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ColdFusion Release Notes

ColdFusion MX 7 Release Notes

Updated September 27, 2005

New: A ColdFusion MX 7 Updater (7.0.1) was released on 9/27/05 and is now included in all downloaded installers. The Updater may also be downloaded separately from the ColdFusion Download page.  For details on the Updater, please check out the Updater release notes.

Welcome to Macromedia ColdFusion MX 7, the most feature-rich release of ColdFusion since version 1.5! ColdFusion MX 7 delivers something for everyone:

  • Application developers can use features such as rich forms, document printing, business reporting, and enhanced charting, to make an immediate impact on application usability and effectiveness.
  • System administrators can use features such as the Enterprise Manager, sourceless deployment, and Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) archive creation to streamline the integration of ColdFusion MX into existing application infrastructure.
  • Emerging developers can use features such as the ColdFusion MX Dreamweaver extensions and the Getting Started Experience to quickly understand ColdFusion concepts and usage.

These Release Notes describe what is new and changed in this release, provide late-breaking news, include information about installing the release, and list additional documentation for the release.

For additional information on ColdFusion MX 7, see the following web pages:

For information on known issues in the release, see the following web pages:

Tip: For background information on the development of ColdFusion MX 7 features, see the "Making Blackstone" series on the ColdFusion Developer Center.

Contents of the Release Notes

What's new in ColdFusion MX 7

ColdFusion MX 7 offers a range of significant new features that increase developer productivity, simplify management, enhance J2EE integration, and open ColdFusion up to a new universe of clients beyond the web. Regardless of your interests, skill level, or application requirements, you are sure to find features that will have an immediate impact on your ColdFusion application development.

Note: Some features may not be available in all editions of ColdFusion MX.

The following table describes the new features in ColdFusion MX 7:

ColdFusion MX 7 features

Feature Description Documentation

Rich Forms using Flash

Generate forms in Macromedia Flash. These forms include the following features:
  • You can use Flash format for an entire form, or for cftree, cfcalendar,or cfgrid elements on a form.
  • You can use new display formats, including accordion, tabbed navigator, horizontal and vertical divided boxes, tile, and panel.
  • You can use three new tags, cfformgroup, cfcalendar, and cfformitem.
  • You can define a mask for text and date fields.

CFML Reference
(cfform, cfformgroup,
cfformitem, and related tags)

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapters 27-30 in Part V: "Requesting and Presenting Information")

Skinnable Forms

Generate forms in XML format. When using skinnable forms, you apply a skin to transform the XML to HTML. ColdFusion MX 7 provides several basic skins, which include support for vertical and horizontal layouts, field sets, and JavaScript validation.

Two new tags, cfformgroup and cfformitem, support XML forms.

CFML Reference
(cfform, cfformgroup, cfformitem, and related tags)

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapters 27-30 in Part V: "Requesting and Presenting Information")

Document printing Create printable versions of HTML and CFML content in Macromedia FlashPaper 2.0 or PDF format.

CFML Reference (cfdocument and related tags)

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapter 32, "Creating Reports for Printing")

Business reporting

Create well structured, repeating-group reports quickly and easily with the Report Builder and the cfreport tag. ColdFusion reporting includes banded reports, subreports, and charting and creates output in Macromedia FlashPaper, PDF, or Excel format.

Install the ColdFusion Report Builder from the ColdFusion MX 7 CD, the CFIDE/installers directory, or the ColdFusion MX Product page.

CFML Reference (cfreport and related tags)

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapter 32, "Creating Reports for Printing")

Press F1 to invoke the online help system in the Report Builder

Application events Execute code based on certain application events, such as onSessionStart and onSessionEnd. You use an Application.cfc file instead of Application.cfm to let you control your application and keep track of application events. ColdFusion triggers Application.cfc methods when the application, sessions, and requests start or stop, and when the application encounters an exception.

CFML Reference (cfapplication tag and Application.cfc chapter)

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapter 13, "Designing and Optimizing a ColdFusion Application")

Dreamweaver extensions

Optimize ColdFusion application development from within Dreamweaver MX 2004.

Available on the ColdFusion MX 7 CD, the CFIDE/installers directory, or the ColdFusion MX Product page.

