ColdFusion Programming

Our Experience

Our ColdFusion experience is with a large international construction products company. When their original developer needed extra help with the constant workload, we were contacted to provide maintenance and expand the site's functionality. Through numerous projects we have developed our ColdFusion skills and build a good working knowledge of the ColdFusion application framework. We're also impressed with the ColdFusion development network and the code resources available online.

About ColdFusion

ColdFusion, created by the folks at Macromedia, is an embedded scripting language that will run on almost any operating system including Windows, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, and AIX.

Some facts about ColdFusion:

Easy

• Save time and money with rapid server scripting.
• Powerful Internet capabilities within an easy-to-learn and highly productive server scripting environment.
• Intuitive tag-based language that requires fewer lines of code by handling low-level programming tasks automatically and simplifying code reuse.
• Complete support for new ColdFusion MX features within Dreamweaver MX, including powerful visual layout and prototyping, enhanced code editing and development capabilities, and integrated debugging.

Powerful

• Get everything you need to deliver a superior user experience.
• Fully integrated application services for adding full-text search, dynamic charting, and streamlined connectivity to Macromedia Flash clients to your applications.
• Innovative architecture that brings the scalability, reliability, and power of the Java platform to web scripting, including support for multiple instances of ColdFusion on a single server.
• Complete extensibility via custom tag libraries, reusable components, and full support for JSP, servlets and EJBs through the included Macromedia JRun J2EE server.

Open

• Leverage the latest standards and integrate with your technology infrastructure.
• Highly approachable integration with all of the major Internet standards and component models, including XML, SOAP/web services, Java, .NET/COM, and CORBA.
• Support for developing and deploying applications on a standalone ColdFusion MX server or on leading Java application servers such as Macromedia JRun, IBM WebSphere, Sun ONE, and BEA WebLogic.
• Support for the leading server operating systems, web server software, mail servers, directory servers, file systems, and relational database management systems.

Intuitive Server Scripting

• CFML: Quickly develop dynamic Internet applications with the powerful yet easy-to-learn ColdFusion Markup Language.
• XML Handling: Easily integrate data using built-in XML document parsing, XSL transformations, and automated serialization of data into XML.
• Session Management: Transparently maintain application, session, and client variables with a powerful web application framework.
• Custom Tags: Increase productivity by encapsulating common logic in custom tag libraries or use any of the thousands available on the ColdFusion Exchange.
• JSP Tag Library Import:Leverage the growing universe of JSP tag libraries by using them just like ColdFusion custom tags.
• Code Compatibility Analyzer: Simplify migration from previous versions by identifying deprecated tags and other problem areas in existing ColdFusion applications.

Integrated Application Services

• Full-Text Search: Provide easy searching of unstructured content with Verity K2 Search, including web pages, documents, and database content.
• Dynamic Charting: Easily produce professional business graphics with expanded chart types, support for multiple data series, and batch scheduling.
• Flash Remoting: Deliver next-generation user experiences by integrating server-side logic with rich clients built in Macromedia Flash.
• Web Services: Integrate with external web services or publish your own using a standards-based web services engine.
• Internet Protocol Integration: Easily build mail-enabled applications, interact with remote web servers, or move files across the network using built-in support for standard Internet protocols.

Flexible Application Deployment

• Cross-Platform Portability: Deploy your applications on any of the leading server operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, and AIX.
• Multiple Server Configurations: Install ColdFusion as a standalone server or deploy as a J2EE web application for enhanced security, performance and integration.
• Java Application Server Deployment: Develop and deploy ColdFusion applications on the bundled Macromedia JRun 4 J2EE server or on other servers, including IBM WebSphere, BEA WebLogic, and Sun ONE.
• Multiple Server Instances: Increase security and availability by configuring individual sites or applications to run in their own server process.
• Web Server API Support: Deploy ColdFusion MX with any of the leading web servers, including Microsoft IIS, Sun ONE/iPlanet, and Apache.

High-Performance Architecture

• Database Connection Pooling: Increase application performance and reduce database overhead by reusing pooled database connections.
• Flexible Page Caching: Maximize server capacity by caching dynamic pages across multiple requests.
• Bytecode Caching: Speed page execution with automatic in-memory caching of compiled CFML pages.
• Dynamic Load Balancing: Ensure high performance by distributing application load across multiple instances or servers.
• Server Clustering: Deliver high availability with automatic failover and session clustering.

Advanced Development Capabilities

• ColdFusion Components (CFCs): Create self-documenting, reusable application components callable from CFML pages, Macromedia Flash clients, or via web services.
• *Role-Based Security: Authenticate and authorize users against any ColdFusion data source, including Active Directory, LDAP servers, and relational databases.
• JSP, Servlet, and EJB Support: Create hybrid applications that combine ColdFusion pages with back-end logic written in Java by leveraging the bundled Macromedia JRun J2EE server.
• Internationalization: Build applications that support non-Latin languages such as Chinese, Japanese, or Korean with built-in support for UNICODE encoding.

Enterprise Systems Integration

• Advanced Database Connectivity: Connect to virtually any data source with high-performance JDBC drivers for Access, SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, and more.
• Directory Servers: Access enterprise directories for authentication or authorization data via the lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP).
• Component/Object Integration: Extend packaged applications or integrate with legacy systems with built-in support for COM interfaces, Java objects, and CORBA IIOP.
• Microsoft.NET Integration: Leverage applications and components built with Microsoft’s .NET Framework through standards-based web services.

Easily perform administrative tasks remotely through a browser-based administrator.

• Application Deployment Services: Effortlessly package, migrate or archive applications and settings from within the ColdFusion administrator.
• Server Sandbox Security: Secure shared hosting environments with directory-based access control for tags, functions, data sources, and IP addresses.
• Advanced Application Monitoring: Configure custom probes to monitor server activity and react with automatic notifications or a scripted response.
• Scheduled Tasks: Automate routine maintenance tasks, publish reports, or refresh static pages with the flexible scheduling utility.