Intro to CFML as a language
Sam Farmer

About Me
CF Developer 10+ years
Work at Interfolio
Blog at samfarmer.com

Overview
Good to Know
Operators
Data Types
Query
Types of Files

Comments
Three dashes
Never sent to browser
<!--- My comment --->

Escaping
Always double:
   ##
      <cfoutput>Here is a pound sign: ##</cfoutput>
   â€œâ€
      <cfset aString = “a quote “” in a string”>
   â€˜â€™

ColdFusion Starts at 1
Loops, arrays, everything

Setting Variables & Strings
Use cfset
<cfset variables.myName = “Sam”>
<cfset variables.fullName = variables.myName & “Farmer”>
<cfset variables.a = 5>
<cfset variables.b = (variables.a * 5) + 10>
CF works out the type

To Pound or Not To Pound
Pound Signs Needed:
   in cfoutput
   passing variables to attributes
<cfoutput>#variables.myName#</cfoutput>
<cfswitch expression=“#variables.myName#”>
<cfset variables.myNameUpper =    Ucase(variables.myName)>
CF very forgiving

Operators
<cfif [not | !] a OPERATOR b>

cfif
<cfif variables.myName eq “Sam”>
   do something
<cfelseif variables.myName eq “Fred”>
   hi Fred
<cfelse>
   something else
</cfif>

Variables Scopes
ColdFusion puts variables into scopes
Better performance
Easier debugging

Variable Types & Order of Evaluation

Variable Types & Order of Evaluation 2

Always scoped variable types

Complex Data Types
Structure
Array
List
Query

Structures
Everything is a structure!
Like map or associative array
<cfset variables.myStruct = {mon=“Monday”,tue=“Tuesday”}>
Key functions:
   StructDelete
   StructKeyExists
   StructSort

Arrays
<cfset variables.myArray = [“Monday”,”Tuesday”]>
Key Functions:
   ArrayLen
   ArrayToList
   ListToArray
   ArraySort
   ArraySum

Old Structure and Array Syntax
Pre ColdFusion 8:
<cfset variables.myStruct = StructNew()>
<cfset variables.myStruct.mon = “Monday”>
<cfset variables.myStruct.tue = “Tuesday”>
<cfset variables.myArray = ArrayNew(1)>
<cfset variables.myArray[1] = “Monday”>
<cfset variables.myArray[2] = “Tuesday”>

Lists
<cfset variables.myList = “Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday”>
Delimiter: Comma by default, other popular ones | ~
Key functions:
   ListAppend
   ListChangeDelims
   ListFindNoCase
   ListFirst
   ListLast

CF Administrator
http://localhost[:8500]/cfide/administrator
Debugging
Datasources

Query
Comes back from cfquery
Kind of array of structures
Query of Queries
Make Own queries
Returned from other tags as well like cfdirectory

Forms
Get vs Post
   Get = URL Scope
   Post = Form Scope
cfform

cfqueryparam
Always, always use with data from users

Types of Files
.cfm
Original
Include
Custom tag
ColdFusion Components (cfc)

CF Include
cfinclude
   template=“”
Uses the variables scope of the original file

Custom Tag
Very powerful feature
Especially for presentation
Passed values are attributes
Caller scope to pass back
<cf_
<cfmodule

CF Component (CFC)
Introduced in version 6
Collection of Functions
Use as Library or Objects

User Defined Functions
Write your own functions
cffunction
   name=“”
   access=“public | private | remote”
Var scope
   Always, always, always

Q&A