Adobe COLDFUSION 9 Manual page 20

DEVELOPING COLDFUSION 9 APPLICATIONS
Introducing ColdFusion
For more information, see "Elements of
CFML tags
CFML looks like HTML—it includes starting and, in most cases, ending tags, and each tag is enclosed in angle brackets.
All ending tags are preceded with a forward slash (/) and all tag names are preceded with
<cftagname>
tag body text and CFML
</cftagname>
CFML increases productivity by providing a layer of abstraction that hides many low-level details involved with
Internet application programming. At the same time, CFML is powerful and flexible. ColdFusion lets you easily build
applications that integrate files, databases, legacy systems, mail servers, FTP servers, objects, and components.
CFML tags serve many functions. They provide programming constructs, such as conditional processing and loop
structures. They also provide services, such as charting and graphing, full-text search, access to protocols such as FTP,
SMTP/POP, and HTTP, and much more. The following table lists a few examples of commonly used ColdFusion tags:
Tag Purpose
cfquery Establishes a connection to a database (if one does not exist), executes a query, and returns results to the
ColdFusion environment.
Displays output that can contain the results of processing ColdFusion functions, variables, and expressions.
cfoutput
cfset Sets the value of a ColdFusion variable.
Lets an application send SMTP mail messages using application variables, query results, or server files. (Another
cfmail
tag,
cfpop
cfchart Converts application data or query results into graphs, such as bar charts or pie charts, in Flash, JPG, or PNG
format.
Invokes objects written in other programming languages, including COM (Component Object Model)
cfobject
components, Java objects such as Enterprise JavaBeans, or Common CORBA (Object Request Broker Architecture)
objects.
CFML Reference describes the CFML tags in detail.
CFML functions and CFScript
CFML includes built-in functions that perform a variety of roles, including string manipulation, data management,
and system functions. CFML also includes a built-in scripting language, CFScript, that lets you write code in a manner
that is familiar to programmers and JavaScript writers.
CFML extensions
You can extend CFML further by creating custom tags or user-defined functions (UDFs), or by integrating COM,
C++, and Java components (such as JSP tag libraries). You can also create ColdFusion components (CFCs), which
encapsulate related functions and properties and provide a consistent interface for accessing them.
All these features let you easily create reusable functionality that is customized to the types of applications or websites
that you are building.
CFML" on page 17.
, gets mail.)
Last updated 8/5/2010
; for example:
cf
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