Adobe ColdFusion 8

Adding data sources in the Administrator

You use the ColdFusion Administrator to quickly add a data source for use in your ColdFusion applications. When you add a data source, you assign it a data source name (DSN) and set all information required to establish a connection.

Note: ColdFusion includes data sources that are configured by default. You do not need the following procedure to work with these data sources.

Add a data source

  1. In the ColdFusion Administrator, select Data & Services > Data Sources.
  2. Under Add New Data Source, enter a data source name; for example, MyTestDSN. The following names are reserved; you cannot use them for data source names:
    • service
    • jms_provider
    • comp
    • jms
  3. Select a driver from the drop-down list box; for example, Microsoft SQL Server.
  4. Click Add.

    A form for additional DSN information appears. The available fields in this form depend on the driver that you selected.

  5. In the Database field, enter the name of the database; for example, Northwind.
  6. In the Server field, enter the network name or IP address of the server that hosts the database, and enter any required Port value; for example, the bullwinkle server on the default port.
  7. If your database requires login information, enter your Username and Password.

    Note: The omission of required username and password information is a common reason why a data source fails to verify.

  8. (Optional) Enter a Description.
  9. (Optional) Click Show Advanced Settings to specify any ColdFusion specific settings; for example, to configure which SQL commands can interact with this data source.
  10. Click Submit to create the data source.

    ColdFusion automatically verifies that it can connect to the data source.

  11. (Optional) To verify this data source later, click the verify icon in the Actions column.

    Note: To check the status of all data sources available to ColdFusion, click Verify All Connections.

Specifying connection string arguments

The ColdFusion Administrator lets you specify connection-string arguments for data sources. In the Advanced Settings page, use the Connection String field to enter name-value pairs separated by a semicolon. For more information, see the documentation for your database driver.

Note: The cfquery connectstring attribute is no longer supported.

Guidelines for data sources

When you add data sources to ColdFusion, keep the following guidelines in mind:

  • Data source names should be all one word.
  • Data source names can contain only letters, numbers, hyphens, and the underscore character (_).
  • Data source names should not contain special characters or spaces.
  • Although data source names are not case-sensitive, you should use a consistent capitalization scheme.
  • Depending on the JDBC driver, connection strings and JDBC URLs might be case-sensitive.
  • Use the Administrator to verify that ColdFusion can connect to the data source.
  • A data source must exist in the ColdFusion Administrator before you use it on an application page to retrieve data.