Operation Manual

507
USING DREAMWEAVER
Preparing to build dynamic sites
Last updated 3/28/2012
Choosing a database
Databases come in many forms depending upon the amount and the complexity of the data they must store. When
choosing a database, you should consider several factors, including your budget and the number of users you anticipate
will access the database.
Budget Some vendors produce high-end application database servers that are expensive to buy and administer.
Others vendors provide easier, more cost-effective solutions, such as Microsoft Access or the open-source database
MySQL.
Users If you anticipate a large user community accessing the site, select a database designed to support your site’s
intended user base. For websites requiring greater flexibility in their data modeling, and the ability to support large,
concurrent user communities, consider server-based relational databases (typically referred to as RDBMS) like
Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle.
Setting up a ColdFusion development environment
For detailed instructions on setting up a ColdFusion development environment for Dreamweaver on your Windows
or Mac computer, see the Adobe website at
www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/setup_cf.html.
Both Windows and Macintosh users can download and install a free, fully functional, developer edition of the
ColdFusion application server from the Adobe website at
www.adobe.com/go/coldfusion/.
Note: The Developer Edition is for non-commercial use for developing and testing web applications. It is not licensed for
deployment. It supports requests from the local host and two remote IP addresses. You can use it to develop and test your
web applications as long as you want; the software does not expire. For more information, see ColdFusion help (Help
>
ColdFusion Help).
During installation, you can configure ColdFusion to use the web server built into ColdFusion or another web server
installed on your system. Generally, it’s best to match your development environment to your production
environment. Therefore, if you have an existing web server such as Microsoft IIS on your development computer, you
may want to use it instead of the built-in ColdFusion web server.
Setting up a PHP development environment
For detailed instructions on setting up a PHP development environment for Dreamweaver on your Windows or Mac
computer, see the Adobe website at
www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/setup_php.html.
Editions of the PHP application server exist for Windows, Linux, UNIX, HP-UX, Solaris, and Mac OS X systems. For
more information on the application server, see the PHP documentation, which you can also download from the PHP
website at
www.php.net/download-docs.php.
Setting up an ASP development environment
For detailed instructions on setting up an ASP development environment for Dreamweaver on your Windows or Mac
computer, see the Adobe website at
www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/setup_asp.html.
To run ASP pages, you need an application server that supports Microsoft Active Server Pages 2.0., such as Microsoft
IIS (Internet Information Services), which comes with Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional. Windows XP
Professional users can install and run IIS on their local computer. Macintosh users can use a web hosting service with
an ASP plan or install IIS on a remote computer.