The ColdFusion 4.0 Web Application Construction Kit [Paperback]

Ben Forta (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 078971809X | ISBN-13: 978-0789718099 | Publication Date: December 23, 1998 | Edition: 3rd

An all-in-one kit that provides you with everything you need to create Web-based applications using the latest version of Allaire Corporation's ColdFusion. From the basics of application design to session state management, from database fundamentals to real-time credit card verification and authorization, from dynamic SQL generation to Java enhanced forms, this book contains everything you to need to get up and running in record time. Included on the CD-ROM are evaluation versions of ColdFusion and ColdFusion Studio, complete source code listings, sample applications, and add-on applications and utilities. -This 3rd edition of this highly successful book has been updated to cover recent enhancements to both the ColdFusion Application Server and the ColdFusion Studio development environment. -For coverage of advanced ColdFusion see our other ColdFusion book, "Advanced ColdFusion 4 Application Development", ISBN 0789718103.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Using Allaire's ColdFusion 4, the newest version of this popular Web server and development environment, requires careful guidance. Ben Forta has been writing the best ColdFusion instruction and reference books for years, and this latest edition of The ColdFusion 4.0 Web Application Construction Kit is the finest guide to date.

Using ColdFusion to its full potential requires a fairly broad knowledge base, which Forta helps you develop. He begins with simple database-query applications and moves on to full-featured electronic-commerce systems. He includes instructions for using the ColdFusion tools, of course, but you'll also discover tutorials and references on the ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), SQL, and the Verity search language. Even if you've never used any language other than HTML, you'll feel comfortable learning from this book.

The illustrative examples in The ColdFusion 4.0 Web Application Construction Kit really shine. Whether you want to know how to perform a three-table join, cache queries, or do any of hundreds of other tasks, there's a code listing for you in these pages. You'll also find some plug-and-play applications, including an online store that's ready for customization and deployment. All examples appear on the companion CD-ROM with evaluation versions of ColdFusion Studio and ColdFusion Server. --David Wall

From the Back Cover

An all-in-one kit that provides you with everything you need to create Web-based applications using the latest version of Allaire Corporation's ColdFusion. From the basics of application design to session state management, from database fundamentals to real-time credit card verification and authorization, from dynamic SQL generation to Java enhanced forms, this book contains everything you to need to get up and running in record time. Included on the CD-ROM are evaluation versions of ColdFusion and ColdFusion Studio, complete source code listings, sample applications, and add-on applications and utilities. -This 3rd edition of this highly successful book has been updated to cover recent enhancements to both the ColdFusion Application Server and the ColdFusion Studio development environment. -For coverage of advanced ColdFusion see our other ColdFusion book, "Advanced ColdFusion 4 Application Development", ISBN 0789718103.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 1032 pages
• Publisher: Que; 3rd edition (December 23, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078971809X
• ISBN-13: 978-0789718099
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (125 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,027,128 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ben Forta is Adobe Inc.'s Senior Technical Evangelist, and has over two decades of experience in the computer industry in product development, support, training, and marketing. Ben is the author of the best-selling ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit and its sequel Advanced ColdFusion Application Development, as well as books on SQL, Regular Expressions, JavaServer Pages, WAP, Windows development, and more. Over 1/2 million Ben Forta books have been printed in a dozen languages worldwide. Ben co-authored the official ColdFusion training material, as well as the certification tests and official study guides for those tests, writes regular columns on ColdFusion and Internet development, and now spends a considerable amount of time lecturing and speaking on application development worldwide.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book rocks., February 20, 2000

By 

Kuleen Bharadwaj (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The ColdFusion 4.0 Web Application Construction Kit (Paperback)

I needed to get a web-database solution up with a tight deadline. I was a newbie to web-development although I had VC++, C experience prior to this. After searching extensively through web-database discussion forums and considering suggestions from people involved in rapid applications development for the web, I chose ColdFusion as my development tool. And the search for the perfect book began.

And with this book it ended. This book will hold your hand and walk you through the creation of fantastic web solutions with all the functionality that you can dream of. (A few topics such as performance tuning, advanced security etc. are only covered in the Advanced version of this book.) What I really liked about Ben's style is his real-world approach and his ability to cater to all sorts of novices. This book will give a reasonable primer on databases and will show you how to create your own databases in Access and then use ColdFusion to display the data on the web. It will show you how to use ColdFusion, forms and SQL statements to execute awesomely powerful database queries. It will show you how to use more complex SQL querying techniques. It will show you how to use ColdFusion in the way it is supposed to be used. It will show you how to use the treasure-trove of ColdFusion tags that will make web-development child's play. It is absolutely loaded with code samples and detailed explanations of all the code so that you will be able to very quickly modify them for your own purposes.

If you are wondering about how long it will take you get up and running if you have hardly any development experience - if you buy absolutely no other books aside from this one, read it carefully and modify the sample code for your own purposes, you will be able to develop a web-solution that integrates with a backend database, executes powerful queries, enables updates, adds e-mail functionality, login security, ensures design consistency and ensures client-state persistency, within a week. Give yourself an additional week and you will be able to develop complete shopping cart applications and whatever else you can dream up. And no, I am not exaggerating.

Web-development is no rocket science, ColdFusion will show you why. It has brought beaming smiles to the faces of thousands of developers, novices as well as gurus, and if you buy this book, you too will be grinnning from ear-to-ear.

Ben, thanks a zillion!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Because of this book, Allaire just got another customer!, December 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The ColdFusion 4.0 Web Application Construction Kit (Paperback)

I received this book at 11 a.m. yesterday, and I had my database search up and running at 9 p.m. last night. I am by no means any kind of programmer except for the semester of BASIC I took in high school (15 years ago). I am, however, a technical writer, instructor, and consultant, who wishes she had majored in Computer Science instead of Journalism. This book is BY FAR the best instructional book I have read about setting up a database and working with the data over the internet. It doesn't assume that the reader knows much of anything about SQL, Access, and, of course, ColdFusion. I highly recommend this book to novices who are trying to learn ColdFusion and develop databases on the Internet...after all, if I can do it, anyone can!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost all you need to know about Cold Fusion, January 2, 2000

By 

John (Missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The ColdFusion 4.0 Web Application Construction Kit (Paperback)

Besides the plethora of typos scattered throughout, this book covers a basic understanding of ColdFusion, but doesn't spend NEARLY enough time on client & session variables. The section on creating your own CF tags is also very sketchy. These two concepts are crucial to developing complex data-driven websites in ColdFusion--yet they aren't covered very well in this book. If you're just starting out with ColdFusion, SQL or databases, this is a great book. If you're looking for more advanced topics, you might want to pick up another book to accompany this one.