Using the CFMX 7 Extensions option in the Dreamweaver MX 2004 Help menu.
Getting Started Experience

Learn about ColdFusion MX 7 by browsing this completely new introductory application, which includes:

  • Macromedia Captivate demonstrations for ColdFusion MX 7 features.
  • ColdFusion and Dreamweaver development overview.
  • Steps for building dynamic pages (an online tutorial).
  • Two example applications: an extranet and a community site.
  • Code Snippet Explorer, which displays and runs sample code for ColdFusion features, tags, and functions.

If you did not choose the Getting Started Experience when running the Install Wizard, you can view it on the Macromedia website.

 Open the ColdFusion MX Administrator and click the Getting Started link at the top of the page or go to the ColdFusion Developer Center on the Macromedia website.
J2EE deployment

Create an enterprise application archive (EAR) or web application archive (WAR) file that contains the ColdFusion MX web application, settings for ColdFusion MX (such as data source definitions), and the CFM pages used by your application. This feature, which works in all configurations, lets you quickly create an archive file that a J2EE administrator can use to deploy your ColdFusion MX application.

 Configuring and Administering ColdFusion MX (Chapter 5, "Deploying ColdFusion Applications")
Enterprise management

Create and manage server instances and clusters from within the ColdFusion MX Administrator. This feature, which lets you automatically deploy the ColdFusion application as part of the server instance creation process, is available in the multiserver configuration only.

 Configuring and Administering ColdFusion MX (Chapter 7, "Using Multiple Server Instances")
Event gateways
Provide a mechanism for ColdFusion to react to (or generate) external events or messages. Event gateways do not require HTTP requests. You can write event gateway applications without using CFM pages; you only need ColdFusion components (CFCs), which listen for and respond directly to external events.

CFML Reference (Event Gateway Reference chapter)

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapters 42 - 45 in Part VII: "Using External Resources")

Instant messaging (IM) event gateway Send and receive instant messages in a ColdFusion application. The gateway for Open Source Instant Messaging Server is based on Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). ColdFusion MX 7 also includes an IM event gateway for Lotus Sametime.

CFML Reference (Event Gateway Reference chapter)

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapter 43, "Using the Instant Messaging Event Gateways")

Short Message Service (SMS) event gateway Interact with mobile phones that use text messaging or with other devices, such as text messaging pagers. In addition, the lightweight Short Message Server Center (SMSC) server and SMS device simulator let you do initial SMS application development without an external SMS provider.

CFML Reference (Event Gateway Reference chapter)

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapter 44, "Using the SMS Event Gateway")

CFML Asynchronous gateway Use this feature to leverage the ColdFusion MX multi-threaded architecture and enhance performance and throughput of requests with long running serialized steps.

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapter 42, "Using Event Gateways")

Sample gateways Review example code to help you get started with event gateways. These samples are located in the cf_root/gateway (server configuration), jrun_root/servers/cfusion/cfusion-ear/cfusion-war/WEB-INF/cfusion/gateway (multiserver configuration) or cf_webapp_root/WEB-INF/cfusion/gateway (J2EE configuration) directory.

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapter 42, "Using Event Gateways")

Administrator API

Change ColdFusion settings programmatically, without logging into the ColdFusion MX Administrator. For example, you can use the Administrator API to add, modify, or delete a data source, scheduled task, or ColdFusion mapping. Configuring and Administering ColdFusion MX (Chapter 2, "Using the ColdFusion MX Administrator")

Sourceless deployment

 Deploy ColdFusion applications without source code as compiled Java bytecode. Configuring and Administering ColdFusion MX ("Using the cfcompile utility" in Chapter 5)

Login Wizard

Use this Dreamweaver extension to quickly create a login screen that authenticates against one of the following:

  • A specified user name and password
  • Microsoft Windows domain
  • LDAP

The Login Wizard creates or modifies the Application.cfc file to invoke logic that authenticates users using the specified source.

Getting Started Building ColdFusion MX Applications (Chapter 13, "Restricting Access to ColdFusion Applications")

Windows authentication

Use the cfntauthenticate tag to authenticate a user name and password against the Windows domain on which ColdFusion is running, and optionally retrieve the user’s groups. CFML Reference

License scanner

 Determine which computers on a subnet are running ColdFusion MX, and the types of licenses they are running with. ColdFusion MX Administrator online Help

OEM updates

ColdFusion MX 7 includes updated versions of the following:

