ColdFusion Markup Language
The ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) provides more than 70 tags and 200 functions for database integration, SMTP and POP support, COM support, and programming constructs like conditional processing and looping.

Coding for ColdFusion pages is much more straightforward and intelligible than JavaScript, VBScript, C++ or Java, even while providing high levels of functionality. The tags themselves conform to the basic HTML syntax of tag name followed by tag attributes, and are enclosed in the familiar HTML brackets (<>). Most tags are two-sided, and can be combined with each other and with HTML elements to create custom tags for use in ColdFusion applications. Many of the ColdFusion sites listed in the Web Research Sites offer custom tags that can be cut and pasted into CFML pages.


Typical CFML Tags

<CFIF>, <CFELSE>, <CFSWITCH>

These tags control application processing flow with conditional logic.

<CFSET>

This tag declares a variable and its values.

<CFOUTPUT>

This tag determines which data is displayed on the page, and how it will be presented.

<CFQUERY>

This tag passes SQL (Sequential Query Language) to open database sources, and returns a result for processing, usually through use of the <CFOUTPUT> tag.

<CFMAIL>

This tag allows ColdFusion applications to generate messages to an SMTP server for distribution.

<CFTABLE>, <CFCOL>

These tags are used to create either HTML or preformatted text tables.

For actual CFML coding examples, please see Sample Applications.