Some text should never be transmitted or saved in readable form (or "in the clear"). To safely pass strings in hidden form fields, URL parameters, and cookies, use the CFML Encrypt() and Decrypt() functions. Each of these takes a string to be encrypted or decrypted, and another string that is used...
If you ever need to generate guaranteed unique ID's, unique even across multiple servers, look no further than CFML's own CreateUUID() function. This function returns a string representation of a 128 byte integer that is guaranteed to be unique. You can use this string anywhere that a unique ID is...
If you've ever needed to create strings containing quotes, double quotes, line feeds, less than, greater than, or other special characters, you've probably found it to be a less than enjoyable experience. Non-printable characters, characters that have special meanings, or characters that appear to...
Need to get rid of unwanted characters from within a string? Try the ReplaceList() function. This function lets you specify a list of characters to be removed from a string, and a list of characters to replace them with. All you need to is provide a list of empty strings for the second list to...
Date comparisons can be tricky, especially if you try to use simple statements testing for LESS THAN and GREATER THEN. The safe (and correct) way to compare dates is to use the DateCompare() function which lets you specify two dates as well as an optional comparison decision level. The latter lets...
ColdFusion Studio 4.5 (and HomeSite) introduced a new split editor window - an option that lets you display and edit two parts of the same file at once. If you need to edit long files, or need to compare two parts of the same file, you'll find this option invaluable. To turn on split editor select...
For some reason typos and misspellings have become so common place on the Web that they are almost acceptable. ColdFusion Studio (and HomeSite) has an integrated spell checker (and can also use Microsoft Office's spell check if Office 95 or later is installed). Use this feature - either run regular...
is used to cache dynamically generated pages so that ColdFusion need not process them again unnecessarily, but that's not all it can do. can also be used to embed the necessary code instructing a browser to cache pages locally so that neither requests to the server or ColdFusion are needed. To use...
The tag is used to create persistent client-side cookies, but cookies need not persist if you don't want them to. The EXPIRES attribute is optional, and if you omit it cookies will only exist as long as the Web browser is open - as soon as the browser is closed the cookies will be destroyed. This...
If you ever need help diagnosing problems with dynamically generated e-mail, check out the Mail tab in the ColdFusion Administrator. There is a checkbox there entitled "Log all email messages sent by ColdFusion" - and checking this box will force ColdFusion to log the complete contents of the...