  • Sun 1.4.2_05 Java virtual machine (JVM)
  • Verity 5.5 Patch level 12
  • DataDirect Type 4 - 3.3 drivers build 48
  • SequelLink 5.4 ODBC with Unicode Support
  • MySQL 3.23.47
  • Jintegra upgraded from COM 2.1 to 2.2
  • Axis 1.2 RC2 plus fixes
 Not applicable.
Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) data sources When running in the multiserver and J2EE configurations, the Data Sources page of the ColdFusion MX Administrator lets you specify a J2EE Data Source (called a JNDI data source, because J2EE application servers store data source references in JNDI). Configuring and Administering ColdFusion MX (Chapter 3, "Data Source Management")

Macromedia HomeSite+ extensions

Download and install ColdFusion MX 7 extensions and ColdFusion documentation for HomeSite and HomeSite+. Available on the ColdFusion MX 7 CD or the ColdFusion MX Product page.

What's different in ColdFusion MX 7

ColdFusion MX 7 includes many enhancements and changes:

Changes

General enhancements

Enhancements and changes to tags and functions

Changes

The following discussions describe high-level changes between ColdFusion MX 7 and earlier releases:

Configurations

Licensing

Verity

Using cfform in a multihomed environment

Data source changes

The Application.cfc file

Web Server Configuration Tool and web server connector

J2EE configuration requirements

Crystal Reports integration (Windows-only)

Other installation and configuration changes

Configurations

ColdFusion MX 6.1 supported two configurations: server and J2EE. ColdFusion MX 7 supports server, multiserver, and J2EE configurations. For more information, see the installation instructions.

Licensing

The following table describes licensing changes in ColdFusion MX 7:

Edition ColdFusion MX 6.1 ColdFusion MX 7
Standard Licensed per serer (up to eight processors per serer). Licensed per two CPUs (single server). Initial license is for two CPUs; licenses available in two-CPU increments.
Enterprise Licensed per CPU. INitial license is for two CPUs; licenses available in two-CPU increments. Licenses per two CPUs (single server). Initial license is for two CPUs; licenses available in two CPU increments.

Note: The licensing information in Installing and Using ColdFusion MX is incorrect.

Verity

The ColdFusion MX Verity implementation has been completely rewritten to use Verity 5.5 and its all-Java interface, which has many implications, including the following:

  • Verity 5.5 uses a client-server paradigm.
  • Because ColdFusion uses a pure Java interface to Verity, native libraries are no longer required.
  • The Verity search service consists of three separate processes:
    • k2server — for searching
    • k2index — for indexing
    • k2admin — for administration
  • Verity searches now return Keyword Scores for the alternate keywords returned in the Status structure.
  • ColdFusion MX no longer manages collections directly.
  • There is no longer the concept of external and internal collections.
  • All collections are managed by the Verity search server.
  • Verity pages in the ColdFusion MX Administrator have changed.

Although the Verity search server is very similar to K2 functionality previously available in ColdFusion MX, the interface between ColdFusion and Verity has completely changed. For example, there is no longer a k2server.ini file.

There are major changes to the following tags. For more information, see CFML Reference.

  • cfcollection
  • cfindex
  • cfsearch

There are additional fields in the search results.

In general, you no longer need to wrap cfcollection, cfindex, and cfsearch calls within a cflock tag.

Using cfform in a multihomed environment

In ColdFusion 5, the cfform tag used inline JavaScript code for validation. In ColdFusion MX, cfform includes the CFIDE/scripts/cfform.js file, which contains all JavaScript. However, if your application runs in a hosted environment with multiple virtual websites, your virtual website may not contain a CFIDE directory, which causes JavaScript errors when using cfform.

If you encounter this problem, use one of the following solutions:

  • Ask your hosting provider to provide a copy of cfform.js and change your cfform tags to use the scriptsrc attribute, specifying the location of this file.
  • Use the Default CFFORM ScriptSrc Directory field in the ColdFusion MX Administrator to specify the default path (relative to the web root) of the directory containing the cfform.js file.
  • Ask your hosting provider to modify your virtual website to include a virtual mapping for the CFIDE directory.

Data source changes

The cfsnippets, CompanyInfo, and CFExamples data sources have been combined into the cfdocexamples data source. This database includes all tables from the previous three data sources. It is provided to support the ColdFusion documentation code examples and does not necessarily represent best practices in database design (for example, there is an employee table and an employees table).

The Application.cfc file


The updated application framework in ColdFusion MX 7 lets you use a file named Application.cfc to control your application and keep track of application events. You use Application.cfc instead of Application.cfm. Application.cfc methods are triggered when the application, sessions, and requests start or stop, and when the application encounters an exception.
If your application already uses a file named Application.cfc, you must rename it.

