Debug Settings in the ColdFusion Administrator

ColdFusion can provide important debugging information for every application page requested by a browser. When enabled, debugging output is shown in a block following normal page output.

Note By default, when you enable any of these options, debug output becomes visible to all users. You can, however, restrict debug output by using the Restrict debug output to selected IP address form at the bottom of the Debug Settings page.

The Debugging page of the ColdFusion Administrator provides these output options:

Debug Settings in ColdFusion Administrator 
Setting Description
Enable performance monitoring Allow the NT Performance Monitor application to display information about the current ColdFusion Server. On platforms that do not support the NT Performance Monitor, a command line utility, CFSTAT, is provided to display the same information.
Enable CFML stack trace Generate information in CFCATCH.TAGCONTEXT about the tags that were executing when ColdFusion detected a CFML structured exception.
Show variables Display the names and values of all CGI, URL, form, and cookie variables.
Show processing time Display the time, in milliseconds, it took the ColdFusion Server to process the page request. The detail view shows the time it takes to process each page used to compose the final page.
Show SQL and data source name Display the data source name and the SQL statement in database query errors messages.
Show query information Display the number of records, processing time, and SQL statement for each query executed.
Display the template path in error messages Display the template's file name. The template's file name is useful for debugging, but may be a security hazard because it displays information about a server's file structure.

Note By default, when you enable any of these options, debug output becomes visible to all users. You can, however, restrict debug output to a selected IP address.

Note To restrict debug output to a specific IP number:
  1. Enter the IP number you want to receive debug output, and click Add. Debug output will be visible only to the specified IP address.
  2. To disable debug output to a specific IP address, select the address and click Remove.

If debugging output options have been selected and no IP address specified, debug output will be displayed to all users.

Note There are also important runtime debugging options available in ColdFusion Studio. For more information about these options, such as setting breakpoints, see Developing Web Applications with ColdFusion.