User Guide

Building Queries 29
Reviewing the code
The query you just created retrieves data from the CompanyInfo database. The
following table describes the code and its function:
Query notes and considerations
When creating queries to retrieve data, keep the following guidelines in mind:
• Enter the query name and datasource attributes in the begin cfquery tag.
• Surround attribute settings with double quotes(").
• Make sure that a data source exists in the ColdFusion Administrator before you
reference it n a
cfquery tag. Alternatively, use the dbtype = "dynamic" and
queryString attributes to dynamically specify a database.
• 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.
• Reference the query data by naming the query in one of the presentation tags,
such as
cfoutput, cfgrid, cftable, cfgraph, or cftree later on the page.
Code Description
<cfquery name="EmpList"
datasource="CompanyInfo">
Queries the database specified in the
CompanyInfo data source
SELECT FirstName, LastName,
Salary, Contract
FROM Employee
Gets information from the FirstName,
LastName, Salary, and Contract fields in
the Employee table
</cfquery>
Ends the cfquery block