Web Server Configuration tool and web server connector

The Web Server Configuration tool and the web server connector have the following changes:

There are new parameters for the command-line Web Server Configuration tool. For more information, see Configuring and Administering ColdFusion MX.

The Web Server Configuration tool creates the following additional properties:

  • ConnectTimeout — The number of seconds to wait on a socket connection to a JRun server. The default value is 15.
  • RecvTimeout — The number of seconds to wait on a socket receive to a JRun server. The default value is 300.
  • SendTimeout — The number of seconds to wait on a socket send to a JRun server. The default value is 15.
  • ProxyRetryInterval - The number of seconds to wait before trying to reconnect to an unreachable clustered server . The default value is 600.

In addition to the suffix mappings used previously (.cfm, .cfml, .cfc, .jsp, and .jws), the Web Server Configuration tool now creates web server mappings for .cfr (used by ColdFusion reports) and .cfswf (used for Flash forms generated by the cfform tag).

In earlier ColdFusion versions, web server connector source code for Apache was made available in a connectors/src directory. In ColdFusion MX 7, web server connector source code is in the wsconfig.jar file, located in cf_root/runtime/lib (server configuration) or jrun_root/lib (multiserver configuration).

For more information on web server configuration, see Configuring and Administering ColdFusion MX.

Changes to J2EE configuration requirements

The following changes have been made to configuration requirements when deploying ColdFusion MX as an enterprise application (EAR) or web application (WAR):

  • Verity changes—ColdFusion MX 7 uses Java interfaces to communicate with Verity. You no longer need to add Verity binary file directories to your system path.
  • Classloader changes—ColdFusion MX 7 now loads all the JAR files in cfusion/lib and cfusion/lib/update. You no longer need to add cfusion/lib to the system classpath. Additionally, ColdFusion MX 7 has its own class loader, for which you define the classpath using the cf.class.path element in the WEB-INF/web.xml file.
  • In the multiserver configuration, the installer creates a JRun user named admin, with the same password as the ColdFusion Administrator password.

Crystal Reports integration (Windows only)

ColdFusion MX 7 supports Crystal Reports versions 9 and 10. Additionally, ColdFusion MX 7 now uses the RDC technology from the Crystal Reports API.

You must install Crystal Reports with the following options:

  • Enable export to disk
  • Enable export to HTML

Crystal Reports does not enable these options by default, so you must use the Custom Install option when installing Crystal Reports.

Tip: If you run the Crystal Report Designer and export a report to an HTML file, the necessary export options are installed dynamically.

ColdFusion MX 7 uses COM to call the following Crystal Reports modules:

  • Version 9 - Craxdrt9.dll
  • Version 10 - Craxdrt.dll

These files are typically located in C:\Program Files\Crystal Decisions\Report Designer Component.

Other installation and configuration changes

The following changes have been made to ColdFusion configuration:

  • In the Server configuration, the JRun server name is coldfusion (cf_root/runtime/servers/coldfusion). In ColdFusion MX 6.1, the server name was default (cf_root/runtime/servers/default). Having different server names allows ColdFusion MX 6.1 and ColdFusion MX 7 to run at the same time.
  • The installer for the multiserver configuration (formerly known as the ColdFusion MX with JRun 4 option) automatically creates a JRun user named admin with the same password as the ColdFusion MX Administrator password. Use this user ID and password to log into the JRun Management Console (JMC).
  • The Install Wizard now includes processes formerly done by the Configuration Wizard.
  • ColdFusion MX 7 includes Macromedia Flash Remoting MX 2004, which supports ActionScript 2.0 and uses a Flash component instead of the NetServices.as object.
  • During installation, the JRun default server is not installed in the multiserver configuration, which means that the jrun_root/servers/default directory structure is not created, and a service for the JRun default server is not defined.
  • The ports for the ODBC services have been changed from 19997 and 19998 to 19995 and 19996, in order to let ColdFusion MX and ColdFusion MX 7 ODBC services run at the same time. Depending on your configuration, you may need to modify firewall settings to enable use of these ports.
  • If the Install Wizard detects an existing installation of ColdFusion MX or ColdFusion MX 6.1 and you specify use of the built-in web server, it uses port 8501 (or the next-highest unused port) for the built-in web server.
  • In the Developer Edition, in addition to localhost, ColdFusion MX 7 allows two additional IP addresses.
  • The JavaMail.jar file has been updated to version 1.3.1.
  • The cfx.jar file has been moved to one of the following locations:
    • Server configuration: cf_root/wwwroot/WEB-INF/lib
    • Multiserver and J2EE configurations: cf_webapp_root/WEB-INF/lib

