Configuring ColdFusion 8 with Apache

Friday, 16th November 2007 in Development by Simon | 4 comments

After installing ColdFusion 8 and Apache successfully you may still see an “HTTP 500 Internal Server Error” when navigating to a ColdFusion page. All is not lost, you simply need to configure, or check the configuration of Apache.

Apache requires very little post installation modification, but it is always good practice to check the httpd.conf file to ensure that the ColdFusion “install” scripts did what they were supposed to do.

If you haven’t confirmed that Apache is running, open your browser and point it to http://localhost/ (unless you specified a real URL during installation). You should see the Apache test page. If you see an error, review the Apache installation steps to make sure you followed all the steps correctly, and/or check your log files for more detailed errors.

Now we know Apache is running, but how about ColdFusion? Point your browser to the ColdFusion Administrator found commonly at http://localhost/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm and see what happens. One of three possible failures could occur:

  1. Your browser prompts you to save the .cfm file to your computer. There a couple of possible resolutions to this. Firstly restart the Apache service. If this does not resolve the issue you will need to check the httpd.conf file to ensure that the ColdFusion module is being loaded. The file can typically be found in the C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\conf\ directory.
    Make sure that the DirectoryIndex has a reference to the index.cfm file (i.e. the default file):Apache dir_module DeclarationEnsure that the LoadModule jrun_module "C:/ColdFusion8/runtime/lib/wsconfig/1/mod_jrun22.so" is also present:

    Apache JRun Settings

    If you need to edit this file, restart the Apache service after you have saved the changes.

  2. You get a message that the CFIDE folder cannot be found. This is more likely to be a problem with where you placed the ColdFusion application during install. The default location is in the Apache directory (C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs), so check in the http.conf file to ensure the DocumentRoot is pointing correctly. Alternatively, copy this folder to your localhost webroot (e.g. C:\WebRoot) ensuring that the DocumentRoot points to your webroot (see the yellow box in the second screen-shot).
  3. You get another message which probably means that you need to reinstall ColdFusion, and/or Apache!

And that is it, you can start using ColdFusion and developing applications.

Installing ColdFusion 8 on Vista

Monday, 12th November 2007 in Development by Simon | 12 comments

A few months ago I posted an article on Installing Apache on Vista, and it proved to be extremely popular. It appears that I was not the only one who found it a non trivial matter.

Now it is the turn of ColdFusion 8. ColdFusion 8 as we well know is the latest and greatest incarnation of the ColdFusion platform from Adobe. It has a lot of great new features such as cfimage, cfzip, cfexchange, some contentious features such as cfthread and cfinterface, and some not-so-necessarily-cool new “Web 2.0″ features such as cffeed and cfajax. But since this article isn’t about any of these, I better stick to the topic.

Like my article on installing Apache, installing ColdFusion on Vista is again not a trivial matter and involves only what can colloquially described as a “shed load of steps”. I’m probably being a little harsh towards ColdFusion as many of the problems I encountered were more closely related to Apache than ColdFusion.

NB: This article will assume that you have pre-installed Apache (although you could use IIS if so compelled), turned off Vista’s User Account Control (UAC), disabled any firewalls you have installed and finally, but most importantly, you have downloaded ColdFusion from the Adobe website.

Let us begin.

  1. Find where you downloaded your copy of the ColdFusion Installer. Right-click on the executable file and specify to “Run as Administrator”. The installer should start and you should see the screenshot below. Select “English”, or which ever your language preference is, and Click “OK”.

    1. ColdFusion Installer

  2. The ColdFusion Installation progress screen may or may not be briefly displayed.

    2. ColdFusion Installation Progress

  3. The Introduction screen will be displayed. Click “Next”.

    3. Introduction Screen

  4. The License Agreement screen will then be displayed. Agree to the “I accept the terms of the License Agreement” and Click “Next”.

    4. License Agreement

  5. The Install Type screen is then displayed. You don’t need to enter a serial number unless you are installing this into a production environment. Check “Developer Edition” and Click “Next”.

    5. Install Type

  6. The Installer Configuration screen should be displayed. Since we already have Apache 2.x installed as our web server (if you want to use IIS, you will need to skip steps 11.1 and 11.2), check “Server configuration” and Click “Next”.

