Recommended Uses; For More Information; Selecting Among Coldfusion Code Reuse Methods - MACROMEDIA COLDFUSION MX 61-DEVELOPING COLDFUSION MX Develop Manual

Recommended uses

Consider using ColdFusion components when doing the following:
•
Creating web services. (To create web services in ColdFusion, you must use components.)
•
Creating services that are callable by Flash clients.
•
Creating libraries of related functions, particularly if they must share data.
•
Using integrated application security mechanisms based on roles and the requestor location.
•
Developing code in an object-oriented manner, in which you use methods on objects and can
create objects that extend the features of existing objects.

For more information

For more information on using ColdFusion components, see
ColdFusion Components," on page

Selecting among ColdFusion code reuse methods

The following table lists common reasons to employ code reuse methods and indicates the
techniques to consider for each purpose. The letter P indicates that the method is preferred.
(There can be more than one preferred method.) The letter A means that the method provides an
alternative that might be useful in some circumstances.
This table does not include CFX tags. You use CFX tags only when you should code your
functionality in C++ or Java. For more information about using CFX tags, see
on page 169.
Purpose
Provide code, including CFML, HTML, and static
text, that must be used in multiple pages.
Deploy headers and footers.
Include one page in another page.
Divide pages into smaller units.
Use variables from a calling page.
Implement code that uses recursion.
Distribute your code to others.
Operate on a body of HTML or CFML text.
Use subtags.
Provide a computation, data manipulation, or other
procedure.
Provide a single functional element that takes any
number of input values and returns a (possibly
complex) result.
Use variables, whose variable names might change
from use to use.
219.
cfinclude
tag
P
P
P
P
A

Selecting among ColdFusion code reuse methods

Chapter 11, "Building and Using
"Using CFX tags"
Custom
tag UDF
P P
P P
P P
P
P
A P
A P
A P
Component
P
P
P
171