The following example uses the cfparam tag to see if optional variables exist. If they do exist, processing continues. If they do not exist, the ColdFusion server creates them and sets them to the default values.

<cfparam name="Cookie.SearchString" default="temple">
<cfparam name="Client.Color" default="Grey">
<cfparam name="ShowExtraInfo" default="No">

You can use the cfparam tag to set default values for URL and Form variables, instead of using conditional logic. For example, you could include the following code on the action page to ensure that a SelectedDepts variable exists:

<cfparam name="Form.SelectedDepts" default="Marketing,Sales">