You came here to ask for help. Good, that is what these forums are for. But there are a few tips to make sure we have the right information to be able to help you.
Tell us about your environment
Helping you may be difficult since we can't see on our screen what you can see on your screen. So you will have to tell us. Whenever youare posting about a problem, make sure you include the following information:
- ColdFusion version (i.e. ColdFusion 8.01 Standard or ColdFusion 7.02 Enterprise)
- Hotfix version (you can find that in the ColdFusion Administrator)
- server OS (i.e. Windows 2003 or Ubunto 9.10)
- webserver (i.e. IIS 6.1 or Apache 2.2.14)
- database (i.e. MS Access 2007 or PostgreSQL 8.4)
Examples
- Bad
- When I open index.cfm I get the error message "session variables not enabled". But in my application.cfc I have session management enabled. Even when I put an error in application.cfc I get no error message. So I think my application.cfc is not found by ColdFusion.
- Good
- I am running ColdFusion 9 Standard on CentOS 5 with Apache 2.2. When I open index.cfm I get the error message "session variables not enabled". But in my application.cfc in the same folder I have session management enabled. Even when I put an error in application.cfc I get no error message. So I think my application.cfc is not found by ColdFusion.
The most common causes for ColdFusion not finding Application.cfc are a case sensitive filesystem under Linux and too old a version of ColdFusion. Because the version information and the Operating System are included, we can tell the problem is that application.cfc should be named Application.cfc.
Posting configuration
When you are asked for your server confguration you can export it from the ColdFusion Administrator. In the menu on the left there is a link Server settings which will create an almost complete overview of all your server settings. Just make sure you remove your serial number before you attach that to your message!
Posting code
Frequently you need or are asked to post code. Before you do so, run through this checklist:
- no style, font, border etc. tags/attributes unless you have a layout problem
- format code with indentation and linebreaks
- comment your code
For larger snippets use pastebin.com or a similar site for easy formatting and color coding
Examples
- Bad
- <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="#1e201a"><img src="#imagePath#/images/bkgd_content.jpg" alt="Art Galleria Logo" border="0"></td></tr></table>
- Good
- <table>
- <tr>
- <td>
- <!--- The image on the next line can not be found --->
- <img src="#imagePath#/images/bkgd_content.jpg" alt="Art Galleria Logo">
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
Like everybody else, we are busy people. Help us help people fast by making your code legible and clean!
Posting error messages
Frequently questions are asked because some code is generating an error message. In such cases you usually need to post the error message. Make sure you:
- have enabled Enable robust exception information in the ColdFusion Administrator
- post the full text of the error message
- if you have a stack trace, include at least the top 5 lines