In the Administrator, when the Variables option and one or more variable scopes are selected on the Debugging Settings page, the debugging output displays the values of all variables in the selected scopes. The debugging output displays the values that result after all processing of the current page.

By displaying selected scope variables you can determine the effects of processing on persistent scope variables, such as application variables. This can help you locate problems that do not generate exceptions.

The Form, URL, and CGI scopes are useful for inspecting the state of a request. They let you inspect parameters that affect page behavior, as follows:

URL variables: Identify the HTTP request parameters.

Form variables: Identify the form fields posted to an action page.

CGI variables: Provide a view of the server environment following the request.

Similarly, the Client, Session, Application, and Server scope variables show the global state of the application, and can be useful in tracing how each page affects the state of the ColdFusion persistent variables.