    6. Installer Configuration

  7. The Sub-component Installation screen should be displayed. This is one of the noticeable changes from version 7 to version 8 of ColdFusion. Hovering your mouse over each sub-component will describe in more detail what each sub-component does. If you plan to integrate .NET (especially with WebServices) or carry out Flex development then make sure that the “.NET Integration Services” and “LiveCycle Data Services” items are checked. For simplicities sake, check everything and Click “Next”.

    7. Sub-component Installation

  8. The Select Installation Directory screen should be displayed. The default directory for a Serverconfiguration will be “C:\ColdFusion8″ on a Windows machine. Click “Next” to continue.

    8. Select Installation Directory

  9. As you have chosen to install LiveCycle Data Services, you will need to agree to a further Licence Agreement screen. Click “Next”.

    9. Licence Agreement (LiveCycle Data Services)

  10. The Adobe Livecycle Data Services ES Installation screen is displayed. You will need to enter a serial number into this screen for production environments. Since I am going to assume a development environment, simply click “Next”.

    10. Adobe Livecycle Data Services ES Installation

  11. The Configure Web Servers / Websites screen should be displayed. This is the point where we want to connect ColdFusion with Apache. By default “Configure web server connector for ColdFusion” is checked. We need to add Apache so Click “Add”.

    11. Configure Web Servers / Websites

    1. The Add Web Server Configuration screen is displayed, choose Apache from the drop-down.
    2. Add the relevant Apache directory paths, e.g.:

      11-2. Add Web Server Configuration (Directory Paths)

      1. The Configuration Directory C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\conf
      2. The Server Binary Directory C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\bin\httpd.exe
  12. The Review Configured Web Server screen is then displayed. If all the settings are correct, click “Next”.

    12. Review Configured Web Server

  13. The Choose Adobe ColdFusion 8 Administrator Location screen should be displayed. Since we are using Apache for our web server then the default Directory should be pointing to C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs. You can alternatively point this to C:\WebRoot or wherever you have set up your web project files. Select “Next”.

    13. Choose Adobe ColdFusion 8 Administrator Location

  14. The Adminstrator Password screen is then displayed, prompting for a password. Enter one, remember it (!!) and click “Next”.

    14. Adminstrator Password

  15. The Enable RDS & Password screen is then displayed. If you want to use this, check the box and provide an additional password. Don’t use RDS in a production environment. Click “Next”.

    15. Enable RDS & Password

  16. The Pre-Installation Summary screen is then displayed, detailing your configuration. This is your last chance to go back and make changes. If everything is OK, click “Install”.

    16. Pre-Installation Summary

  17. The Installing Adobe ColdFusion 8 screen is then displayed, showing a host of marketing messages.

    17. Installing Adobe ColdFusion 8

  18. The Please Wait screen is displayed, and be prepared to wait!

    18. Please Wait

  19. The Installation Complete screen is finally displayed and indeed the installation is complete. Now for the configuration! Click “Done”.

    19. Installation Complete

  20. Configuration and Settings Migration Wizard. Open up a browser and enter the url http://localhost/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm to begin the ColdFusion 8 Configuration and Settings Migration Wizard. Enter your password and Click “Login”.

    20. Configuration and Settings Migration Wizard

  21. ColdFusion will now begin Configuring Server, which could take any number of minutes to complete.

    21. Configuring Server

  22. Once the Configuration Complete is displayed, you can login to the ColdFusion Administrator and start working, or playing, with the new interface, settings and Server Monitor.

    22. Configuration Complete

So, that only 22 steps! That may be the longest installation process you may go through, but the power now at your finger tips to produce hugely interactive websites is a compelling reason why to choose this version of ColdFusion, or indeed ColdFusion over other products.

Eliminating Whitespace in ColdFusion

Friday, 26th October 2007 in Development by Simon | 10 comments

ColdFusion has never satisfactorily removed whitespace from generated content, however, removing this whitespace can dramatically improve your website’s performance. Take a 100KB page for example. If 20% of the page is made up of whitespace, that is 20% that is unneccessary and 20% bandwidth cost that can be saved.

