Coldfusion by Russ

Been busy

2010-01-19T17:51:00.001-08:00

I feel badly that I haven't had a chance to blog lately, as I have been very busy.

Application.cfc Reference in CFScript for Coldfusion 9

2009-11-29T20:15:00.000-08:00

One of Coldfusion 9's features is the ability to define components entirely within CFScript. I was looking around for an example of Application.cfc in CFScript, and I couldn't find it. So I've compiled it for you here. It includes all available methods and application variables. (If you find something I've missed, let me know!)

Notes:
- The ordering of variables and methods matches Adobe's documentation.
- Descriptions are from Adobe.
- Variables are set to CF defaults.
- onRequest, onError, and onMisingTemplate are commented out because they can mess with your application if you don't implement them properly.
- You do not need to enclose this within cfscript tags.

Application.cfc:

/**
@title "Application.cfc reference in CFScript for Coldfusion 9"
@description "This component includes all Application.cfc methods and variables, set to their default values (if applicable). Please note that default values are not always desirable, and some methods or variables should be modified or removed depending on the situation."
@author "Russ S. (http://cfruss.blogspot.com)"

@dateCreated "November 29, 2009"
@licence "This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA."

@hint "You implement methods in Application.cfc to handle ColdFusion application events and set variables in the CFC to configure application characteristics."
*/

component output="false" {

/* **************************** APPLICATION VARIABLES **************************** */

// The application name. If you do not set this variable, or set it to the empty string, your CFC applies to the unnamed application scope, which is the ColdFusion J2EE servlet context.
THIS.name = "";

// Life span, as a real number of days, of the application, including all Application scope variables.
THIS.applicationTimeout = createTimeSpan(0, 1, 0, 0);

// Whether the application supports Client scope variables.
THIS.clientManagement = false;

// Where Client variables are stored; can be cookie, registry, or the name of a data source.
THIS.clientStorage = "registry"; //cookie||registry||datasource

// Contains ColdFusion custom tag paths. 
THIS.customTagPaths = "";

// The Google Maps API key required to embed Google Maps in your web pages.
THIS.googleMapKey = "";

// Name of the data source from which the query retrieves data. 
THIS.datasource = "";

// Whether to store login information in the Cookie scope or the Session scope.
THIS.loginStorage = "cookie"; //cookie||session

// A structure that contains ColdFusion mappings. Each element in the structure consists of a key and a value. The logical path is the key and the absolute path is the value. 
THIS.mappings = {};

// Whether to enable validation on cfform fields when the form is submitted.
THIS.serverSideFormValidation = true;

// Whether the application supports Session scope variables.
THIS.sessionManagement = true;

// Life span, as a real number of days, of the user session, including all Session variables.
THIS.sessionTimeout = createTimeSpan(0, 0, 30, 0);

// Whether to send CFID and CFTOKEN cookies to the client browser.
THIS.setClientCookies = true;

// Whether to set CFID and CFTOKEN cookies for a domain (not just a host).
THIS.setDomainCookies = false;

// Whether to protect variables from cross-site scripting attacks.
THIS.scriptProtect = false;

// A Boolean value that specifies whether to add a security prefix in front of the value that a ColdFusion function returns in JSON-format in response to a remote call. 
THIS.secureJSON = false;

// The security prefix to put in front of the value that a ColdFusion function returns in JSON-format in response to a remote call if the secureJSON setting is true. 
THIS.secureJSONPrefix = "";

// A comma-delimited list of names of files. Tells ColdFusion not to call the onMissingTemplate method if the files are not found.
THIS.welcomeFileList = "";

// A struct that contains the following values: server, username, and password.If no value is specified, takes the value in the administrator.
THIS.smtpServersettings = {};

// Request timeout. Overrides the default administrator settings.
THIS.timeout = 30; // seconds

// A list of ip addresses that need debugging.
THIS.debugipaddress = "";

// Overrides the default administrator settings. It does not report compile-time exceptions.
THIS.enablerobustexception = false;

/* ORM variables */

// Specifies whether ORM should be used for the ColdFusion application.Set the value to true to use ORM. The default is false.
THIS.ormenabled = false;

// The struct that defines all the ORM settings. Documentation: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/ColdFusion/9.0/Developing/WSED380324-6CBE-47cb-9E5E-26B66ACA9E81.html
THIS.ormsettings = {};

// note: THIS.datasource applies to cfquery as well as ORM. It is defined on line 31.


