Anyone who's needed JavaScript validation for his or her forms knows how easy
it is to use ColdFusion's CFFORM tag. It's a quick and easy way to ensure
that the form is filled out properly. However, CFFORM can be as limited as it
is useful (see Figure 1).
Several types of validation that aren't available are: Making a single-select
box required Making checkboxes and radio buttons required Limiting the number
of checkboxes or multiselect options selected Restricting dates entered to a
certain range. Many developers scrap CFFORM altogether and just use the HTML
FORM tag in conjunction with their own JavaScript validation. Rarely do you
hear about multiple customized validation scripts being used with the CFFORM
tag.
It's possible to use both - good news for anyone who already uses CFFORM and
wants to add on to it or for those who're tired of writing JavaScript to
en... (more)
Way back when ColdFusion 4.5 was released, the concept of structures
(associative arrays to some of you) was introduced. Never one to be receptive
to change - not to mention having no background in other programming
languages - I shunned structures for the most part and kept on my merry way
working with arrays and lists. Over the years, however, I have come to
appreciate the simplicity and functionality of structures and embrace them as
my favorite ColdFusion data type.
If you haven't worked with other languages such as the various flavors of C
or Java, the concept of what struc... (more)
Every day it seems as if another content management system (CMS) is popping
up on the horizon, many of them built using ColdFusion.
Typically, these CMSs contain the same type of functionality. They:
Allow users who don't know HTML to add and edit content easily Display
content using a template system and integrated style sheets Create user
accounts and assign security permissions allowing certain users to perform
only certain tasks Allow content to be indexed and subsequently searched by
the user Modify system settings that control certain functionality of the
site Perform workfl... (more)
Once they've learned the basics of ColdFusion, one of the first applications
many developers will write is an e-mail program. By using CFMAIL and CFPOP,
it is easy to create a basic application that will send mail to an SMTP
service and retrieve mail from a POP service.
This type of functionality can be limited, however, and the only
communications the developer can perform with the mail server is to send and
receive e-mail. If the user information is stored in an LDAP directory, it
can be accessed programmatically, but that certainly adds another level of
complexity. Not to men... (more)
There comes a time in the life of almost every developer when he or she needs
to host a Web site. Unfortunately, not all of us can have a T1 running to our
basement with a dual-processor Pentium 4 running our site. No, we developers
- and businesses - must look elsewhere for help. Unless you have a lot of
money, that typically means you'll be part of a shared hosting environment.
In a traditional shared hosting environment, your Web site will be one of
perhaps hundreds running on the same server. You won't get access to the
ColdFusion Administrator and don't even think about playi... (more)
Selene Bainum is a software architect at INPUT. She has been a ColdFusion and SQL developer for over 10 years and runs www.webtricks.com.
David Lucas
Shaul Efraim
Terence Martin Breslin
Cory Marchand
David Hughes
James Carlini
John Iffert
Dan Stolts
Joe Zeto
