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ColdFusion

ColdFusion: With ColdFusion, you can build and deploy powerful web applications and services with far less training time and fewer lines of code than ASP, PHP, and JSP. Version 7.0 introduces powerful new application services including rich Flash forms generation, structured reports, and dynamic generation of printable documents. Coupled with version 6.1’s simplified installation and migration, updated key features, and increased in runtime performance, these features open up a new world of applications beyond the browser.

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  1. What is ColdFusion?

    ColdFusion is a program based on the CFMX programming language that builds and deploys powerful web applications and services.  With proven tag-based methodology, ColdFusion’s features allow web developers to easily harness the power of the Java Platform to deliver powerful Internet applications to millions of people worldwide.  ColdFusion is a server side language, which is executed by a ColdFusion application server.  It works by executing CFM templates (which is a mixture of HTML and ColdFusion instructions) to return normal HTML to the requesting browser.  The ColdFusion MX Enterprise software suite provides all the necessary software to create large-scale websites, applications, and hosting environments, and is available for either a stand-alone installation for web developers or for industry-level deployment on J2EE application servers.

  2. The true power of ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML)

    The core functionality of ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) is centered on the use of tags.  These server scripting tags give ColdFusion its speedy development applications for the web.  CFML is quite simple to learn, but is powerful enough to handle even the most complex and demanding web applications.  Processed entirely on the server, CFML uses syntax closely resembling that of HTML and XML. CFML consists of two primary language elements: tags and functions. Tags let you perform operations such as accessing a database. Functions can return data and do other operations like retrieving the system date. Tags, functions and operators make up expressions. Building expressions in ColdFusion is easy and can include simple as well as complex elements. The ways in which these expressions and elements are used determine how ColdFusion processes your program.

  3. Is ColdFusion easy to learn?

    Out of the many different methods used to develop and build web applications, pages, and services, ColdFusion is by far the easiest to learn and use. For ColdFusion 7.0, Macromedia has created a helpful ‘Getting Started Experience’ interface that gives the new user access to tutorials, whitepapers, topic index, and even two sample applications to play with.

    There is no other language or product as well suited to web developers as ColdFusion. Easy-to-use visual tools and an intuitive server scripting environment allow new users to easily pick up the CFML language.

  4. Windows, UNIX, or Linux…which Should I Use To Run My Website?

    Macromedia ColdFusion MX supports most operating systems including Windows, Unix, Linux, IBM AIX and HP-UX.  Below is a list of operating system versions and system requirements for the latest ColdFusion version:

    Windows OS
    Intel Pentium processor or higher
    256 MB RAM but 512 MB is highly recommended
    400 MB of hard disk space available
    Works on MS Windows 98 / ME / NT 4 / SP6A / 2000 /SP3 / XP/ 2003

    Linux OS
    Intel Pentium processor or higher
    256 MB RAM but 512 MB is highly recommended
    400 MB of hard disk space available
    Red Hat Linux 7.2 / 7.3 / 8.0 / 9 / AS & ES 2.1 / AS & ES 3.0
    SuSE Linux 7.2 / 7.3 / or 8X
    Turbo Linux 8 Server ( Japanese Only)

    Unix
    SPARC, PA-RISC 1.1 / 2.0 / Power 3 processor
    Sun Solaris 7 / 8 / 9
    256 MB RAM but 512 MB is highly recommended
    400 MB of hard disk space available
    HP-UX 11i
    IBM AIX 5L 4.3 / 3 / 5.1 / 5.2
    Apple Mac OS X

  5. What Databases and Web Servers are supported with ColdFusion?

    ColdFusion MX supports most major databases including Microsoft SQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, IBM DB2, Sybase and IBM Informix.  In addition, CFMX can run on most major web servers including IIS, Apache and Sun One.

  6. What are the differences between the ColdFusion 7.0 editions?

    Standard Edition: This edition is for single web application or small workgroup environments. It builds accessible, high-quality rich forms, transforms existing HTML content into PDF or FlashPaper 2 formats, creates structured business reports for workgroup applications, delivers charts and graphs, and increases text searching capabilities.

    Enterprise Edition: This edition is ideal for the quickly growing business. It includes all the features of the Standard Edition as well as scalability, performance, and enterprise management capabilities for larger web and business applications. The Enterprise Edition has multi-instance deployment and management, clustering, high-speed enterprise database drivers, server security J2EE packaging and deployment, and high-performance e-mail delivery. Yet the most anticipated feature of this edition is the event gateway, which enables ColdFusion applications to connect to mobile phones and instant messaging.

