User Guide

Chapter 3: Querying a Database 25

Query Notes and Considerations

When creating queries to retrieve data, keep these guidelines in mind:

• Enter the query NAME and DATASOURCE attributes in the begin CFQUERY tag.

• Surround attribute settings with double quotes(").

• Reference the query data by naming the query in the CFOUTPUT tag later on

the page.

• Make sure that a data source exists in the ColdFusion Administrator before you

reference iit n a CFQUERY tag.

• The SQL that you write is sent to the database and performs the actual data

retrieval.

• Columns and tables that you refer to in your SQL statement must exist,

otherwise the query will fail.

Outputting Query Data

After you have defined a query on a page, you can use the CFOUTPUT tag with the

QUERY attribute to define the query variable that you want to output to a page. When

you use the QUERY attribute:

• ColdFusion loops over all the code contained within the CFOUTPUT block,

once for each row returned from a database.

• Reference specific column names within the CFOUTPUT block to output the

data to the page.

• You can place text and HTML tags inside or surrounding the CFOUTPUT block

to format the data on the page.

The CFOUTPUT tag accepts a variety of optional attributes but, ordinarily, you will use

the QUERY attribute to define the name of an existing query.

To output query data on your page:

1. Return to empList.cfm in Studio.

2. Edit the file so that it appears as follows:

<HTML>

<HEAD>

<TITLE>Employee List</TITLE>

</HEAD>

<BODY>

<H1>Employee List</H1>

SELECT FirstName, LastName, Salary, Contract

FROM Employees

</CFQUERY>

4 <CFOUTPUT QUERY="EmpList">