This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Data and Services
The Data and Services section of the ColdFusion Administrator contains pages that let you create, edit, and delete data sources and Verity full-text search collections. You can also create aliases for Web Services.
The Data Sources Page
The Data Sources page provides tools to manage the list of data sources available to ColdFusion. Any data source listed here can be used as the data source attribute of a <cfquery> (or <cfinsert>, <cfupdate>, <cfgridupdate>, or <cfstoredproc>) tag.
To define a new data source, specify the name, select the data source type from the drop-down list, click the Add button, and then specify the database specific options as requested.
The Data Sources page is also used to verify that data sources are working. Click the Verify All Connections button to verify all data sources, or click the green check button for a specific data source to validate it alone.
The ColdFusion Collections Page
ColdFusion features an integrated Verity/Solr full-text search engine. CFML includes three tags related to Verity/Solr: <cfsearh>, <cfindex>, and <cfcollection>. All three tags have a collection attribute, which refers to what Verity/Solr calls a collection. A collection is to Verity/Solr as data sources are to databases: it's a name that you can use to refer to or search a particular set of data.
See Chapter 35, "Full-Text Searching," to learn about ColdFusion's integrated full-text search engine.
Add New Verity Collections
To create a collection, simply provide a name for the new collection and click the Create Collection button. By default, the new collection will be created in the /verity/collections folder under the ColdFusion root; if you want the collection files to be kept somewhere else, you can specify the location in the Path field.
Verity Collections
To delete a collection, click the Delete Collection icon for the collection in the Connected Local Connections list.
Next to each listed collection are four buttons (from left to right):
- Index Collection re-indexes a collection.
- Optimize Collection performs optimization on the collection to improve performance (this is generally used for collections that are being constantly updated).
- Purge Collection empties a collection.
- Delete Collection deletes a collection completely.
The Verity K2 Server Page
Verity support is provided by the Verity K2 engine, which must be running for you to use any Verity functionality (Verity can also be installed on a separate host). By default, ColdFusion uses a local K2 server, but an alternate server can be specified in this screen if required. Settings such as the name, path, and language and whether to enable the collection can be edited here.
The Solr Server Page
ColdFusion now supports Solr. Solr is based on, and extends, the Apache Lucene Java search library. Apache Lucene is a free open source project. From this screen, you can configure the Solr server's host name and home directory and the option to migrate from Verity to Solr. For more information about searching, see Chapter 35.
Migrate Verity Collections
As just mentioned, ColdFusion 9 introduced Solr as an alternative for full-text search support. If you have existing Verity collections, you can use the Migrate Verity Collections option to migrate them for use with Solr. For more information about searching, see Chapter 35.
The Web Services Page
ColdFusion allows you to use (consume) Web Services via the <cfinvoke> or <cfobject> tag, or via the CreateObject() function. You can use the Web Services page to create aliases for the Web Services that you plan to use. You can then use the alias name instead of providing the full URL for the Web Service in every <cfinvoke> tag. If the Web Service requires a username and password, they can be associated with the alias as well, which means that the username and password don't have to appear in your ColdFusion code at all.
To create an alias for a Web Service, enter the alias in the Web Service Name field. Provide the URL for the service's WSDL description in the WDSL URL field (if the service requires a username and password, enter them as well), then click the Add Web Service button. The new alias will appear in the Active ColdFusion Services list at the bottom of the page. You can now use the alias name as the Webservice attribute for <cfinvoke>, <cfobject>, or CreateObject() where you would normally need to provide the complete WSDL URL. Another common use for this page is to clear the cached version of Web Services that have been automatically registered.
The Flex Integration Page
ColdFusion can be used as a powerful backend for Flash and Flex applications, as well as for applications powered by LiveCycle Data Services.
See Chapters 31, "Integrating with Adobe Flex," and 33, "Building ColdFusion-Powered AIR Applications," to learn about ColdFusion and Adobe AIR and Flex integration.
Enable Flash Remoting support
To allow ColdFusion Components to be accessed via Flash Remoting, check this box.
Enable Remote Adobe LiveCycle Data Management Access
ColdFusion features an integrated Adobe LiveCycle Data Services server (if that option was selected during installation). Usually this integrated server will be sufficient for ColdFusion integration. However, if you need to connect ColdFusion to an external (or remote) LiveCycle Data Services server, check this box (and specify the server identity).
Enable RMI over SSL for Data Management
RMI is used for communication between ColdFusion and external LiveCycle Data Services servers. To secure this connection, check this box and provide the key information as required.
Select IP Addresses Where LiveCycle Data Services Are Running
To secure communication between ColdFusion and external LiveCycle Data Services servers, you can specify the IP addresses of those servers allowed to connect to ColdFusion. If any IP addresses are specified, any connections not listed will be refused.