Adobe ColdFusion is a server-side programming environment for building and running dynamic websites and web applications on Windows, Linux and macOS. Developers write CFML code to connect pages with databases, publish services and generate documents. ColdFusion also connects application code to AI models and document retrieval services.
Processing CFML application code
A ColdFusion page combines ordinary HTML with instructions that run on the server. Those instructions can retrieve data, evaluate conditions and repeat output for a set of records. The browser receives the resulting HTML and text, while the CFML code remains on the server.
CFML provides tags and functions for common application operations. A database query, an email message or an output expression can be written using the corresponding language operation. CFScript provides a script syntax for writing program logic within the same environment.
ColdFusion components, or CFCs, collect related properties and functions into reusable units. Application code can call a component's methods instead of repeating the same logic in several pages. Custom tags and user-defined functions provide additional ways to reuse application code.
Connecting databases and application services
Querying a configured database
The cfquery operation uses a named data source and SQL supplied by the developer. ColdFusion connects to that database, executes the statement and places the returned records in a query object. The object includes the values, record count and column information.
Output code then selects values from the query object to place in a page. Retrieving records and displaying them are separate operations: a query can run without displaying its results. The named connection and the tables and columns referenced in SQL must exist.
Publishing REST services
A developer can expose CFC functions through REST services. ColdFusion registers components marked with REST attributes from a selected application folder and its subfolders. An application name or a service mapping identifies the registered service.
The Administrator lists registered services and lets the developer choose a default REST application for a server instance. Only one application can hold that default. Registered services are published again when the server starts, without repeating their registration each time.
Sending application email
The cfmail operation builds SMTP messages using application variables, query results or server files. Mail-server settings in the Administrator determine the server used to send them. This lets application code turn its data into outgoing messages alongside its page and service output.
Generating PDF reports
ColdFusion can render HTML and CFML content enclosed by cfdocument into a PDF. Query results can supply the report's text and rows. The generated document can be returned to the browser or saved as a file on the server.
Page size, orientation and margins control the printable layout. Document sections can have their own headers and footers, and page-break controls determine where new pages start. Page-count expressions provide running page numbers; named sections can become PDF bookmarks.
Password and permission settings control access to the resulting PDF and allowed document operations. The rendering input needs well-formed HTML. Interactive forms and JavaScript that dynamically changes page elements do not become the corresponding interactive browser content in this output.
Connecting AI models and document retrieval
Configuring model calls
ChatModel connects application code to a chosen language model. Its configuration specifies the provider, model, endpoint and any required API authentication. Developers can also set response randomness, the maximum generated token count and a timeout.
A call supplies prompt messages and returns the model's response for use in the application. The basic chat-model object is stateless: it does not retain a conversation or attach tools automatically. Conversation handling is supplied through additional application or retrieval configuration.
Retrieving context from documents
The simpleRAG service takes documents from files, folders, URLs or a combination of these sources. It loads their content, splits it into segments, creates embeddings and stores those representations in a vector store. A question is matched with relevant segments before the model generates its response.
Developers control segment size and overlap, the minimum similarity score and the number of retrieved results. These choices determine how much source material reaches the model. The embedding configuration must remain consistent between indexing documents and searching them.
The ask operation handles an independent question. The chat operation can retain a configured window of recent messages so later questions have conversation context. Indexing statistics show how many documents and segments were processed and whether ingestion completed.
The default vector store holds its index in memory and loses it when the application restarts. A persistent store retains the index across restarts. The model and storage selections therefore affect both how responses are produced and how the application's document collection is retained.
Managing server requests and scheduled work
Runtime settings and debugging
ColdFusion Administrator is the web interface for managing database connections, mail settings and directory mappings. Mappings connect application paths with physical server directories. Many Administrator operations are also available through an API made up of CFC methods.
Request timeouts set how long code may run before ColdFusion terminates the request. Concurrency controls limit how many requests run together, with excess requests waiting in a queue. Queue timeouts limit how long those waiting requests remain pending.
Debugging controls select the information shown about CFML page processing and the IP addresses allowed to receive it. This separates diagnostic output from the responses delivered to other visitors.
Executing scheduled pages
The scheduler invokes a selected ColdFusion page once, at recurring times or at a chosen interval. The target can be a local page or an authorized page on another ColdFusion server. Tasks can be paused and resumed, and the scheduler logs execution status.
A task can save its generated output to a file. Scheduled publishing allows text and log filenames by default; other extensions need configured permission. Application-specific tasks are created through code, while the Administrator can pause, resume or delete them.
Managing Enterprise instances and clusters
Enterprise includes managers for multiple server instances and clusters. A cluster groups instances containing the same ColdFusion application. Its settings control which instances participate and how their sessions are handled.
Sticky sessions keep later requests from a client assigned to the instance handling that session. Session replication propagates session-variable changes between cluster members. These controls use JEE sessions on the participating instances.
Standard, Enterprise and development editions
The editions differ in production licensing and server-management capabilities.
| Edition | Use and capabilities |
|---|---|
| Standard | Paid production edition with core CFML applications, database access, AI model integration and document retrieval. Request tuning adjusts the CFML page-request limit. |
| Enterprise | Paid production edition adding multiple instances, clustering, EAR/WAR deployment to JEE application servers and independent tuning for different request types. It also adds enterprise database drivers, the high-scalability mail engine and chained, application-specific and clustered scheduled tasks. |
| Developer | Free, full-featured server for development use only. It provides a local environment for building applications and excludes production deployment. |
| Trial | Evaluation access to Enterprise functions. After the evaluation period, it becomes Developer edition unless a production licence is applied. |
Standard restricts the asynchronous CFML gateway, PDF-file generation from HTML, PDF form processing and PDF document manipulation to one shared simultaneous request. Enterprise provides full access to that group. A separate HTML-to-PDF function is supported in both paid editions.