General enhancements

The following table describes general enhancements in ColdFusion MX 7:

ColdFusion MX 7 Enhancements

Enhancement Description Documentation
Query of queries enhancements

Query of queries now includes the following:

  • More lenient type comparisons. Query of queries now makes the best effort to compare expressions of different types by doing implicit casts.
  • Support for the CAST( expression AS casttype) function.
  • Support for the varchar concatenation operator ||.
  • Support for SQL and ODBC-style dates inside a query of queries
  • Size is no longer a reserved word when you create a query of queries, so you can create a query of queries using cfdirectory with a column named Size.

See also query metadata support.

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapter 22, "Using Query of Queries")
Input masks The cfinput tag supports input masks for both HTML and Flash forms. You can also use input masks for cfgrid columns in Flash forms. See also Form validation. CFML Reference (cfinput tag)

ColdFusion components (CFCs)

You can now call super methods using named arguments.

CFCs can now return arrays of CFC instances.

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapter 10, "Building and Using ColdFusion Components")

Calling Java functions

You can now generate Java nulls when calling a Java function.

CFML Reference (JavaCast function)

Sandbox security

Sandbox security lets you secure the CreateObject function by type. You can now turn off access to Java, COM, or Web Service objects without turning off access to ColdFusion components through the CreateObject function.

Note: Turning off access to Java, COM, or Web Service objects through the CreateObject function also turns off access through the cfobject tag.

ColdFusion MX Administrator (Sandbox Security page)

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapter 16, "Securing Applications")

User-defined functions

You can now call user-defined functions using the same name as the following obsolete advanced security functions: IsAuthenticated, IsAuthorized, IsProtected, AuthenticatedUser, and AuthenticatedContext.

Not applicable

Enhanced PDF/SWF streaming support

ColdFusion MX 7 can now recognize Internet Explorer agent conttype requests, and can send back content type responses. This results in more reliable PDF/SWF streaming in Internet Explorer.

Not applicable.

ColdFusion MX Administrator

In addition to changes that support new features, the ColdFusion MX Administrator contains the following changes:

  • New look and feel
  • The Settings page includes a Default CFFORM ScriptSrc Directory field, which lets you specify the default path (relative to the web root) to the directory containing the cfform.js file.
  • Removed StringFormat from the data source pages for DB2, Informix, Oracle, and Sybase.
  • Certain options, such as Maximum Number of Simultaneous Requests, which were previously unavailable in the J2EE configuration, are now available in the multiserver configuration even though, technically, it is a variant of the J2EE configuration.
 ColdFusion MX Administrator online Help

Enhancements and changes to tags and functions

The following table describes major enhancements and changes to tags and functions in ColdFusion MX 7. For a complete list of tag and function changes, including change history back to ColdFusion MX, see Migrating Applications to ColdFusion MX 7, which is available in PDF only.

ColdFusion MX 7 Enhancements

Enhancement Description Documentation

Form validation

You can now select any combination of the following forms of validation in the cfform tag:

  • onsubmit: Validation using JavaScript or ActionScript on the client when the user submits the form. This validation corresponds to the standard cfform validation technique in previous releases.
  • onblur: Validation using JavaScript or ActionScript on the client when the user changes focus from the input field.
  • onserver: Validation by ColdFusion when it starts processing a submitted form. This validation format corresponds to the hidden form field validation technique in earlier releases, but it provides a simpler and more consistent method for specifying the validation.

You can now specify multiple validation types for each field.

The available validation algorithms have been made as consistent as possible across form validation locations (on client and on server) and form type (Flash, HTML, and XForms). Wherever possible, all validation types are now supported for all form locations and types and by the cfparam tag. All form validation options and cfparam options are enhanced.

Includes an IsValid function that tests whether a value meets a validation or data type rule. This function supports the same validation tests as are provided in the cfinput, cftextarea, and cfparam tags, including range and regular expression validation.

See also Input masks.