Currently there are two main ways a ColdFusion developer can prevent whitespace; via the ColdFusion Administrator and by including certain tags in their code:

1. ColdFusion Administrator

Under the Server Settings > Settings menu item there is a checkbox called ‘Enable Whitespace Management’. This checkbox should always be checked. According to the description, checking this checkbox “reduces the file size of the pages that ColdFusion returns to the browser by removing many of the extra spaces, tabs, and carriage returns that ColdFusion might otherwise persist from the CFML source file.” I am yet to be convinced, but it is worthwhile enabling it.

2. ColdFusion Tags

<cfsetting enablecfoutputonly="true"></cfsetting>

The cfsetting tag controls aspects of page processing, such as the output of HTML code in pages (inside and outside the cfsetting tag body). If enablecfoutputonly is set to true, HTML output is blocked if it is not wrapped in a cfoutput tag. Therefore, this tag ‘can’ be used to minimise the amount of generated whitespace.

<cfsilent></cfsilent>

The cfsilent tag supresses output produced by CFML within a tag’s scope. Therefore, you simply need to wrap the tag around anything you don’t want to output to the browser. As it does not return anything from with in it, so you have to be a little be careful when debugging.

<cfprocessingdirective supresswhitespace="true"></cfprocessingdirective>

One of the cfprocessingdirective’s purposes is to remove excess whitespace from ColdFusion generated content in the tag body. However, it does not affect any whitespace in HTML code. You can nest the tags and toggle supresswhitespace on and off, not that I ever identify a good reason to do so.

But there is a little known third way, using a servlet filter called Trim Filter.

Servlet filters are tools available to web application developers. They are designed to be able to manipulate a request and response (or both) that is sent to a web application.

Trim Filter lets you decrease the size of file your server will send to all clients. The filter removes extra spaces and line breaks from outputted documents. This can be especially useful for WAP/WML developers working with mobile devices, where the size for transferred documents is limited.

Setting up the servlet filter in ColdFusion

Using the Trim Filter servlet filter found at the following URL:

http://www.servletsuite.com/servlets/trimflt.htm

  • Download the trimflt.jar
  • Save trimflt.jar in the WEB-INF/lib folder in the ColdFusion Server wwwroot.
  • Edit the web.xml file in the WEB-INF folder in the ColdFusion Server wwwroot with the following code:

Trim Filter

  • Restart the ColdFusion Service

And now, when a ColdFusion page is invoked, the whitespace is suppressed and wow does it do a good job.

Poor Man’s HTTP Compression with ColdFusion

Saturday, 17th March 2007 in Development by Simon | 8 comments

An interesting article I read in the CFDJ recently was entitled Poor Man’s HTTP Compression with ColdFusion. Almost every web application will benefit from the compression of content. A compression filter optimises the size of the content that is sent from a webserver to a web browser via the Internet. Since generating content and serving pages via the World Wide Web is the core behind web applications, it is simple components that aid these processes that are incredibly useful. This is where servlet filters come into play.

Servlet filters are tools available to web application developers. They are designed to be able to manipulate the request and responses that are sent to a web application, without manipulating the servlets, static pages like HTML and, in this case, CFM pages that are being used by the web application (unless of course that is the desired response). Servlet filters act like a chain of steps that a request and response must go through before reaching the page in the application.

Compressing Content Using a Servlet Filter

Compression is a process that reduces the number of bytes required to define a document in order to save disk space or transmission time. It is extremely useful for sending information across the web, because the speed at which people receive information from a web application is dependent upon how much data you are trying to send. The smaller the amount of information that is to be sent, the faster it can be sent. Therefore, compression and the associated responsiveness is a key component to retaining users and generating revenue from those retained users.

Compression can be effectively achieved by having a servlet filter conditionally pipe the produced content to a GZip-compressed file. GZip is supported by the HTTP protocol and almost all modern browsers (hence the servlet filter conditionally compresses the content).

GZip compression usually results in a 6:1 compression ratio, although this depends on how much content is being sent and what the content is.

