ColdFusion is a programming language based on standard HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). It is a database application development tool that provides a way for a database to have a Web interface. Using Coldfusion, the database can then be queried and updated using a Web browser. ColdFusion is used to write dynamic webpages. It lets you create pages dynamically based on user input, database lookups, time of day or almost any criteria you can determine.

Using ColdFusion, you can develop an enormous range of functionality which is not possible either in static Web sites or in traditional client/server applications. ColdFusion applications include the server-side ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) in addition to HTML. CFML gives you control of your applications. It integrates a wide range of server technologies and dynamically generates the content that is returned to the Web browser.

When a page is requested by a browser, it is automatically pre-processed by the ColdFusion Application Server. Based on the CFML in the page, the Application Server executes the application logic, interacts with other server technologies, and then dynamically generates an HTML page which is returned to the browser.

The following ColdFusion tutorials will help to develop an understanding of ColdFusion, its use and benefits.

Command	Description
cfabort	Stops the processing of a ColdFusion page at the tag location. ColdFusion returns everything that was processed before the tag. The tag is often used with conditional logic to stop processing a page when a condition occurs. For example if some required form fields are missing on a dynamic page you can stop include an error page then use the cfabort tag to stop the rest of the page from executing.
cfapplet	This tag is used to add a registered custom Java applet to your page. To register a Java applet, in the ColdFusion Administrator, click Extensions > Java Applets. Using this tag within a cfform tag is optional. If you use it within cfform, and the method attribute is defined in the Administrator, the return value is incorporated into the form.
cfapplication	Defines the scope of a ColdFusion application; enables and disables storage of Client variables; specifies the Client variable storage mechanism; enables Session variables; and sets Application variable timeouts. This tag is the basis for the ColdFusion sessionmanagement system.
cfargument	Creates a parameter definition within a component definition and defines a function argument. Used this tag within a cffunction tag.
cfassociate	Used within custom tags to allow subtag data to be saved within a base tag.
cfbreak	Used within a cfloop tag to break out of the loop early. After the cfbreak tag is read the code will continue running after the end of the cfloop. Use cfabort if you need to exit the entire script.
cfcache	The cfcache tag takes dynamic content created by your page and stores it to a static file. This can greatly increase the speed of the retrieval for those pages that do not need continuous dynamic content. When a visitor requests the page they will get the static copy until you flush the cache or the time limit runs out when the page will be recreated.
cfcase	The cfcase tag is used exclusively within the cfcase tag. Each cfcase represents one of the possible values of the switch variable and allows you to specify code blocks to run with each.
cfcatch	The cfcatch tag is used in conjunction with the cftry to tag catch exceptions in your code such as failed databse operations and missing files. These tags work to let you handle errors in a custom manner rather than allowing the entire script to stop.
cfchart	The cfchart tag is, as the name implies, to create and display a chart on your webpage. There are numerous attributes that allow you to control many features of your chart and it's display properties.
cfchartdata	The cfchartdata tag is used with the cfchart tag to create and display charts on your coldfusion pages. The chartdata tag specfies the data points within you chart. The tag takes two simple attributes, item and value, shown below.
cfchartseries	The cfchartseries tag is another tag used within cfchart to create and display charts on your coldfusion pages. The cfchartseries tag specifies the type of chart to display and it's configuration. Some of the chart types which can be set by the tags type attribute are: bar, line, pyramid, area, cone, curve, cylinder, step, scatter, and pie.
cfcol	The cfcol tag is used to specify a table column header, it's width and alignment, and text type to be used. The cfcol tag should always be used within a cftable tag.
cfcollection	The cfcollection tag is used to create and administer verity collections on your site. Collection are a way to organzie and store data where it can be searched. The process is something similiar to what a search engine provides only on a much smaller scale. With this tag you would use the cfsearch tag to search the data and the cfindex tag to add additional data sources.
