ColdFusion MX Web Application Construction Kit, Fifth Edition

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
When you think of ColdFusion, you think of Ben Forta, who￯﾿ﾽs been evangelizing this product practically since the Allaire brothers created it. (He built one of the world￯﾿ﾽs first large web sites using ColdFusion, loved the product so much he went to work for the company, and the rest is history.)

With all of ColdFusion MX￯﾿ﾽs new goodies, you ought to be thinking of Ben Forta more than ever. The latest version of his flagship ColdFusion book, ColdFusion MX Web Application Construction Kit, continues to set the standard for mastering ColdFusion.

Now weighing in at nearly 1,500 pages -- and in this case, that￯﾿ﾽs a good thing -- this edition benefits from extensive help from Team Macromedia member Nate Weiss and two other leading Macromedia development experts. Forta & Co. offer definitive coverage of everything you need to know to design, implement, test, and deploy a very wide range of ColdFusion applications.

Part I offers a thorough grounding in ColdFusion concepts and components. You￯﾿ﾽll review ColdFusion￯﾿ﾽs core technologies, as well as the database and SQL fundamentals every ColdFusion developer should know. You￯﾿ﾽll learn how to use the ColdFusion Administrator to manage ColdFusion Application Server; and get comfortable with Dreamweaver MX￯﾿ﾽs powerful ColdFusion development environment. You￯﾿ﾽll also build a working database application (and if you￯﾿ﾽve never used ColdFusion, you￯﾿ﾽll be surprised how easy it is).

Next, you￯﾿ﾽll dive into ColdFusion development and the CFML tag language. Forta and his colleagues introduce ColdFusion templates, variables, functions, and program flow; and introduce core tags like CFSET and CFINCLUDE. You￯﾿ﾽll build a simple data-driven ColdFusion application utilizing queries and essential formatting techniques like tables and data drill-down. Next, you￯﾿ﾽll learn how to collect valid information with forms: information that can drive dynamic SQL statements, allowing you to query your database any way you like.

Forta next shows how to design and plan ColdFusion applications that￯﾿ﾽll be easier to build and maintain; then introduces ColdFusion￯﾿ﾽs powerful web application framework, which enables you to build applications that provide a unified web experience: applications with a consistent look and feel, shared variables, and shared security. You￯﾿ﾽll learn how to manage sessions; use ColdFusion security features; build user-defined functions and reusable components; and improve both application performance and the user￯﾿ﾽs experience.

One way to do that -- covered thoroughly here -- is to integrate Flash MX into your applications. Another is to use ColdFusion￯﾿ﾽs handy client-side Java form controls. Still another is to use ColdFusion MX￯﾿ﾽs new graphing engine -- perfect for generating business charts on the fly. Still another is to make the most of ColdFusion￯﾿ﾽs extensive automated email support.

Finally, in Part IV, Forta introduces several techniques for building more powerful and flexible applications. You￯﾿ﾽll dive more deeply into server configuration and SQL; incorporate graceful error handling; generate content for Word, Excel, and mobile devices; access the power of your underlying OS; and implement search via ColdFusion￯﾿ﾽs built-in Verity search engine. There￯﾿ﾽs even a full chapter on development methodologies such as Fusebox 3 -- an impressive tool for promoting reuse, portability, and scalability.

In a detailed appendix, the authors walk through installing Macromedia ColdFusion MX and Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, explaining each installation option -- including installing ColdFusion MX on top of J2EE servers.

With more than 400 pages of additional reference material, you￯﾿ﾽll be able to rely on this book for years to come. You￯﾿ﾽll find complete tag and function references; lists of every special variable, prefix, and tag result code available within your applications; plus a complete language reference for the Verity search engine.

ColdFusion MX Web Application Construction Kit￯﾿ﾽs accompanying CD-ROM contains complete evaluation editions of ColdFusion MX, Dreamweaver MX, and Flash MX, plus all the book￯﾿ﾽs source code and databases.

You might be wondering: After 1,500 pages, what￯﾿ﾽs left to learn? Plenty. ColdFusion MX is so big, even this book can￯﾿ﾽt cover all of it. When you￯﾿ﾽre ready for more, you￯﾿ﾽll find it in Forta￯﾿ﾽs Advanced ColdFusion MX Application Development. But whatever other resources you ultimately choose, ColdFusion MX Web Application Construction Kit will be the foundation of your ColdFusion library. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

If you're looking to create real-world applications that solve real-world problems using ColdFusion MX as your tool, there's no better place to start than with The ColdFusion MX Web Application Construction Kit. Serving as both tutorial and reference, this all-in-one kit provides everything you need to begin creating Internet-based applications--including evaluation and developer versions of ColdFusion MX and its development environment.

Building on the tried-and-true formula of the four best-selling previous editions--but using lessons geared toward creating the next generation of Web projects--veteran author Ben Forta moves from the fundamentals of Web and database design to more complex topics like creating data-driven pages, implementing security mechanisms, and building complete applications. In the process, he covers new features in ColdFusion MX: a J2EE-based engine, a new development environment, additional debugging tools, Flash integration, business charting, XML manipulation, and more. Whether you're a recent ColdFusion convert or an old hand who's ready to learn some new tricks and best practices, you'll find answers to all your questions in the definitive and standard developer's reference--The ColdFusion MX Web Application Construction Kit.

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