Setting up the Servlet Filter in ColdFusion

Using the ColdBeans servlet filter found at the following URL:

http://www.servletsuite.com/servlets/gzipflt.htm

  • Download the GZipFilter.jar
  • Save GZipFilter.jar in the WEB-INF/lib folder in the ColdFusion Server wwwroot.
  • Edit the web.xml file in the WEB-INF folder in the ColdFusion Server wwwroot with the following code: 
    <filter>
<filter-name>GzipFilter</filter-name>
<filter-class>com.cj.gzipflt.GzipFilter</filter-class>
</filter>
<filter-mapping>
<filter-name>GzipFilter</filter-name>
<url-pattern>*.cfm</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>
  • Restart the ColdFusion Service

Now, when you invoke any .cfm page the GzipFilter will check out client’s browser settings. If the browser does not support gzip, the filter invokes resource normally. If the browser does support gzip, output will be compressed.

Coldfusion MX Tuning

Thursday, 6th April 2006 in Development by Simon | No comments

For many ColdFusion developers, server setup, tuning, troubleshooting and configuration is one of the least understood areas of ColdFusion. Achieving the highest possible performance and scalability with a ColdFusion MX application is a complex combination of many different factors. Standard performance tuning guidelines in conjunction with the tips provided below should allow you to achieve maximum application performance and scalability.

Performance refers to the response time of requests to CFML pages and Components (CFCs), whilst scalability refers to how the performance results change when the load on the server increases.

Factors Affecting Performance

  • Hardware and software configuration
  • Database and other external system requests
  • Web server performance
  • CFML application

Macromedia

Sun

Brandon Purcell

Steven Erat

Peter Freitag

Daemon

Others

ColdFusion (CFML) Engines

Monday, 27th March 2006 in Development by Simon | No comments

CFML is the name of the scripting language used by ColdFusion and several alternative server environments. It stands for ColdFusion Markup Language and is similar to HTML in appearance in that it uses tags. CFML is the code that powers ColdFusion, a program available from Adobe (formerly Macromedia), as well as such engines as BlueDragon, IgniteFusion, Railo, Coral Web Builder, DigitalLattice Orange and other web development platforms.

ColdFusion originated as proprietary technology based on Web technology industry standards. However, it is becoming a less closed technology through the availability of competing products. In fact, one could now make the argument that ColdFusion is even less platform bound than say raw J2EE or .NET, simply because ColdFusion will run on top of a .NET app server (New Atlanta), or on top of any J2EE app server (Websphere, JRun, Tomcat, etc.) In theory, you could move a ColdFusion app unchanged from a J2EE app server to a .NET app server.

Currently, alternative server platforms generally support Coldfusion MX 6.1 functionality, with minor changes or feature enhancements.

I have listed some of the alternatives in order of maturity/populrity. However, I will leave it up to you to decide which one is the best and easiest to implement. Please tell me your experiences.

BlueDragon

The BlueDragon Server family of Java-based servers (Server and Server JX) enables the stand-alone deployment of CFML. Both BlueDragon Server versions contain a built-in web server for development and testing, and each integrates with Microsoft IIS, Sun ONE/Netscape/iPlanet (JX only), and Apache web servers for deployment.

BlueDragon offers flexibility for the deployment of ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) pages with native technology platform integration on the operating system, web server and database of your choice.

Visit the New Atlanta website at http://www.newatlanta.com to download the latest version of BlueDragon.

Railo

Railo is a ColdFusion Compiler for translating and executing of ColdFusion based websites. The Compiler translates the ColdFusion code into Java classes which can be executed on a Java server. Railo also comes with a runtime engine, which contains all necessary libraries for the translated code. Railo automatically detects wether to translate a ColdFusion file or when to use the runtime engine. You can compare Railo at best with JSP interfaces. JSP uses an other syntax but the main functionality is almost the same. Because Railo implements most of the JSP interfaces, it is highly compatible to JSP interfaces.

Visit the Railo website at http://www.railo.ch

IgniteFusion

IgniteFusion is a ColdFusion compatible script engine that runs ColdFusion scripts. In addition to Coldfusion CFML compatibility IgniteFusion has functionality that extends Coldfusion. Although in Beta, it is approaching release.

Visit the IgniteFusion website at http://www.ignitefusion.com to download the scripting engine.

