Notes On Date-And-Time Values - MACROMEDIA COLDFUSION 4.5-CFML LANGUAGE Reference

574
Objects Used to Build ColdFusion Expressions
Type
Queries
COM objects
Variables

Notes on date-and-time values

There are a variety of ways in which a date-and-time value can be entered in
ColdFusion. You can use the functions that create date-and-time objects using various
criteria. (See Chapter 2 for information about date-and-time functions.)
Description
ColdFusion queries can be referenced as objects by
assigning a query to a variable:
<CFQUERY NAME=myquery
DATASOURCE=mydata
SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
</CFQUERY>
<CFSET myquery2=myquery>
In this case (unlike the same operation with arrays) the
query is not copied. Instead, both names point to the record
set data so that if you make changes to the table referenced
in the query, the original query and the query object
myquery2 will both reflect those changes.
Queries and variables cannot have the same name at the
same time in the same application page.
COM (Component Object Model) objects are non-visual
components that encapsulate specific functionality you can
invoke in your application pages. ActiveX, OCX, CORBA, and
ADO objects are examples of COM objects.
COM objects generally contain methods, like functions, you
can use to execute certain operations:
<CFSET temp=Mailer.SendMail()>
COM objects also generally contain properties you can read
and write using ColdFusion variables:
<CFSET Mailer.FromName=Form.fromname>
Properties can be invoked on either side of an assignment.
For more information about COM objects, see Developing
Web Applications with ColdFusion.
When variables are used in ColdFusion expressions,
the value stored in the variable is returned. The values
can be one of the previously described basic objects:
numbers, strings, Boolean values, date-and-time
objects, or lists.
CFML Language Reference