| Developing ColdFusion MX Applications with CFML |
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Introduction to ColdFusion MX |
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| Developing ColdFusion MX Applications with CFML |
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Introduction to ColdFusion MX |
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As the Internet software market has matured, the infrastructure services required by distributed Internet applications, including ColdFusion applications, have become increasingly standardized. The most widely adopted standard today is the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) specification. J2EE provides a common set of infrastructure services for accessing databases, protocols, and operating system functionality, across multiple operating systems.
ColdFusion MX uses the J2EE infrastructure for many of its base services. By implementing the ColdFusion scripting environment on top of the J2EE platform, ColdFusion MX takes advantage of the power of the J2EE platform, but provides this power through the easy-to-use ColdFusion scripting environment.
ColdFusion MX consists of a family of products that differ in how they integrate with and use J2EE services. (Some ColdFusion editions might not be available at the time of the first ColdFusion MX release.)
The following figure shows how these editions are structured. Each edition supports the same ColdFusion scripting environment and includes the built-in application services, while the different editions enable developers to deploy ColdFusion MX in the configuration of their choice.
ColdFusion MX is implemented on the Java technology platform provided by a J2EE application server. It uses either an integrated J2EE infrastructure that uses Macromedia JRun technology, or an independent J2EE application server. The Java technology platform provides much of the core functionality required by ColdFusion, including database connectivity, naming and directory services, and other runtime services.
Because ColdFusion is built on a J2EE platform, you can easily integrate J2EE and Java functionality into your ColdFusion application. As a result, ColdFusion pages can do any of the following:
For more information on using J2EE features in ColdFusion, see Chapter 32, "Integrating J2EE and Java Elements in CFML Applications".