CFML Reference (cfform , cfinput, cftextarea, and cfparam tags, and IsValid function)

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Chapter 28, "Validating Data")

Additional forms enhancements

 Forms improvements include the following:
  • The new cftextarea tag, which supports ColdFusion validation in a text area.
  • The cftextinput tag was deprecated.
  • The passthrough attribute was deprecated on all ColdFusion forms tags. ColdFusion passes all relevant attributes directly to HTML.
  • The new cfinput submitonce validation type restricts multiple submits.
  • The cfform tag now has a method attribute and supports the GET method.
  • The cfform tag now submits to the page that contains it by default.
  • ColdFusion MX Administrator now lets you specify a default location for the cfform tag's scriptSrc attribute.
  • The cfinput tag now supports all HTML input tag types.
  • The cfselect tag better supports multiple selections, supports SQL grouping, and lets you specify the location of selections specified by option tags relative to selections generated by a query.
  • The cftree tag supports generating the tree as a ColdFusion object, in addition to HTML and Flash.
  • The cftree and cfgrid tags support generating the tree or grid as XML.
 CFML Reference.
Improvements to the cfchart tag

The cfchart tag lets you specify the style of the chart in either an XML file or string.

Use the new title attribute in the cfchart tag to specify the title of the chart. In addition, the charting engine has been updated. Charting output has also been improved. You can now use dates on the y-axis of a chart.

CFML Reference
(cfchart tag)
Verity enhancements

The cfsearch and cfindex tags now include the following new features:
  • Better search result data, including document author, rank, size, and type
  • Enhanced status information, including number of documents searched, how long the search took, and a keyword score, which returns the weights associated with the suggested spellings for a misspelled keyword. (The value of the keyword score is between 0 and 99, with a higher score indicating a better quality result.)
  • Spelling correction, which offers suggestions for an alternate query if there are too few search results.
  • Searching within the results of a previous search.
  • Context summary with highlighted search results, with customizable highlight strings.
  • Ability to categorize documents, including hierarchical categories.
  • Ability to search within categories.

In addition, ColdFusion MX 7 can use Verity services installed on a different physical machine.

CFML Reference (cfcollection, cfindex, and cfsearch tags)

ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide (Verity chapters)

Cross-site scripting protection

 Use the new scriptProtect attribute of the cfapplication tag to help protect against cross-site scripting attacks. You can also use this feature in an Application.cfc file. To maintain backwards compatibility, this feature is disabled by default. CFML Reference. (cfapplication tag and Application.cfc chapter)

Support for strong encryption algorithms

(Sun implementation only)

 Support has been added for using strong encryption algorithms in encrypting and decrypting data, and for generating hash and random number values. An Algorithm parameter has been added to the following functions:
  • Encrypt
  • Decrypt
  • Hash
  • Rand
  • RandRange
  • Randomize

Use the new GenerateSecretKey function to generate a key for use in the Encrypt and Decrypt functions.

Note: Two additional parameters were added to the Encrypt and Decrypt functions after the ColdFusion MX 7 manuals were sent to the printer. These changes make it possible to interact with password-based encryption algorithms and other advanced encryption technologies. For more information, see the Encryption TechNote.

CFML Reference

For more information on last-minute changes to the Encrypt and Decrypt functions, see the Encryption TechNote.

 

Enhanced string and data encoding and decoding

 Use the following new functions for encoding and decoding text and data:
  • BinaryEncode: converts binary data to a string in hex, UU, or base64 encoding.
  • BinaryDecode: converts a string containing data in hex, UU, or base64 binary encoding to binary data.
  • CharsetEncode: converts a string in a specified character set to a binary object.
  • CharsetDecode: converts a binary object to a string using a specified character set.

Additionally, an encoding parameter has been added to the Encrypt and Decrypt functions.

 CFML Reference

XML support enhancements

 XML handling has been enhanced with the addition of several new functions, including decision and information functions, the ability to create an XML document object, and validation functions and attributes. Support has been added for validation against both XML Schemas and DTDs.

The XMLTransform function now allows you to pass in parameters to the XSL.

Use the following new XML functions and parameters:

  • XmlNew
  • Decision and information functions:
    • IsXML
    • IsXMLAttribute
    • IsXMLDoc
    • IsXMLElem
    • IsXMLNode
    • IsXMLRoot
    • XmlGetNodeType
  • Validation support:
    • XmlParse validator attribute
    • XmlValidate
  • Enhancements to XMLParse:
    • Support has been added for specifying a document path or URL, including a relative URL, in the XMLParse xmlText attribute.
 CFML Reference

Query metadata support

 Lets you specify data type metadata for query columns that you create using the QueryNew and QueryAddColumn functions. The following attributes have been added:
  • QueryAddColumn datatype parameter
  • QueryNew columnTypeList parameter

See also, Query of queries enhancements.

