Select a Web server you want to use with ColdFusion and click Next in Java

Printer Code 128B in Java Select a Web server you want to use with ColdFusion and click Next

For personal development on a single machine, we recommend selecting the Built-in Web Server option (as you may or may not have another Web server installed on your machine) For Microsoft IIS, you can configure the All IIS Websites option If you choose the Configure Specific IIS Website or Another Web Server radio button, you must click Add and step through the wizard Choose the Web server you want to configure, as shown in Figure 1-3 If you choose IIS, then select the individual Web site in the IIS Web Site drop-down list If you choose another Web server (for example, Apache), enter the path to the Web server s configuration directory (for example, C:\Apache Group\Apache2\conf) If you chose the Built-in Web server option (such as IIS) in Step 10, continue on to Step 11b

Step 11b If you chose any Web server other than the Built-in Web server option (such as IIS) in Step 10, then the installer will prompt you to enter the Web root location for the ColdFusion Administrator, as shown in Figure 1-4 The installer will register this path in ColdFusion as the Web server root, and also create the ColdFusion Administrator directory (CFIDE) in this path

install the product Installation takes a few minutes, and the progress is shown as the installation is occurring

your installation Leave the Launch the Configuration Wizard in the Default Browser radio button selected to go directly into the ColdFusion Administrator and finish configuring your server

After the installation is complete, you can test and configure your application server by loading the ColdFusion Administrator:

Do this using the shortcut in the Start menu or navigating directly to http://localhost:8500/CFIDE/administrator/indexcfm (http://127001/CFIDE/administrator/indexcfm also works) via your Web browser (The administrator is a Web-based application)

Use the username and password for the administrator (as opposed to the RDS; see Step 11b in the list in the preceding section) that you created during the installation process to log on to the administrator, as shown in Figure 1-5 A number of administrative tasks, including setting up database connections, configuring e-mail, and setting your debugging options are covered in more detail in Book VI, 2 If you re using another Web server, such as IIS or Apache, you also need to make sure that that application server is running properly and that it has its default directory as the same location where you installed ColdFusion

Databases are often an integral part of any dynamic site, and ColdFusion is no exception A database, in very general terms, is simply a structured set of data The power of a database is in the ability to organize data for easy retrieval when requested If you ve ever used a spreadsheet program, such as Microsoft Excel, you ve probably created a structured collection of data that could, in fact, be a database Databases are generally made up of the following elements: Tables: The containers for similar sets of data, made up of columns, rows, and cells For example, a table might contain records (a collection of rows in a table) of all your products Cells: The individual blocks that make up the table Cells contain only a single piece of data and are grouped by columns and rows Columns: The vertical block of cells that groups the data in the table into categories Using our previous example of the product table, the data entered into columns in that table might include things like Name, Price, and Description Rows: The horizontal block of cells in a table that contains the information for each individual record, spanning all the columns Using the example of the product table, a row contains all the information about a single product, such as Silver Streak Bowling Ball, $200, and The finest pure silver bowling ball money can buy Databases come in all shapes and sizes, from the simple to the complex Following are the most common database types: Flat file: A text file that contains a single set of columns and rows, with the data usually being separated by commas or tabs A Comma Separated Values file (CSV) is an example of a flat file Relational: A collection of tables with common data elements (values in like-named columns) between them, providing expanded collection and reporting capabilities These usually require a query language to retrieve information from the database When you become more comfortable with ColdFusion, you begin to see (and of course, we show you!) just where databases can be extremely useful For now, you can whet your appetite by checking out Figure 1-6, which shows an example of a database table in Microsoft Access Relational database design, which is central to harnessing the power of ColdFusion, is covered in more detail in Book VI, 6