Course outline

Module 1. Web Pages—Static to Dynamic
• Moving from HTML to dynamic web pages
• Simple and structured variables
• URL and CGI variable structures
• Setting default variables for pages
• Debugging and exception handling basics
• How lists and arrays work in ColdFusion
• How to cycle through collections with looping commands
• Conditional processing

Module 2. Basic CFCs and Database Interaction
• The ColdFusion object called CFC
• Making objects/CFCs come alive with methods
• The difference between a class and the objects created from the CFC
• Using an object constructor
• Protecting the inner characteristics of objects with getters and setters
• Connecting to a database through the internal methods of our object/CFCs
• A variable structure called a “query”, which is used to hold query recordsets
• Controlling different types of variables returned from methods
• Keeping our CFCs thread-safe, when multiple users are running the same code segments

Module 3. Power CFCs and Web Forms
• The practice of protecting access to CFC methods
• The working of web forms
• Managing multiple products through common forms for listing, editing, and adding data
• Improving the page flow, also known as work flow
• Returning messages to the user to know things are working
• Learning the power of inheritance
• Simplifying by passing array collections, rather than manual line-by-line passing of the variable values

Module 4. ORM Database Interaction
• Introduction to ORM in ColdFusion
• Simple guide to mapping data
• Working with data through object entities
• Working with relational data
• Adding custom configuration

Module 5. Application, Session, and Request Scope
• The life expectancy for various types of information. This affects the system memory and the place where different information is stored.
• The Application object class—the cornerstone of ColdFusion applications.
• The special standard method events, which ColdFusion calls in the Application.cfc object.
• Custom tag paths and mapping settings inside the object—the two special functions of the Application.cfc object.

Module 6. Authentication and Permissions
• Built-in authentication features
• Understanding how to use permission roles
• Example of custom authentication
• Making the page content sensitive to user permission

Module 7. CFScript
• Start by digging into the basics of scripting and then roll into the most requested scripting commands that have been added in this version
• Take a look at some special object versions of tags
• See how to create a CFC as a purely-scripted template

Module 8. CF AJAX User Interface
• Comparing HTML, server, and browser technology sites
• ColdFusion AJAX layout features
• ColdFusion widgets (dynamic divs, menus, panels, tool tips, windows)

Module 9. CF AJAX Forms
• CFGrid for table-based data
• CFInput with features such as Autosuggest
• CFSelect
• CFTextArea with its new rich text editing
• CFTree

Module 10. CF AJAX Programming
• Binding
• Proxy connections
• JSON features
• Spry data integration
• Debugging

Module 11. Introduction to Custom Tags
• Varying forms of code reuse in ColdFusion
• Passing information to a custom tag
• Reuse of concepts such as skins with custom tags
• Different methods of storing and accessing tags and tag libraries

Module 12. ColdFusion Powered Views
• Introduction to COOP
• PreDOM concepts
• Simplified list elements
• Working with forms
• Special form modes
• Styling your pages
• Custom render coding

Module 13. Control Logic Processing
• Introduction to controllers
• Shared variables
• Processing request events
• Remote (AJAX) shared code
• Data versatility
• Special standard methods
• Personal extension of COOP

Module 14. Guide to Unit Testing
• When to test
• Understanding assertions
• Test suites
• Testing include files
• Testing custom tags