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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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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Spammers Should Rot In Jail! Or Should They?
DON'T GET ME WRONG... I DESPISE spam and those that send it (spammers) with a passion. I tend to receive 100+ emails a day and only about 15-20 are relevant! So, I actively use our spam filtering service and love it --cuts back on spam by about 90%. I feel the pain... believe me.
WHAT IS SPAM? spam ( P ) Pronunciation Key (spam) n. Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail.
WHERE DID SPAMMING COME FROM? Spamming got its start back in the early days of the Internet, and at first, it wasn't so bad. The early adopters that had email accounts, would typically receive an average of 1 spam a day. Ahh, the good 'ol days. However, spamming has now grown to become one of the Internet's greatest Nemeses.
Internet businesses are drawn to spamming as an inexpensive tool for selling. Many of you might think "no way, I instantly delete all spam without even reading it!" However, for every 500 people that delete it immediately, there's 1person that reads it and, for every 100 peopel that read it, there's probably 1person who buys from it. So, in reality, when a company spams a million addresses, they will probably get about 20 sales!
My next statement is probably the most important -- DO NOT SPAM! Although, I realize that spamming does tend to generate a little bit of easy revenue; I cannot condone its use because it harms the entire system in which many of today's businesses strive to succeed.
The Internet is inundated with these emails and causes email delivery delays and routing latency that is unnecessary. It also conditions Internet users to quickly delete their emails without first considering relevancy - this is key because it limits the effectiveness of advertising.
HAVE YOU EVER SPAMMED ANYONE? Now, we ALL hate spam, but we should be cautious not to generalize or categorize those that send it. There are different levels of "spamming". If you're not careful, you'll probably incriminate yourself!
Think about it. Have you ever spammed anyone? How about this: Have you ever sent unsolicited email? I'd be hard pressed to believe you, if you said, "no".The reason is that the "unsolicited" part of the definition may mean different things to different people.
For instance, if you've ever gone to a website and thought, "let's go to the contact page, get an email address, and see if we can form a partnership or see if our two businesses can benefit from each other." Well, that's a legitimate enough thought, but sending an email to an account gathered off of a site is still considered "unsolicited". Why is this? Because spam has become such a hated thing that the Internet Authorities have begun to seriously crack down on spammers - and so they should. The unfortunate problem here is that innocent people get caught in the mix.
The email sent from a contact page (if not sent within an online form) is "unsolicited" in that even though their site is for general perusal and information they did not specifically "solicit" to do business with you. I know, I know, it's a little bit of 'double-speak'. They may "want" to do business with you and use their website to help you find them, however, taking advantage of that site could still be misconstrued!
HOW CAN WE AVOID SPAMMING OTHERS? So you say, "well if that's the way it is, how do we get around it?" Well, here's an example followed by a few tips:
One way to increase your site's search engine rankings is by increasing how many sites link to it. Well, one way to speed that process along is to simply ask webmasters to link to you. In return, you link to them and both parties benefit. Now pay close attention to a situation in which I found myself..
I began establishing links with other sites and found that the best way to find sites that will link back is to visit sites that link to mine and then go to THEIR "links" page. From there, I found many sites that have already linked to THAT site, so why not see if they'll link to mine, right?
Well, that's the way I thought about it anyway. I figured that I could visit the site, visit their links page, and then visit linking sites to get a contact email to which I could send a "Link Exchange Request". How could it be spamming, especially if I'm not selling anything? Well, it doesn't matter about how WE rationalize it, it matters how the intended RECIPIENT rationalizes it!
So, in short, that concept worked very well for a while, and many webmasters were linking back. I thought, "great!" Then, I sat down late one night and began doing this for 7 hours straight! Yes, I sometimes work too much... haha. At any rate, I sent nearly 350 requests that basically said the same thing, but I tried to personalize them to each site by using their name (whenever it was part of their email). As the night waned and as I became delirious from lack of sleep; I became lazy. I decided to send roughly twenty more emails quickly before I went to bed. And, instead of looking over all the sites in detail, as I had before, I decided to just email to a default webmaster account.
At first, you're probably thinking... well, then I spammed those last 20 or so sites; and I would concur that I did, in a strict sense. And, it is something I have since never done again. But, here's the key: although I received a spam complaint from one of those "lazy spam emails", I ALSO received a couple of complaints from some of the detailed, personalized emails! I had worked so long on these only to have it reported as spam. A sad day, to be sure. I received very stern warning calls from my Internet backbone providers - not fun for a world-class web hosting company! They threatened to shut me down, and I was taken aback for sure.
The key lesson learned was that even "relevant" email that didn't "sell" anything can be reported as spam if it is unsolicited and not wanted! I'll tell you that MOST of those webmasters THANKED me for sending them my email. They wanted to not only link back to me, but some of them sold me services and vice-versa.
CONCLUSION AND TIPS Be cautious when sending emails. A single email can get you in trouble! One way to go about contacting companies for issues not directly related to what they are expecting from you is to email a request for permission to email the appropriate person. In other words, send an email stating no more than "I would like to speak to or email someone within your organization that could handle a link exchange request. If interested, please reply with your permission and any relevant information." However, even this is risky and can be reported as spam.
What to do then? The best method is always to call. Find a number on the website and pick up the phone. If they don't list a phone number, move on. Speaking to a live person may not get your goal accomplished, but it won't get you blacklisted on the Internet either!
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