(Latest News) Coldfusion 7 MX

Coldfusion MX version 7.

The most significant new features:

Branded, template-driven report generation. These reports can be created as PDF files, Microsoft Excel files or Macromedia FlashPaper documents and can include charts.
On-the fly document conversion.

ColdFusion MX 7 can convert HTML or CFML output to PDF or FlashPaper documents on demand. This feature allows for control of page breaks, document headers and footers, and page numbering.

Skinnable, Flash-based, rich forms. In the past ColdFusion provided a limited set of extended form widgets which were Java applet-based. In ColdFusion MX 7, complete Flash-based forms can be generated and these forms can be skinned by providing transformation rules from XML to HTML.

Improved form validation. Form validation has been enhanced in a number of ways, including validation when a user removes focus from a field (instead of only on submission of a form), a simplified server-based validation implementation, validation of textarea fields, and improved cross-platform consistency.

Support for event gateways. The new Event Gateway API allow ColdFusion to respond to external events. For instance, a gateway could be built to respond to messages from an instant messaging system allowing for requests to be made to a ColdFusion application from an IM client.

Events added to the application framework. Using the new Application.cfc allows you to create methods which are triggered by events in your application, such as the start of an application or session or request, their completion or an error.

Control of ColdFusion Settings from within Applications. A new Administrator API allows you to create datasources, adjust mappings and change other Administrator settings from within your applications.

Improved XML support. ColdFusion's XML capabilities include new functions, support for decision-making functions, validation of attributes, and support for both Schemas and DTDs.

In addition, ColdFusion MX 7 includes improvements to specific tags and features which are not completely new features but enhance the behaviour and performance of existing ColdFusion capabilities.