/* **************************** APPLICATION METHODS **************************** */


/**
@hint "Runs when an application times out or the server is shutting down."
@ApplicationScope "The application scope."
*/
public void function onApplicationEnd(struct ApplicationScope=structNew()) {

return;
}


/**
@hint "Runs when ColdFusion receives the first request for a page in the application."
*/
public boolean function onApplicationStart() {

return true;
}


/**
@hint "Intercepts any HTTP or AMF calls to an application based on CFC request."
@cfcname "Fully qualified dotted path to the CFC."

@method "The name of the method invoked."
@args "The arguments (struct) with which the method is invoked."
*/
public void function onCFCRequest(required string cfcname, required string method, required string args) {

return;
}


/**
@hint "Runs when an uncaught exception occurs in the application."
@Exception "The ColdFusion Exception object. For information on the structure of this object, see the description of the cfcatch variable in the cfcatch description."
@EventName "The name of the event handler that generated the exception. If the error occurs during request processing and you do not implement an onRequest method, EventName is the empty string."

note: This method is commented out because it should only be used in special cases
*/
/*
public void function onError(required any Exception, required string EventName) {
return;
}
*/


/**
@hint "Runs when a request specifies a non-existent CFML page."
@TargetPage "The path from the web root to the requested CFML page."
note: This method is commented out because it should only be used in special cases
*/
/*
public boolean function onMissingTemplate(required string TargetPage) {
return true;
}
*/


/**
@hint "Runs when a request starts, after the onRequestStart event handler. If you implement this method, it must explicitly call the requested page to process it."
@TargetPage "Path from the web root to the requested page."
note: This method is commented out because it should only be used in special cases
*/
/*
public void function onRequest(required string TargetPage) {
return;
}
*/


/**
@hint "Runs at the end of a request, after all other CFML code."

*/
public void function onRequestEnd() {
return;

}


/**
@hint "Runs when a request starts."
@TargetPage "Path from the web root to the requested page."
*/
public boolean function onRequestStart(required string TargetPage) {

return true;
}


/**
@hint "Runs when a session ends."
@SessionScope "The Session scope"

@ApplicationScope "The Application scope"
*/
public void function onSessionEnd(required struct SessionScope, struct ApplicationScope=structNew()) {

return;
}


/**
@hint "Runs when a session starts."
*/
public void function onSessionStart() {

return;
}

}

ListToQuery: My first CFLib submission

2009-09-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

My first submission to CFLib.org has been approved and posted! Check it out: CFLib.org - listToQuery.

It is super-simple and does exactly what it says. I wrote it because I was working on a project which required a list be converted to a query, and I couldn't find any existing UDFs to do so.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, I highly recommend submitting your solution to CFLib.org. It helps everyone! Plus, it gives you priceless bragging rights.

On a side note: I was working on CouchDB for Coldfusion and ended up spending 3 hours writing a UDF that I planned to submit to CFLib. When I was done, I found EasySocket, which was submitted a week ago and is almost exactly what I wrote! If only I had searched CFLib for "socket" before writing my own UDF. How disappointing...

An object-database for Coldfusion

2009-08-31T17:26:00.000-07:00

I've been working on an OODB (object-database) for Coldfusion! It uses CouchDB as the data-storage engine and it is Railo compatible. As far as I know, there is no OODB for Coldfusion yet, so this is fairly cutting-edge.

So far I've got the basic CRUD working, and it is WAY cool. Instead of data-mapping by hand or even using CF 9's fancy new ORM (object-relational mapping), you just make your object and go like so:

OODB.save(myObject, 'myObjID');

How simple is that?! When you want to populate an object with saved data, you go like so:

OODB.load(myObject, 'myObjID');

This has the potential to save vast amounts of development time by allowing developers to focus almost entirely on object behavior instead of data-mapping. I think OODB will be really useful for projects that have relatively small data storage needs (blogs, wikis, etc). SQL will probably remain the best choice for large datasets though.

The next big thing I need to do for this project is to make an OODB method to get lists of object IDs based on the data within them. Until then, this code is more cool than it is useful.

If you'd like to check it out, download CouchDB for Coldfusion. You'll find the OODB files in the OODB directory. Don't forget to install CouchDB first! You'll also need to modify document.cfc to get it working.

WARNING: I don't recommend this for real-world use yet: this is beta code running on beta software.

