Web Design And Development

Cold Fusion Queries

There isn't much point in having a database if you can't find the information in it. Cold Fusion query capabilities provide you with a solution.

Queries, simply put, are instructions to your database telling it what kind of information you want it to give you. If you have student records, you may want it to present only third year students with a cumulative grade point average of 3.6 or more. Or if you have a database with information about your clients, you may want to have the computer find all of the clients who haven't purchased anything for the last six months.

What does a ColdFusion Query Capability do for you?

There are three things user has to be able to do in order to effectively implement a web-based database in their business or activity. She must be able to display her information in HTML tables, formatting has to be applied to individual data items, and she must be able to build search interfaces that are flexible.

The Cold Fusion Query and HTML Tables

Cold Fusion can easily a quickly provide an HTML display of the results of a Cold Fusion query through the use of "cfoutput" tag and the "ht" and "tr" tags in the page coding. These tags, simple to insert in the HTML page coding, provide tables with labeled rows and columns. The result is a web presentation that is easily understood by the readers.

Additionally, a ColdFusion query can be graphed dynamically. That is, the graphs can be tied directly to the query results. As the query changes, the numbers fed into the graph change, providing you with a different graph with synchronized labeling.

Individual Data Item Formatting

More detail about an item (associated dates, numeric values, etc) provides greater specificity in the query results. Cold Fusion query capabilities provide the ability to collect and query against this data. This information can then be used in the graphing capability.

Flexible Search Interfaces

In order to be used, any query system must be flexible. Searches by the users should require little or no programming skills. Yet the results should still be meaningful and useful to the person making the query. A Cold Fusion query provides this ease of use.

Readable tables and reports along with clear tables, not just indecipherable rows and columns of information, can be created and, using Flash technology, presented to users over the net, to their phones, or to their wireless PDAs.

Understandable information that is readily available is powerful information. And the Cold Fusion query capability provides that power.

Article Published: Monday 22nd January 2007