Railo – The CFML Engine

Wednesday, 19th October 2005 in Development by Simon | No comments

Railo is a ColdFusion Compiler for translating and executing of ColdFusion based websites. The Compiler translates the ColdFusion code into Java classes which can be executed on a Java server. Railo also comes with a runtime engine, which contains all necessary libraries for the translated code. Railo automatically detects wether to translate a ColdFusion file or when to use the runtime engine. You can compare Railo at best with JSP interfaces. JSP uses an other syntax but the main functionality is almost the same. Because Railo implements most of the JSP interfaces, it is highly compatible to JSP interfaces.

http://www.railo.ch

IgniteFusion – A CFML Script Engine

Wednesday, 19th October 2005 in Development by Simon | No comments

IgniteFusion is a ColdFusion compatible script engine that runs ColdFusion scripts. In addition to Coldfusion CFML compatibility IgniteFusion has functionality that extend Coldfusion.

http://www.ignitefusion.com/

BlueDragon – ColdFusion (CFML) Engine

Wednesday, 19th October 2005 in Development by Simon | No comments

The BlueDragon Server family of Java-based servers (Server and Server JX) enables the stand-alone deployment of CFML. Both BlueDragon Server versions contain a built-in web server for development and testing, and each integrates with Microsoft IIS, Sun ONE/Netscape/iPlanet (JX only), and Apache web servers for deployment.

BlueDragon offers flexibility for the deployment of ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) pages with native technology platform integration on the operating system, web server and database of your choice.

http://www.newatlanta.com

BlueDragon is an alternative CFML engine comparable to Macromedia’s ColdFusion. It is exclusively licensed and distributed by New Atlanta from TagServlet Ltd based out of Scotland. ColdFusion is a proprietary technology based on Web technology industry standards, however, it is becoming a less closed technology through the availability of potentially competing products.

New Atlanta’s BlueDragon product, released in 2002, provides a ColdFusion MX 6.x-compatible platform to run CFML-based applications on a variety of platforms ( Windows, Linux, Mac OS, and more). While ColdFusion MX 7 offers new features not available in BlueDragon, some new features in CFMX 7 have long been in BlueDragon (such as sourceless deployment, server-based deployment on OS X, and more.)

BlueDragon 6.2 is available in four editions: BlueDragon Server and Server JX (similar to ColdFusion Standalone editions), BlueDragon for J2EE Application Servers (BD/J2EE), and BlueDragon for the Microsoft .NET Framework (BD.NET).

The first two editions are standalone servers which run on Windows, Linux, and OS X. With BD/J2EE, CFML applications can be deployed on any J2EE server, enabling integration of CFML and J2EE as enabled in CFMX. BD.NET uniquely extends the .NET framework and IIS to permit deployment of CFML applications as native .NET web applications, offering integration between CFML and ASP.NET that’s not possible with CFMX.

The Server JX, J2EE, and .NET editions of BlueDragon are commercial products which are available as 30 day unlimited trials which convert to a single-IP developer edition with no expiration. Purchase and licensing information is available on the BlueDragon site.

The Server edition, on the other hand, is free for deployment (though not for hosting, redeployment, or (as of the 6.2 release) commercial use. Intended to gain favor with those comparing to other free web application platforms, there are no differences in CFML tags supported in the free Server edition, but it supports only ODBC drivers on Windows (and only MySQL or PostgreSQL on Linux and OS X), it supports only IIS on Windows or Apache on Linux/OS X, and does not support secured (SSL) connections.

None of the limitations of the free Server edition exist in the commercial Server JX, J2EE, or .NET editions.

BlueDragon offers several advantages (tags, functions, and other functionality) not found in ColdFusion. Similarly, there are a few tags and functions found in ColdFusion that are not supported currently in BlueDragon. New Atlanta maintains a complete list of incompatibilities with Macromedia ColdFusion MX in the documentation.

The .NET edition of BlueDragon may indeed be the most compelling edition for many, since it’s something that ColdFusion MX does not support. Designed to run on Microsoft’s .NET platform, BD.NET not only enables CFML applications to leverage the powerful benefits of the .NET platform, it also opens the door to integration between CFML and ASP.NET as well as .NET objects.