Follow me on Twitter if you'd like to stay up to date on the latest developments.

Special thanks to Mingo Hagen and Sean Corfield for their continued input and support.

CouchDB for Coldfusion

2009-07-11T22:24:00.000-07:00

Download the project here: CouchDB for Coldfusion on RIAForge

A recent Twitter by Mingo Hagen inspired me to start my first open-source project on RIAForge: CouchDB for Coldfusion. This project is basically a CFC wrapper for CouchDB operations.

CouchDB is a fairly new concept. It is a document-oriented database that uses a RESTful HTTP/JSON API for interactions. You should read more about it yourself, but here are just a few reasons why it is cool:
* Schema-free storage
* Data is stored as JSON
* All document revisions are saved
* You can interact with the DB directly through the browser via the built-in API
* Built-in web-based admin

CouchDB for Coldfusion is still in the early stages, but already I find it is an easy way to interact with CouchDB. I'll be using this project as a way to learn more about CouchDB. If you'd like to contribute please let me know and I'll give you SVN access.

db4o in Coldfusion, anyone?

2009-06-08T23:00:00.001-07:00

DB4O is an object database. It allows you to store objects (at whatever state they happen to be in) and retrieve them for use later.
This can be really useful if:
1. You want a simple, quick way to store data
2. You want to create an application that can run without an SQL database
3. You hate SQL (or SQL hates you)

I did some research and found a guy named Todd Sharp who installed db4o for Coldfusion. He hasn't released his code, so that got me thinking: "Hey, I know some Java and I know how to install Java classes in Coldfusion. Why don't I do it myself?"

So I tried it, and it worked! But... I've run into a couple serious issues that I can't seem to figure out.

Firstly, after about four or five "save" operations, the database becomes corrupt. No matter how simple the objects are, this always happens. If I can't figure this out, my experiment is basically a failure.

Second, I cannot store CFCs. If I try, my CPU goes full throttle until I kill Coldfusion. I'm guessing this is due to the underlying complexity of CFCs, but it sure puts a damper on things. I've been using CF 8's JSON functions to "simplify" my Coldfusion objects like so: DeserializeJSON(SerializeJSON(myCFCinstance))

Does anyone else have any experience with db4o? I'll provide my source code and installation instructions to anyone who wants to try it.

Here is a great tutorial for db4o

My system specs:
Java version: Open JDK 1.6.0_0
CF Version: 8,0,1,195765
OS: Ubuntu 9.04 (2.6.28-11-generic)
Hardware: Dell Vostro 1000

Copy to Clipboard SWF button (cross browser compatible)

2009-01-10T22:07:00.001-08:00

Since Flash 10, there have been security enhancements that prevent data being copied to the clipboard without an event being initiated by the user.
See: http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2008/09/adobe_to_plug_clipboardjacking.php and http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/fplayer10_uia_requirements.html).
This means that Jeffothy’s Keyings Clipboard Copy trick no longer works :-(

NEW DEVELOPMENT: jhuckaby provided a better solution. Check it out:
Zero Clipboard

I've developed a simple new way to get the job done.
My method uses a basic flash button that says "COPY" on it. Clicking it will copy to the clipboard any text provided via FlashVars parameters in the object/embed tags. The flash file then executes javascript as a callback function. This javascript is also provided via FlashVars.

Actionscript 2.0 Code

on (release) {
 System.setClipboard(_level0.txtToCopy);
 getURL('javascript:'+_level0.js+';');
}

HTML/JS Code

<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
function alertUser(){
alert('copied');
}
-->
</script>
<div style="border:solid 1px black; width:60px; height:20px;">
<object width="60" height="20">
<PARAM NAME=FlashVars VALUE="txtToCopy=cfRuss.blogspot.com&js=alertUser()">
<param name="movie" value="copyButton.swf">
<embed src="copyButton.swf" flashvars="txtToCopy=cfRruss.blogspot.com&js=alertUser()" width="60" height="20">
</embed>
</object>
</div>

Download the required flash file here: copyButton.swf

FlashVars
txtToCopy - the text that you wish to copy to the clipboard
js - javascript to be executed upon clicking the COPY button

Note
You may get a warning dialog from your flash player if you try to run this script locally. This dialog will not appear when you run the script on your server.

CFCs vs. Spaghetti Code: Round 1, Fight!