CFML Reference (QueryAddColumn and QueryNew tags)

cfmail enhancements

 The cfmailparam tag has been enhanced with ContentID and disposition attributes for attached files, which let you add inline images to e-mail messages. CFML Reference (cfmailparam tag)

cftimer tag

 Use the new cftimer tag to display execution time for a specified section of CFML code. ColdFusion MX 7 displays the timing information along with any output produced by the timed code. CFML Reference
(cftimer tag)

cfcalendar tag

 Use the new cfcalendar tag to put an interactive Macromedia Flash format calendar in an HTML or Flash form. CFML Reference (cfcalendar tag)

getContextRoot function

 

 Use the new getContextRoot function to write applications that you can deploy into any J2EE web server, regardless of the application context root. CFML Reference (getContextRoot function)

Web services enhancements

 

The CreateObject function and the port attribute of the cfcomponent tag let you select the port to use in a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file that contains more than one service, such as the MapPoint web service.

The cfinvokeargument tag has a new omit attribute that allows you to omit arguments to a web service that you invoke.

New cfcomponent attributes enable ColdFusion MX to publish document-literal style web services.

  • style="document" : switches the emitted WSDL to document/literal style.
  • hint is now used as the document element of the service in WSDL.
  • displayName is now used as the name of the <service> element in WSDL.
  • servicePortName is used as the name of the <port> element in the service.
  • portTypeName is used as the name of the <portType> element in WSDL.
  • bindingName is used as the name of the <binding> element in WSDL.
  • namespace is used as the default namespace of the service.
  • wsdlFile="<path to file>" - Use this file as the WSDL instead of generating
    WSDL on the fly.

The following new functions enable access to SOAP headers in CFML clients and ColdFusion MX web services:

  • AddSOAPRequestHeader
  • AddSOAPResponseHeader
  • GetSOAPRequestHeader
  • GetSOAPResponseHeader
  • GetSOAPRequest
  • GetSOAPResponse
  • IsSOAPRequest
 CFML Reference

ToScript function

Use the new ToScript function to create JavaScript variables from a ColdFusion variable. This function can convert ColdFusion strings, numbers, arrays, structures, and queries to JavaScript syntax that defines equivalent variables and values.

CFML Reference (ToScript function)

Localization

ColdFusion MX 7 now supports all the locales that Java supports. You can use the GetLocaleDisplayName function to get a locale value and display the name.

CFML Reference (GetLocale and GetLocaleDisplayName functions)

cfbreak tag You cannot use the cfbreak tag inside of a cfswitch block. This duplicates the behavior in ColdFusion 5 and ColdFusion MX. This is wrong in the cfbreak discussion in CFML Reference.

Installation

This section includes the following information:

Introduction

You can install ColdFusion MX 7 in the following configurations:

  • Server configuration - Lets you install one instance of ColdFusion MX 7 with an embedded J2EE server (JRun 4). This configuration most closely resembles the ColdFusion MX base release and other releases prior to ColdFusion MX, such as ColdFusion 5 and ColdFusion 4.5. This was formerly known as the stand-alone configuration.
  • Multiserver configuration (Enterprise and Developer Edition only) - Installs JRun and automatically deploys ColdFusion MX 7 in a separate JRun server instance. This configuration contains the Enterprise Manager, which lets you create server instances with ColdFusion automatically deployed as well as manage clusters and ColdFusion MX 7 deployments on multiple JRun servers.
    The multiserver configuration differs from the ColdFusion MX with JRun 4 option in ColdFusion MX 6.1. Specifically, the multiserver configuration offers additional ColdFusion MX Administrator options and the Enterprise Manager. If you installed ColdFusion MX 6.1 using the ColdFusion MX with JRun 4 option and wish to use the Enterprise Manager, you must uninstall JRun before installing ColdFusion MX 7. Alternatively, you can continue defining server instances using the JRun Management Console (JMC).
  • J2EE configuration (Enterprise and Developer Edition only) - Lets you deploy ColdFusion MX 7 as a Java application running on a Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) application server, either using the bundled license of JRun or using a third-party J2EE server, such as IBM WebSphere or BEA WebLogic. When you use the J2EE configuration, you can deploy ColdFusion MX 7 multiple times on a single computer.

