CF Tips & Techniques

Updated Studio Documentation

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

If you've longed for more documentation on how to get the most from the ColdFusion Studio editing tool, Allaire has heard you. There have been two recent updates to the documentation that you may have missed.

Automatically Close Quotes, Pounds, and Comments in Studio

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

Did you know that you can have Studio automatically close quotes, pounds, and comments when you enter an opening one?

Doing IF Tests Within CFMAIL

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

You've probably noticed that CF leaves white space in HTML pages where CF tags existed before the page was processed.

May 1998 Tip and Tricks

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

CF 3.x now allows you to directly reference values stored within a CFQUERY result set. To reference a value stored in query myquery in column mycolumn at row 4 requires the following syntax:

Creating Multi-Column Lists

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

When you have a long list to display, it often makes sense to break the list up into columns. If you display your list using tables, a simple CFIF tag is all it takes.

Tips

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

We've all been taught that, when we have a choice to take all we can of something, we should instead take only what we need.

The Return of the Static Page

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

Those static pages we were so glad to leave behind--they're back.

CFFTP: Dispelling the Myths

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

If I had to pick the most underutilized and most misunderstood of all the ColdFusion tags, it would have to be the CFFTP tag. The CFFTP tag has been around since version 3.x of ColdFusion and allows ColdFusion applications to interact with FTP servers anywhere in the world.

TIPS

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

Let's say you want to create a dynamic SQL query -- that is, a CFQUERY that looks up different fields depending on circumstances. Why would this be useful? Let's say you're creating an employee roster application.

Answers to "So You Think You Know ColdFusion?"

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

The answer is...C. And did you know that ColdFusion processes application.cfm when an application page in the root directory or any of its sub-directories is requested?

Techniques for Debugging on Deadline

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

'...If Debugging is the art of taking bugs out of programs, Programming must be the art of putting them in_';

Did you know that CF has two types of division on numbers?

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

There's an important distinction between using the / and \ operators in doing division in CF. Using the forward slash (/) returns real division, with all decimal points intact, as one would expect.

Handling Errors in Studio Query Building or Debugging Tools

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

The query building and interactive debugging tools in Studio each work in conjunction with the RDS (remote development services) feature, whether you're working with databases or templates that are stored locally or against a remote server.

Easier Insertion of Dates with CFINSERT/CFUPDATE

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

When you're inserting date/time values into a database, you want to be careful about deciding whether the date should be hardcoded into the form (perhaps as a hidden field) or whether it should be computed at the time of the data entry.

Be Careful in Multi-conditioned CFIF's

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

When performing a CFIF testing multiple conditions, be careful when testing against a value that could equate to a Boolean true or false (0 or 1, yes or no, etc.).

Testing Against Many Values in a CFIF

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

If you have to test a condition against many values in a CFIF, you may be tempted to write out a very long condition, such as:

Saving Files Where Expected in Studio

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

Studio has an interesting (and to some, annoying) mechanism for determining where to save newly created files. If you're not aware of this approach, you can be left feeling that Studio has made a mistake in deciding where to save a file—if you even notice it's not where you had expected.

June 1998 Tip and Tricks

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

Output of query results into a tabular format provides developers with a wide variety of formatting options. Use of color is but one of the options available to developers to enhance readability of data for the end-user.

Whither The Studio Query Builder

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 EDT

Did you know that Studio has a built-in SQL query builder? It provides a drag-and-drop SQL query building interface (much like that used in MS Access) that can be performed against any of your available datasources, including Access, SQL Server, and the rest.