Many of us have used the CFCONTENT tag that comes with ColdFusion to serve up
files to browsers, but very few ColdFusion developers are aware that the
CFCONTENT tag can be used in conjunction with the HTML
tag to serve up
graphics, such as JPEGs and GIFs. In this case, the why of doing this is
perhaps just as interesting as the how.
It turns out that using this technique is perfect for use with creating an
advertising banner server, controlling access to graphic files, or - on the
more sinister side - creating "Web bugs."
If you don't recall, a Web bug is a graphic (usually an invisible 1 pixel
shim) that is embedded in an HTML e-mail message or Word document that tips
off its creator when and who is reading without readers even knowing their
access was logged.
I... (more)
If you're using ColdFusion with Access today, then it's likely you'll be
using it with SQL Server tomorrow. Luckily, Microsoft has provided some tools
that make upgrading to SQL Server a relatively easy process. You'll be
surprised to learn how simple it is to upgrade and how easy it is to work
with.
This article covers the basics of using these tools and helps you plan an
easy database... (more)
All data-driven Web sites are potentially vulnerable to hackers, whether they
are written in ColdFusion or another language. Fortunately, a few simple
steps can make your site much more secure.
1. Have an Error Handler
By default ColdFusion displays a detailed error message when there is a
problem in your code. Yes, I know - your code has no bugs in it - but what if
a hacker deliberately ... (more)
In March (CFDJ, Vol.3, issue 5) we covered reasons to upsize your Access
database to SQL Server and the tools you'll use to do it. Here we explain in
detail how to copy data to SQL Server and troubleshoot your upsizing project.
The IMPORT AND EXPORT data wizard (aka the DTS Wizard - Data Transformation
Services) certainly helps get you going with building tables in SQL Server.
It takes an... (more)
In this article we continue to look at what ColdFusion is and how you can use
it for dynamic website creation. We cover using SQL to dynamically retrieve
and display data from any database along with testing and debugging
techniques.
What is ColdFusion?
In case you missed the previous articles that introduced ColdFusion, let me
explain what it is. ColdFusion, which was introduced by Allai... (more)