Everything You Must Know About ColdFusion Variables - How do we name a variable?

(Page 7 of 7 )

• The first character of a variable name must be one of: a letter, an underscore character, or a Unicode currency symbol. Subsequent characters can be any number of characters, numbers, underscores, and Unicode currency symbols and their combinations.
  
  
• Variables should be an unbroken string, no white spaces. In other words, firstName is OK, first Name is not good.
  
  
• No dot (or period[.]) is allowed in the variable name, as it may be taken for a structure access, or scope access.
  
  
• Use a standard naming convention: FIRSTNAME can be written as firstName, FirstName, First_Name. In this tutorial we will be use the 'firstName' type most often.
  
  
• While using forms, databases, and so on, make sure that the names used for the field do not conflict with other variables, since they are also considered as variables.
  
  
• Stick to a meaningful variable name, like firstName, instead of fn. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but not in programming.

Programmers in Visual Basic are used to attaching a three letter prefix to the variable name to indicate the data type of a variable. This makes reading of the code easy and rapid. A similar, but consistent scheme may be used.

Summary

In this tutorial the nature of variables in ColdFusion has been described. Several examples have been presented. Usage examples given can be pasted into a text editor and saved with the ColdFusion file extension. Server side extension using CFSCRIPT has been explained. With a properly configured web server these files can be processed. A proper naming convention will go a long way towards ease of reading, and troubleshooting.

DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware.

Comments On: Everything You Must Know About ColdFusion Variables

· I very much would like to have your comments on this article. [b]Macromedia[/b] has...   >>> Post your comment now!