2008-03-18T23:25:00.000-07:00

Ever inherit a batch of code so disturbing that you just have to rewrite the whole damn thing? Well, I did, and so far... ehh.

The CF powers-that-be tout CFCs as being great because they promote reuse of code. While this is quite true, the overlords of Coldfusion have neglected to mention in any of their documentation just how to go about reusing CFCs well. Sure, you can CFINVOKE methods from it or instantiate it with CreateObject() or access it as a webservice... blah, blah, blah. What I want to know is, why does my CFC cripple the server under high-load?

Yesterday, after spending a month rewriting our shopping cart as a CFC (hey, it's complicated alright?), I was finally able to post it and see what happens. After about an hour, JRun started throwing funny null errors and ran up queued requests like there was no tomorrow. Yikes! I quickly put the old cart back up, and everything was cool again. Okay... so what happened?

I spent most of today investigating. Although CFCs can act like objects, my CFC is stateless. It has no properties of its own and for all intents and purposes is essentially just a nice way to keep my cart code in one place. Every time a method from it is called, it must be passed some identifying variables. I had considered writing it as a state-based CFC and storing unique copies in each user's session scope, but I figured my server couldn't afford to store complex objects in it's memory for up to half an hour at a time. Plus, erasing a user's cart every time their session times out is actually a step down from the old cart code, which uses cookies to store cart info "forever."

So, the methods in my CFC are being accessed by individual CFINVOKE tags, about 4-7 per page. I found a comment on some blog somewhere about how it is better to instantiate the component and then access methods from the instantiated object. Although my CFC is stateless, I thought, hey why not? ... And that turned out even worse. The server lasted about 5 minutes before junking out.

Well... thats all I could come up with for this round. I hate to say it but...

The winner of Round 1 is: Spaghetti code!

Ugh, so what next? I found another random blog that says that you can store stateless CFCS in the application scope. I'm gonna give it a shot tomorrow and see what happens. I'm a little concerned because I saw a forum post by Mr. Camden explaining how CFCs in the application scope became unstable under high-stress. Hmmmm... mind you this post was dated back in 2003 and he was expressing how it may be fixed soon. So... we'll see!

Round()... and why I sometimes hate my life.

2008-03-18T23:08:00.000-07:00

I came across a frustrating Coldfusion MX 6.1 bug today. When attempting to use the Round() function, my numbers were not rounding correctly. Instead of rounding up at .5, they were being rounded down. Uhh... wtf, cf?

I spent about an hour or so debugging the issue, and sadly, I still cannot say for certain what the problem was. My best guess is that one of the variables in my expression may not have been of type numeric (although it held a numeric value), which could've somehow caused Coldfusion to get confused when performing the Round() function.

After this thought entered my mind, I immediately encapsulated the expression in a Val() function and "presto!", Round() started working again and I began to reconcile my feelings towards the computer. I had wasted so much time on something so moronic that I didn't feel the need to really fish around for the exact reason WHY Round() stopped working right, I was just happy that it was over with.

Just thinking about it gives me a headache again!

MX 6.1 Issue: CFPOP vs. open-source IMAP alternatives... and why you may end up with CFX_POP3

2008-01-24T00:14:00.000-08:00

Today I spent a large portion of my time fighting a losing battle against bugs. Bugs in Java, bugs in Coldfusion MX 6.1, bugs in the open-source scripts I tried to use... ahhh! Finally I broke down and begged the boss to just buy CFX_POP3 for $20. Let me explain my dilemma:

My goal: A script that will automatically remove email addresses from our mailing list if we receive a "recipient does not exist" response. This means not only getting a list of messages in the inbox, but also parsing the message body to find the email address that will be removed.

First try: <CFPOP> . This is Coldfusion's built in POP email tag. In theory, you can handle all the normal email functions with it. In practice, if you try to access a message that is in UTF-7 (rather than UTF-8, the current standard), you'll get an error message. This isn't Coldfusion's fault- rather, UTF-7 is no longer supported in Java. There are a couple of .jar's out there that should enable Java to handle UTF-7, but none of them worked for me.

Second attempt: IMAP via open-source CFCs. I tried cfimap AND imap.cfc, both of which were not compatible with MX 6.1, and no amount of debugging got me anywhere.

My solution: CF_POP3 For $20, I should've just gone for it in the first place. It has some extra features that CFPOP lacks, but what counts is that it supports UTF-7.

