Using this book

This book can to help anyone with a basic understanding of HTML learn to develop ColdFusion. However, this book is most useful if you have basic ColdFusion experience, or have read Getting Started Building ColdFusion MX Applications. The Getting Started book provides an introduction to ColdFusion and helps you develop the basic knowledge that will make using this book easier.

Book structure and contents

The book is divided into seven parts, as follows:


Part	Description
The CFML Programming Language	The Elements of CFML including variables, expressions, dynamic code, CFScript, and regular expressions.
Reusing CFML Code	Techniques for writing code once and using it many times, including the `cfinclude` tag, user-defined functions, custom CFML tags, ColdFusion components, and CFXAPI tags.
Developing CFML Applications	How to develop a complete ColdFusion application. Includes information on error handling, sharing data, locking code, securing access, internationalization, debugging, and troubleshooting.
Accessing and Using Data	Methods for accessing and using data sources, including an introduction to SQL and information on using SQL data bases, LDAP directory services, and the Verity search engine
Requesting and Presenting Information	How to dynamically request information from users and display results on the user's browser, including graphing data and providing data to Flash clients.
Using Web Elements and External Objects	How to use XML, Java objects including Enterprise JavaBeans, JSP pages, web services (including creating web services in ColdFusion), and COM and CORBA objects.
Using External Resources	Methods for getting and sending e-mail, accessing remote servers using HTTP and FTP, and accessing files and directories.

Each chapter includes basic information plus detailed coverage of the topic that should be of use to experienced ColdFusion developers.

Approaches to using this book

This section describes approaches to using this book for beginning ColdFusion developers, developers with some experience who want to develop expertise, and advanced developers who want to learn about the new and enhanced features of ColdFusion MX.

Beginning with ColdFusion

If you learning ColdFusion, a path such as the following might be most effective:

You can then read the remaining chapters as you add new features to your ColdFusion application.

Developing an in-depth knowledge of ColdFusion

If you have a basic understanding of ColdFusion as presented in Getting Started Building ColdFusion MX Applications or the Fast Track to ColdFusion course, you might want to start at Chapter 1 and work through to the end of the book, skipping any specialized chapters that you are unlikely to need.

Learning about new and modified ColdFusion features

If you are an advanced ColdFusion developer, you might want to learn about new or changed ColdFusion MX features. In this case, you start with Migrating ColdFusion 5 Applications; then read selected chapters in this book. The following chapters document features that are new or substantially enhanced in ColdFusion MX:

Nearly all chapters contain information that is new in ColdFusion MX, so you should also review all other chapters for useful information. The index and the table of contents are useful tools for finding new features or changed documentation.