cfcomponent	The cfcomponent tag is an attempt by macromedia to approach the segmentation of ColdFusion in a way similiar to Obect Oriented Programming in a standard high level language. The cfcomponent tag can enclose one or more cffunction tags that can be called when the method is invoked. Like classes, one cfcomponent can extend another.
cfcontent	The cfcontent tag is used to set the mime type for the content you are sending and/or to specify a file to send to the user. The default mime type is text/html with UTF-8 encoding.
cfcookie	The cfcookie tag is used to create, set, and delete cookies from a users computer. You can use different options to set security details and an expiration date. Setting a cookies expiration date to 'now' will delete the it from the users computer. Leaving the expires attribute blank will cause the cookie to be destroyed when the browser is closed.
cfdefaultcase	The cfdefaultcase is used exclusively within the cfswitch tag to set a default choice for the switch statement. If the value of the switch variabe does not match any of the express cases then the code behind the defaultcase tag will be run. The tag does not take any attributes, you simply place the default code to run between the open and closing tags.
cfdirectory	Use this tag to manage your directories from ColdFusion. The action attribute can be set to let you view files in a specified directory or rename, create or delete an entire directory.
cfdump	Outputs critical information about most ColdFusion objects including values variables, and elements. Use this tag when you are debugging your code to let you know what is going on with your script.
cfelse	The cfelse tag is used within a cfif to specify an action to take in the event that all if and elseif cases prove to be false. The tag does not use an end tag and should be placed after all elsif's within the cfif block.
cfelseif	The cfelseif tag is used within a cfif block. If the initial conditions set in the tag are not met you can use a cfelseif to try another set. You may add as many of these tags as you would like within your cfif. If you want to specify some default action to take if none of the cfif's or elseif's are true you should use the cfelse tag.
cferror	The cferror tag is used to set a standard look and feel for error pages on your site. When the cferror tag is triggered it opens an error template and provides the user an error message and can also be set to notify the site administrator via email.
cfexecute	Use this tag to execute a file on your server. The tag allows you to specify command line arguments and returns the output from the execution.
cfexit	The cfexit tag is used to stop processing of cfml commands within a custom tag or template with no further action taken and no return values.
cffile	The cffile tag is used to access and manipulate files on the web server. Common uses involve handling file uploads and keeping text logs. Use the action attribute of the command to move, copy, delete, or rename files. This tag may be disabled in ColdFusion administrator so if you're having problems getting it to work you may want to contact your server administrator.
cfflush	Use the CFFlush tag to ouput a portion of data to a visitor to your site. Each CFFlush tag will send the current information ahead to the web browser prior to processing additional commands. You might want to use the feature with very large, processor intensive pages to get the user started downloading quickly.
cfform	Use the CFForm tag to create web forms using ColdFusion. ColdFusion forms allow for extended functionality including the ability to quickly and easily validate user input to your standard HTML forms.
cfformgroup	Use the CFFormGroup container inside your Flash or XML page to differentiate groups of controls. Standard HTML does not render this tag.
cfformitem	Use the CFFormItem tag to add horizontal or vertical lines, spaces, or text to your dynamic Flash or XML pages. Normal HTML rendering will ignore this tag.
cfftp	Use the CFFTP tag to allow interaction with an File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server. The tag has many uses including opening and closing connections to servers and creating, moving, renaming, and deleting files and folders once their.
cffunction	Use the CFFunction tag to allow interaction with an File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server. The tag has many uses including opening and closing connections to servers and creating, moving, renaming, and deleting files and folders once there.
cfgrid	The ColdFusion CFGrid tag allows you to create a grid of data from a query or other data source similiar to what you might see in a spreadsheet. You can specify data in rows and columns and the grid can be set to allow editing, sorting, and manipulation of the data which can then be saved.
cfgridcolumn	Use the CFGridColumn tag on inside a CFGrid tag to define a column in your grid.
cfgridrow	Use the CFGridRow tag inside a CFGrid tag to define the data in a row in your grid. If you are using a query to populate your grid this tag will be ignored.
cfgridupdate	The CFGridUpdate tag unleashes one of the powerful features of CFGrid, the ability to edit and save your changes on the web server. Send your grid to gridupdate to make changes directly to the database or other datasource.