  7. How does ColdFusion run on application servers?

    The ColdFusion MX runtime environment is actually a Java application that takes advantage of the many powerful services in the J2EE platform.  What this J2EE platform does is connects the various databases, manages its own security, as well as processes the requests sent in by the application itself.  When ColdFusion MX is installed in the J2EE configuration, the compiled infrastructure will be on top of the application server in order to execute the language’s applications.  This configuration will allow developers to cultivate and set out pages, as well as manage the MX server settings using the ColdFusion Administrator.

  8. What are the advantages & disadvantages of using custom tags in ColdFusion?

    Using custom tags within ColdFusion has its advantages and disadvantages.  Custom tags written in CFML primarily try to achieve a simple balance between three aspects; taking argument statements, having body tags begin and end with the appropriate tag, and ensuring proper processing when a beginning tag is encountered by the ColdFusion program.  If designed properly, these custom tags will also be able to be called recursively (meaning that it will have the functionality to call itself within the body tag).  Although a custom tag in ColdFusion will call a page included the CFinclude tag, the disadvantage is that the code must be recursive, have  developed complex functionality, and  must be convenient for others (although often times code is not convenient).  If creating either a User Defined Function (UDF) or a custom CFML tag, weigh the options carefully, since invoking a UDF requires less system overhead than using a custom tag.

  9. What are the new features for ColdFusion 7.0?

    ColdFusion 7.0 brings a whole new level of features to developers. With better web application creation, new server management and deployment options, and a new class of applications, users are able to quickly create powerful Internet applications without spending a lot of time or money.

    Macromedia developed the new features to help web developers be more efficient in performing routine tasks such as structured business reporting, Flash-rich forms, and PDF and FlashPaper 2 document generation. ColdFusion Report Builder, a tool that helps users develop detailed business reports, will create sub reports, charts and graphs, automatically generate subtotals, and much more. ColdFusion 7.0 simplifies the form building process with the new Rich Flash and XML Forms capabilities. The new CFDOCUMENT feature eliminates chopping page printing with a single tag that transforms web pages into PDF or FlashPaper 2 formats.

  10. How do I purchase my own copy of ColdFusion?

    The ColdFusion MX suite is available directly from Macromedia, local computer software resellers, licensing programs and some web hosts.

IP Addresses : Static vs. Shared

One term that is familiar to anyone who has their own website, is the phrase “IP Address”. But what is an IP address, and how does it affect your website? And what is the difference between a static and a shared IP Address?

To start with, an IP address is a 32-bit numeric address written as four numbers separated by periods. Each of the four numbers can be from 0 to 255, an example would be 192.168.0.5 . The IP address identifies a sender or receiver of information across the Internet. When you request an HTML page or send e-mail the Internet Protocol part of TCP/IP includes your IP address in the message (actually, in each of the packets if more than one is required) and sends it to the IP address of the server to which you wish to communicate. The recipient can see the IP address of the Web page requestor or the e-mail sender and can respond by sending another message using the IP address it received. Each machine on the Internet is assigned a unique IP Address for the purposes of communication.

Based on this definition, we can establish that an IP Address is analogous to one’s home address. If someone is to send you mail, they put your address on the front of the envelope, and the mailman delivers it right to your door. IP Addresses work precisely the same way.

There are typically two types of IP Address that can be used in web hosting, Shared or Static. While there is no difference in the IP Address itself, there are some configuration changes on the servers they rest on.

A static IP Address is when a website has their very own IP Address. This means that whether you type in your URL or the IP address of your website, both will bring you to the same page.

A shared IP Address is when multiple websites all share the same IP Address. In this case, the web server does a little bit of extra work when it receives your web request, and passes you to the correct website. Typing in the IP Address will not bring you to your desired website, under most conditions. Why do we need this? I’m sure you noticed that, based on the above definition of an IP Address, that there is a finite number of IP Addresses available before we run out completely. If every single website on the internet had it’s own IP Address, there would be no room for any new ones.

Back to our home address analogy, you might consider a static IP Address to be a stand-alone home. There is only one house who gets mail at that address. You might then consider a shared IP Address to be an apartment building. Many different households get their mail at the same location, and in turn it is distributed to the correct location.

How does this affect you? In most cases, it wont. A static IP Address may be required if you need to have some sort of special access to your website, like SSL or Anonymous FTP. If you have no special requirements, then a shared IP will work under most conditions.


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