The installation process has two parts: the Install Wizard and the Configuration and Settings Migration Wizard. The Configuration and Settings Migration Wizard, which runs automatically the first time you open the ColdFusion MX Administrator, migrates data sources and other settings to ColdFusion MX 7, in addition to configuring ColdFusion.

The ColdFusion MX Administrator automatically upgrades settings from ColdFusion MX 6.1, ColdFusion MX, and ColdFusion 5. You can run multiple versions side-by-side. However, only one version can use an external web server to access ColdFusion pages.

Installation notes

The following notes include important information and late-breaking news:

  • The Windows installer requires a computer that supports at least 256 colors.
  • Before you install ColdFusion MX 7 on the same computer where ColdFusion MX or ColdFusion MX 6.1 resides, copy the CFIDE and cfdocs directories, which are subdirectories of the wwwroot directory, to another location that is not a subdirectory of wwwroot. After you install ColdFusion MX 7, if you uninstall ColdFusion MX or ColdFusion MX 6.1, the uninstall process deletes these directories. You can restore the CFIDE and cfdocs directories by copying them from the location where you copied them before installing ColdFusion MX 7.
  • To use RedHat AS 2.1 or 3.0, the Linux installation must have the corresponding RedHat libc compatibility libraries to run ColdFusion MX 7, as follows:

    RedHat-AS 2.1 compat-libstdc++-6.2-2.9.0.16
    RedHat-AS 3.0 compat-libstdc++-7.3-2.96.122

  • On Red Hat AS3, if you configure Apache or Apache2, you must either have the Red Hat rpm compat-glibc-7.x installed or build the connector locally using the new wsconfig -apxs switch, as the following example shows:

    ./wsconfig -ws apache -apxs -dir /etc/httpd -bin /usr/sbin/httpd -script /usr/sbin/apachectl

  • If you are running IIS 6, the web server connector upgrade does not automatically enable certain performance optimizations. If you are currently running ColdFusion MX or ColdFusion MX 6.1 on IIS 6, perform the following steps after installing ColdFusion MX 7:
    1. Uninstall the web server connector, using either the Web Server Configuration tool or the wsconfig command-line utility.
    2. Configure the web server connector, using either the Web Server Configuration tool or the wsconfig command-line utility.

    Alternatively, you can update the following registry setting and restart IIS:

    Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HTTP\Parameters
    DWORD Value Name: EnableCopySend
    DWORD Value Data: 1

Installing ColdFusion MX 7

Documentation

The following list describes the ColdFusion documentation for ColdFusion MX 7 and includes links to the latest versions of the documentation in the Macromedia LiveDocs system. The LiveDocs documentation includes comments and updates to the documentation that might be made after the product is released. The documentation is also installed in HTML format with ColdFusion MX 7, and PDF copies of the documentation are available from the Macromedia website:

  • CFML Reference  Provides descriptions, syntax, usage, and code examples for all ColdFusion MX tags, functions, and variables.
  • ColdFusion MX Developer's Guide  Describes how to develop your dynamic web applications, including retrieving and updating your data, and using structures, forms, printable reports, and event gateways.
  • Configuring and Administering ColdFusion MX  Part I describes how to manage the ColdFusion MX environment, including connecting to your data sources and configuring security for your applications. Part II describes Verity search tools and utilities that you can use for configuring the Verity Search Server engine, as well as creating, managing, and troubleshooting Verity collections.
  • Installing and Using ColdFusion MX  Describes system installation and basic configuration for Windows, Solaris, and Linux. Also includes a troubleshooting chapter to help you handle installation problems.
  • Getting Started with ColdFusion MX  Contains an overview of ColdFusion MX features and application development procedures. Includes a tutorial that guides you through the process of developing a sample ColdFusion application.
  • ColdFusion Report Builder online Help This online Help system contains topics that explain usage for the ColdFusion Report Builder. It is located in the same directory as the ColdFusion Report Builder.
  • Migrating Applications to ColdFusion MX 7  Describes migration considerations and functionality changes that apply when moving to ColdFusion MX 7 from ColdFusion 5, ColdFusion MX, or ColdFusion MX 6.1. This document is available in PDF only.

For a list of corrections to the ColdFusion MX 7 documentation, see Documentation known issues with ColdFusion MX 7.

For information on installing the Macromedia Flex 1.5 application and the Flex sample applications on ColdFusion MX, see http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flex/1_5/flexforcf.html.

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