Thank goodness I'm done with debugging other people's open-source code. For now.

Tip: Speed up your SQL database with indexing

2008-01-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

When your database starts to grow, you'll find that your queries take longer and longer to complete. This is because they have to search more and more rows. This slowdown can affect your entire website or application as the slow queries inevitably occupy more simultaneous threads. You can even experience temporary outages if slow queries occupy all your threads, forcing every query request to wait!

There are numerous ways to fix this:
1. Code conservatively so that your query the database as little as possible.
2. Include primary keys in your WHERE and JOIN-ON clauses.
3. Run a Query Analyzer tool on slow queries to find out what parts of your query are slowest, and then...
4. Create indexes on columns that are frequently used in WHERE or JOIN clauses.

Main points when indexing:
1. Don't index columns where a large percentage of rows haveh the same values. This defeats the whole purpose.
2. Don't index large varchar columns. Again, this will not increase performance.
3. Don't index every column. Just index the ones used to identify unique rows in a large number of WHERE and JOIN clauses.
4. Go read some more in-depth documentation on indexing. This is just a general overview. Here is a decent article regarding Clustered VS. Non-Clustered Indexes: daemon: Database Indexing Strategies for FarCry. (FYI Farcry is a CMS, but the DB principals are the same)

For example:
In the case of one website I'm working on, my predecessor chose to ignore Primary Keys and generate his own uniquely identifying numbers. These numbers are used in many queries, but none of the columns were indexed. After applying an index to these columns, the entire website saw a significant performance boost. In fact, this has helped reduce the number of SQL Deadlocks by minimizing row-lock time.

Query of Queries - "unsupported type conversion error" in MX 6.1

2008-01-10T20:20:00.000-08:00

I just ran into this frustrating bug yesterday. When working with Query of Queries you (<cfquery dtype="query">) you may get the error, "unsupported type conversion error." After doing some research I found out that the reason this occurs is because Coldfusion attempts to automatically determine the data types for columns in QofQ. If it gets it wrong and you try to use the QofQ in such a way that conflicts with the data-type Coldfusion assigned, you will get this error.

To remedy this you must be sure that when you create the QofQ, the data in your columns LOOKS like the data types you think they should be. For example, if you want Coldfusion to assign the varchar datatype to a column, you should initially populate the column with at least one cell that contains a non-numeric character. If a column contains only integers, Coldfusion will assign an "int" data type to it. I don't know the details of how Coldfusion determines a "date" data type for QofQ, but I'm sure you'll figure it out.

I just find it helpful to know that this "bug" exists so that when I get an "unsupported type conversion error" I'll know what is causing it.

"IN operator" and Null values--a bug in MS SQL 2000

2008-01-07T23:29:00.000-08:00

Just discovered a bug in MS SQL 2000 today. When performing a query with the IN operator, you'll need to make sure that the associated value list does not contain any null values. If it does, the expression will always return false. The fix for this is simple enough: simply add AND column IS NOT NULL to your SELECT sub-query.

For example, the following SQL query:

SELECT intelligence_rating
FROM aliens
WHERE home_world IN (
   SELECT name
   FROM worlds
   WHERE class = 'M'
   )

Would need to be changed to:

SELECT intelligence_rating
FROM aliens
WHERE home_world IN (
   SELECT name
   FROM worlds
   WHERE class = 'M'
      AND name IS NOT NULL
   )

If there were any worlds that did not have a value in the name column. Good thing we can safely assume that all worlds have names. For now... (queue scary music?)

Passing multiple same-named arguments to a CFC via GET or POST

2008-01-03T19:40:00.000-08:00

I discovered a useful undocumented behavior of Coldfusion components today! It turns out that if you define the value of a named argument more than once in a remote method call (via GET or POST), those values will be passed as a comma-delimited list. This behavior is different than how Coldfusion would treat argument multiples in every other function call--normally, Coldfusion either overwrites arguments with their last defined value or throws an error.

Here is an example:

example.cfc

<cfcomponent>
	<cffunction name="test" access="remote" returntype="any">
		<cfdump var="#arguments#">
	</cffunction>

Then simply type something like this as a url to call the above component: http://www.yourdomain.com/
example.cfc?method=test&a=1&a=2&a=oh&a=3

This is what you'll see:

kinda cool, huh?

I've tested this behavior in Coldfusion MX 6.1 and MX 7. If anyone out there would like to test it on MX 8 and let me know how it works, that would be great!

