ColdFusion is usually used to generate content for use within Web browsers, but that's not all you can do. In fact, ColdFusion is entirely client independent - you can generate content for any client including wireless devices (for example, WAP, iMode, and Palm) and other applications (for example Word, and Excel). How do you do this? The trick is to use the tag - a special tag that lets you specify the content MIME type (an identifier used to define the type of any data). The default MIME type, used if you do not use , specifies HTML output. But if you specify the right MIME type you can generate just about anything. (Applies to: ColdFusion All)

Visit the Developer's Exchange at www.allaire.com regularly. There are hundreds of great tags and code examples there for you to download, and most in source code form. Before you write it yourself, check to see if someone else has already done it for you. (And of course, contribute your own components when appropriate). (Applies to: ColdFusion All)

ColdFusion Studio's design mode has gotten a rather bad reputation, and one it really does not deserve. Design mode works well as long as it's intent and limitations are understood. Design mode was never intended for use on existing CFM pages, it was intended to be used primarily for initial page design (and thus the name "Design Mode"). It is very useful for initial page layout and design before you start plugging in your CFML code, and should really only be used that way. (Applies to: ColdFusion Studio 4 (or later))

The less hardcoded your application is, the easier it'll be to reuse, maintain, and deploy. For example, never specify an actual ODBC datasource name in the DATASOURCE attribute - instead define a variable (perhaps in APPLICATION.CFM) which contains the datasource name, and pass that variable to all tags instead. (Applies to: ColdFusion All)

Every page on your site should be dynamically generated, but you probably have many pages that change infrequently and would be served quicker if they did not include run-time CF processing. In situations like this consider using the tag which can cache dynamically generated output and serve it upon subsequent requests without requiring that the entire page be processed. (Applies to: ColdFusion 4 (or later))

Using native database drivers? Then you probably have already discovered that you cannot use the ODBC date functions (like CreateODBCDate() and CreateODBCDateTime()). To format dates for native database driver use you must use the DateFormat() and TimeFormat() functions to manually format the date as needed. (Applies to: ColdFusion 4 (or later))

ColdFusion features a "trusted cache" mode whereby cached p-code pages are assumed to always be current and checks for newer CFM files are not made. Turning on this option can improve performance slightly, but there is an even more important benefit - with trusted cache enabled developers will not be able to make changes to production servers (well, they could make changes, but those changes would be ignored). (Applies to: ColdFusion 4 (or later))

ColdFusion developers are familiar with the debug output that can be appended to processed pages. But many don't know that CF4.5 can also show the time to process the page broken down by all the individual pages that were used to compose the final page. This feature is called "Detail View" and it can be turned on in the Administrator's Debugging screen. (Applies to: ColdFusion 4.5 (or later))

ColdFusion caches p-code versions of your CFM files to improve performance. Ideally, the p-code cache should be big enough to contain every single CFM file. While there is no guaranteed formula that you can use to determine what the exact size should be, a good rule of thumb is to allow at least four or five times the total size of all your CFM files. (Applies to: ColdFusion All)

ColdFusion 4 introduced a new administrative option called "Enforce Strict Attribute Validation". When enabled ColdFusion can process requests a bit quicker, but in doing so is much stricter in initial attribute validation. Enabling this option on existing servers (with older apps) is risky, you might find that apps that always worked suddenly stop doing so. But you should definitely enable this option on servers being used for new development. (Applies to: ColdFusion 4 (or later))

Locking is important, and must be used in conjunction with shared code or data. But don't overlock your code - long blocks of unnecessarily locked code will negatively impact application performance. Use locking where needed, but don't overuse it. (Applies to: ColdFusion 4 (or later))

"Nesting" refers to the use of tags within tags - for example, statements within statements, or statements within statements. There are valid reasons to nest your code, but avoid nesting too deeply. Nesting impacts application performance - but worse, it also tends to make your code less manageable. Well written (and well planned) code will seldom need deep nesting. If you find yourself nesting more than a few levels deep, take a step back, and rethink your code. (Applies to: ColdFusion All)

Ask many developers why native database drivers should be used (instead of ODBC drivers) and you'll almost always be told that it is to improve performance. But the truth is, there is very little performance gain (if any) when using native database drivers, so if that is the reason you are considering using them, don't bother. The real benefits of native database drivers pertain to databases features and operation that are not accessible via ODBC. (Applies to: ColdFusion 4 (or later))

is used to call stored-procedures. can be used to call stored procedures too. So which should you use? is simpler to use, but it does not support the use of multiple result sets, return codes, or output parameters. is a little trickier to use, but supports all of these. Plus, queries can be cached, queries cannot (for now). So, is a good choice for basic stored procedures (and for when you want to use query caching), is better suited for more complex stored procedures. (Applies to: ColdFusion 4 (or later))

Form field names, variable names, anything that contains data that corresponds to database columns should be named exactly the same as the columns they represent. This will simplify your coding and debugging dramatically. (Applies to: ColdFusion All)

lets you display a specific page if an error occurs, but that is usually not enough. To take programmatic action when an error occurs (for example, notifying yourself via e-mail, or attempting to fix the problem) you should use try-catch handling using the and tags. (Applies to: ColdFusion 4 (or later))

Need to create a link to a local file in Studio? Just find that file in the Resource Tab and drag it into your code - a complete will be generated, and the page