ColdFusion provides the ability to deliver dynamic database content to the Web quickly. You can use various types of databases to drive your ColdFusion application to query Web sites, LDAP servers, POP mail servers and documents in a variety of formats. A data source is the entry point for database operations.
Before you can access a database with a ColdFusion application, you have to do the following:
Understand and determine the database driver required to interact with the data source. ColdFusion uses ODBC, OLE DB and Native database drivers to communicate with data sources. The types of drivers you can use depend on the platform of your ColdFusion Server and your ColdFusion edition — Professional or Enterprise. For details, see About database drivers.
Configure the database as a ColdFusion data source by specifying a driver, adding data source information and connecting to a database.
Verify the data source.
You configure ODBC, OLE DB and Native data sources through a series of Administrator pages:
ODBC Data Sources
— Use the ODBC Data Sources page if you use an ODBC database driver
for a data source. For details, see Configure
ODBC Data Sources. Note that on the Win32 platform, you can also configure
ODBC data sources with the ODBC Data Source Administrator.
OLE DB Data Sources — OLE DB is available only in Windows NT and Windows 2000. Use the OLE DB Data Sources page if you want to use an OLE DB database driver for a data source. For details, see Configure OLE DB Data Sources.
Native Data Sources — Use the Native Data Sources page if you have the Enterprise edition of ColdFusion Server and want to use a native driver for a data source. For details, see Configure Native Data Sources.
Verity Collections — ColdFusion also incorporates the use of Verity Collections as a source of data. For details, see Overview of Verity collections.