Shared Hosting Security Issues

2007-10-28T02:10:00.001-07:00

I'm so frustrated with the web host provider for my newest independent project. I accidentally discovered a serious security issue and have been trying to get them to fix it, but they haven't even been getting back to me. It shouldn't be MY responsibility to try to get them to fix THEIR problem!

Long story short, the moral is: don't trust shared hosting security! And NEVER store sensitive customer information (ssn's, credit card info, etc) on a shared database server.

And watch where you buy stuff online. Personally, I think paypal is the ONLY way to do it.

Sigh.

Make your own remote server monitor!

2007-10-14T01:14:00.000-07:00

Site going down in the middle of the night? Here is how to set up your own remote server monitor that will email your host support team (and even send you a text message!):

1. Install Coldfusion developer (it's free!) on one your development machines. It cannot go on the same server that is being monitored because if it goes down, so will the monitor (duh.) This step is easier said than done, but if you already have Coldfusion installed on a local machine then you don't have to worry about it.

2. Set up a mail server that coldfusion can access with the cfmail tag. The mail server cannot be located on the server that you are monitoring!

3. Copy & modify this simple code:


Testing the server...
<cftry>
  <cfhttp url="http://www.yoursite.com" throwOnError="yes" redirect="no">
  Success!

  <cfcatch>
    Monitor failure!

    
    <cfmail to="support@yourhost.com" from="youremail@yourOTHERhost.com" subject="Server Monitor Failure">
       Our server, (INSERT YOUR SERVER NAME HERE), may be having troubles. Could you please check on it? Thank you!
    </cfmail>

    
    <cfmail to="SEE STEP 4" from="youremail@yourOTHERhost.com" subject="Server Monitor Failure">
       Our server, (INSERT YOUR SERVER NAME HERE), may be having troubles. Could you please check on it? Thank you!
    </cfmail>
  </cfcatch>
</cftry>

4. Did you know you can send text messages with simple emails? You do now! Here is a list of providers and associated text-message email addresses:

AT&T Wireless
NUMBER@mmode.com

Cingular
NUMBER@mms.mycingular.com

Sprint
NUMBER@pm.sprint.com

T-Mobile
NUMBER@tmomail.net

Verizon
NUMBER@vzwpix.com

5. Schedule ServerMonitor.cfm (the above code) to run automatically every half hour (or something like that) in Coldfusion Administrator (or with Windows Task Sceduler). I say every half hour because if the server goes down you don't want to be recieving a million text messages or have your host support team get pissed at you. (p.s. it might be best to disable the text messaging option if you don't get unlimited text messages)

Now just remember to leave the machine on all night. That's it! No more worrying about checking your busy e-commerce site in the middle of the night, no more calling host support at 2am asking them to reboot the server :)

ExpandPath()

2007-10-07T20:24:00.001-07:00

I recently happened upon a cool CF function that returns the absolute path of a directory on your server after being passed a relative path: ExpandPath()
This function is especially helpful when something requires an absolute path-- which is usually the case for file management tags (cffile, cfdirectory, cfftp), system functions (fileExists(), directoryExists(), getFileFromPath(), GetProfileString()) and some others (cfexecute, cfdocument.)
For those of us working on shared servers, this tag is especially useful because: 1. Sometimes you don't know the absolute path and 2. Even if you did, there is no guarantee that it won't change someday. Speaking of things changing someday, this tag is extremely helpful when writing portable or compartmentalized code--which we should be doing anyways to save us from future headaches ("...damnit, I changed my webroot location and now I have to fix all my absolute references! Oh the horror...")

How to clear your Coldfusion server cache (not a pretty job, but someone's gotta do it...)

2007-09-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

I found the following information somewhere on the web (that means it must be true!)

How to Clear your CFMX Server Cache -

The CFMX server reads ColdFusion files and recompiles this information to Java Class files. Sometimes, after making changes to the JAR files within the ColdFusion library (/lib), or your CFM scripts, you may need to perform the following steps to 'clear your cache' as we like to call it.

