User Guide

Contents
Preface: Welcome to ColdFusion ..................................................................xv
Intended Audience.........................................................................................................................xvi
Welcome to the ColdFusion 4.5 Web Application Server ...........................................................xvi
Products and System Requirements ...........................................................................................xvii
New features in ColdFusion 4.5................................................................................................. xviii
New visual tools................................................................................................................... xviii
Enhancements to CFML ........................................................................................................xix
Better reliability ......................................................................................................................xix
Improved performance..........................................................................................................xix
Enterprise connectivity features ............................................................................................xx
Security enhancements...........................................................................................................xx
Developer Resources .....................................................................................................................xxi
About ColdFusion Documentation .............................................................................................xxii
Documentation updates.......................................................................................................xxii
ColdFusion manuals .............................................................................................................xxii
ColdFusion Server online documentation ........................................................................ xxiii
Printing ColdFusion documentation................................................................................. xxiii
Documentation conventions...............................................................................................xxiv
Getting Answers ...........................................................................................................................xxiv
Contacting Allaire.................................................................................................................xxiv
Chapter 1: Introduction to ColdFusion...........................................................1
A Quick Web Overview .................................................................................................................... 2
What You Should Already Know..................................................................................................... 2
What is ColdFusion? ........................................................................................................................ 3
Editions of ColdFusion............................................................................................................. 3
ColdFusion Features........................................................................................................................ 3
Rapid development .................................................................................................................. 4
Scalable deployment................................................................................................................ 4
Open integration ...................................................................................................................... 4
Complete security..................................................................................................................... 5
ColdFusion Components ................................................................................................................ 5
ColdFusion Studio.................................................................................................................... 6
ColdFusion application pages................................................................................................. 6