web application framework and shared scope variables - Accessing databases, maintaining database records, and advanced database techniques such as drill-down queries, query caching, and query of queries - Integrating applications with ColdFusion MX's new security framework - Interacting with other data sources, including LDAP directories, email servers, and other web servers - Extending ColdFusion with user-defined functions (UDFs), custom tags, and ColdFusion Components (CFCs) - Advanced topics such as working with XML, consuming and producing web services, and integrating ColdFusion with Flash via Flash Remoting - Reference material for all the tags and functions that comprise CFML, the ColdFusion Markup Language - Programming ColdFusion MX, 2nd Edition, covers ColdFusion MX 6.1, the latest release of ColdFusion, and is packed with advanced strategies, insider hints, tips, and tricks for creating effective web applications. If you are a ColdFusion developer, you need this book to help you make the most out of ColdFusion MX.

Preface;What's New in ColdFusion MX;Readers of the First Edition;Audience;Organization;Conventions Used in This Book;Comments and Questions;Acknowledgments;Chapter 1: Introducing ColdFusion;1.1 What Is ColdFusion?;1.2 ColdFusion Architecture;1.3 Getting Started with ColdFusion;Chapter 2: ColdFusion Basics;2.1 Getting Started;2.2 Datatypes;2.3 Variables;2.4 Expressions;2.5 Writing Output;2.6 Conditional Processing;2.7 Looping;2.8 Including Other Templates;Chapter 3: Passing Data Between Templates;3.1 Passing Parameters Via URL;3.2 Passing Data Using Forms;3.3 Dealing with Nonexistent Parameters;Chapter 4: Database Basics;4.1 Configuring Data Sources;4.2 Introducing cfquery;4.3 A Quick SQL Primer;4.4 Retrieving and Displaying Data;4.5 Sorting Query Results;4.6 Grouping Output;4.7 Looping Over a Query Result Set;4.8 Formatting Techniques;Chapter 5: Maintaining Database Records;5.1 Inserting Records;5.2 Updating Existing Records;5.3 Deleting Records;Chapter 6: Complex Datatypes;6.1 Lists;6.2 Arrays;6.3 Structures;6.4 Query Objects;Chapter 7: Maintaining State;7.1 Setting Up the Web Application Framework;7.2 Using Shared Scope Variables;7.3 Browser Redirection;7.4 Portal Example;Chapter 8: Security;8.1 Security Basics;8.2 Implementing Security from Scratch;8.3 Taking Advantage of ColdFusion MX's New Security Framework;Chapter 9: Error and Exception Handling;9.1 Basic Exception Handling;9.2 Custom Exception Handling;9.3 Rethrowing Exceptions;9.4 Error Handling Within the Web-Application Framework;9.5 Server-Wide Error Handling;Chapter 10: Dynamic Form Controls;10.1 Combining HTML and CFML Form Controls;10.2 Basic Input Controls;10.3 Textual Input;10.4 A Selection Control;10.5 Sliders;10.6 Grids;10.7 Trees;10.8 Preserving Input;10.9 Custom Controls;Chapter 11: Advanced Database Techniques;11.1 Display Techniques;11.2 Drilldown Queries;11.3 Query Caching;11.4 Advanced SQL;11.5 Query of Queries;11.6 Calling Stored Procedures;11.7 Transaction Processing;Chapter 12: Manipulating Files and Directories;12.1 Working with Directories;12.2 Dealing with Files;12.3 Performing FTP Operations;12.4 Executing Command-Line Programs;Chapter 13: Working with Email;13.1 Sending Email;13.2 Dealing with Undeliverable Email;13.3 Retrieving Messages;13.4 Building a Web-Based Email Client;Chapter 14: Interacting with Other Web Servers Using HTTP;14.1 Retrieving Information;14.2 Parsing Data;14.3 Generating Static HTML Pages;14.4 Posting Information;14.5 cfhttp Considerations;Chapter 15: Interfacing with LDAP-Enabled Directories;15.1 LDAP Basics;15.2 Querying an LDAP Directory;15.3 Modifying LDAP Entries;15.4 Modifying the Distinguished Name;Chapter 16: Working with the Verity Search Interface;16.1 Creating Collections;16.2 Populating Collections;16.3 Searching Collections;16.4 The Verity Search Language;16.5 Updating Collections;16.6 Maintaining Collections;16.7 Advanced Techniques;Chapter 17: Graphing and Charting;17.1 Creating a Simple Graph;17.2 Working with Dates;17.3 Charting Dynamic Data;17.4 Charting Multiple Data Series;17.5 Drilling Down on Graph Data;17.6 Saving Charts to a Variable;17.7 Working with the Chart Cache;Chapter 18: Regular Expressions in ColdFusion;18.1 Regular-Expression Syntax;18.2 Finding Strings;18.3 Replacing Strings;18.4 Backreferences;18.5 Useful Regular Expressions;18.6 Regular Expression Tester;Chapter 19: Scripting;19.1 Scripting Syntax;19.2 Writing Output;19.3 Flow Control and Looping;19.4 Error and Exception Handling;Chapter 20: User-Defined Functions;20.1 UDF Basics;20.2 Calling User-Defined Functions;20.3 Advanced Topics;20.4 Function Libraries;20.5 Script-Based UDFs;Chapter 21: Creating Custom Tags;21.1 Getting Started;21.2 Calling Custom Tags;21.3 Passing Data;21.4 Returning Data;21.5 Attribute Validation and Error Handling;21.6 Advanced Techniques;21.7 Protecting Your Tags;21.8 CFX Tags;Chapter 22: ColdFusion Components;22.1 Basic Concepts;22.2 Creating Components;22.3 Using Components;22.4 Advanced CFC Topics;Chapter 23: XML and WDDX;23.1 Working with XML;23.2 Using WDDX;Chapter 24: Web Services;24.1 Web Services Overview;24.2 Consuming Web Services;24.3 Producing Web Services;24.4 Web Services Security;Chapter 25: Working with the System Registry;25.1 Getting Registry Keys and Values;25.2 Setting Registry Keys and Values;25.3 Deleting Registry Keys and Values;Chapter 26: Using the ColdFusion Scheduler;26.1 Scheduling Tasks with the ColdFusion Administrator;26.2 Scheduling Tasks with cfschedule;26.3 Additional Considerations;Chapter 27: Interacting with COM, CORBA, and Java;27.1 Working with COM;27.2 Calling CORBA Objects;27.3 Integrating ColdFusion and Java;Chapter 28: Flash Remoting;28.1 Getting Started with Flash Remoting for ColdFusion MX;28.2 Interacting with ColdFusion Pages;28.3 Interacting with ColdFusion Components;28.4 Interacting with Server-Side ActionScript;28.5 Flash Remoting with Java Objects Hosted on the ColdFusion MX Server;Appendix A: Tag Reference;A.1 Tags by Type;A.2 Alphabetical List of Tags;Appendix B: Function Reference;B.1 Functions by Category;B.2 Alphabetical List of Functions;Appendix C: Example Database Tables;Appendix D: ColdFusion Resources;D.1 Official Macromedia Resources;D.2 Magazines;D.3 Mailing Lists;D.4 Blogs;D.5 Community Resources;D.6 User Groups;Colophon;