The folder that contains the Java *.class files is in the location shown below. Your path may vary depending on your installation location.

e.g. C:\CFusionMX\wwwroot\WEB-INF\cfclasses

Make a backup of all the (*.class) files in a separate folder.
Stop the ColdFusion Application Server
Delete all (*.class) files in the "cfclasses" folder specified in above.
Start the ColdFusion Application Server

But really though, it works. I did it today when I installed that hotfix from my last post. You can trust me.... lol. Now you're never going to do it.
Anyways, from what I've read Coldfusion caches all your Coldfusion pages in this folder. If you make a lot of changes to your site, then you probably have a bunch of unused cache files. This can contribute to a slower site because the server has to search through those files whenever a page is accessed. One forum-fellow said he had 40,000 files in there, oh snap! I didn't have quite that many, but still, I'm glad I found out how to "clear my cache" (as they like to call it.)

cfQueryParam -- featuring zombies and oral surgeons

2007-09-19T18:25:00.000-07:00

Check out this article by Ben Forta about SQL Injection Attacks. Yikes! It's scary to think that someone could simply put a few extra lines into a url and totally ruin a database. Thank goodness for cfQueryParam (not to be confused with cfParam!)
So today I spent some time searching through query after query making sure that any of them with user input was filtered with cfQueryParam. Kind of mind-numbing, but alas, very necessary. The only snags that I hit had to do with using LIKE statements or functions in queries with cfQueryParam. Here is what I learned.

Example of how to use LIKE with cfQueryParam (for my oral surgeon):

SELECT tooth
FROM mouth
WHERE tooth LIKE <cfqueryparam value="%#form.wisdomTooth#%" cfsqltype="CF_SQL_VARCHAR">

The trick here is that instead of putting the wildcard indicators (%) on the outside of the cfqueryparam tag, you have to include them in the value attribute. In fact, Coldfusion throws an error if you try to put anything outside the cfqueryparam tag.

The following is a great illustration of what will NOT work (for zombies with discerning taste):

SELECT brains
FROM people
WHERE tasteRating = tasteTest(<cfqueryparam value="#url.victimSkin#" cfsqltype="CF_SQL_INTEGER">)

You would need to put the tasteTest function INSIDE the cfqueryparam value attribute, like so: <cfqueryparam value="#tasteTest(url.taste)#" cfsqltype="CF_SQL_INTEGER">

This brings me to another cute piece of information that I found today. There is bug in Coldfusion MX 6.1 regarding the use of functions inside cfqueryparam tags. If you are too good for MX 6.1 and only use "new" versions of Coldfusion, then this won't apply to you, Mr. Fancypants. For the rest of us: Coldfusion MX 6.1 Hot Fix for cfQuery / cfQueryParam

p.s. Although the cfsqltype is NOT a required attribute, someone somewhere said that it improves performance, which makes sense to me--so what the hell, why not use it? Apparently it is hard to come by a chart of cfsqltypes and their associated SQL data types (it was not included in the Coldfusion MX 6.1 LiveDocs.)
So here is the link to the Adobe LiveDocs page that DOES include a chart: Coldfusion MX 7 cfQueryParam (with data type chart!)

I'm learning Spry... what are you doing?

2007-09-19T02:40:00.000-07:00

The biggest change in Dreamweaver CS3 has to be the Spry framework. Nothing like built-in AJAX!
I have been wrangling with Spry off and on for the last few weeks and so far I suck at it. There is just so much to learn! It doesn't help that I don't have CS3 at home, so I'm stuck writing Spry code by hand (something I don't recommend.)
I dig the debug info, but compared to Coldfusion's debug service it is weaksauce. Oh well, better than nothing.

With Spry in mind, I've been slowly developing my first serious Web 2.0 app. The idea of it is to offer a listing of touring bands that will be coming through a user's local area. Something like byofl.org (Book Your Own Fuckin' Life, lol) My idea will require auto-geolocation similar to craigslist, but it will need to be combined with a location radius so the user can select bands coming though only his town or any town within a specified radii (up to 250 miles perhaps).
Since I've been doing music in bands for about 7 years and have been on 3 tours, I know how desperate touring bands are for shows and how hard it is to find them. Not to mention finding a place to shower... This app would be unique in that the target users are show bookers--or even anyone that could provide services such as lodging, food, showers, etc.

I think it will be a hit if I can get the user interface right. That's why I'm going with Spry for now. The cool thing about Web 2.0 is that I'll be delivering the content using XML, so it won't be too tough to develop a whole new interface down the road if I want. I mean, I'm gonna have to do something in Flash too! Then I gotta try out plugging it into Adobe AIR and Google Desktop. I can't wait!