CF411: Tools and Resources to Consider for CF developers,
by Charlie Arehart (over 700 tools/resources in over 100 categories)

Last Updated: Nov 14, 2008

Introduction

How often do you see a question asked on a list, "does anyone know where I can find CFML resources about xxx", or "what tools are available to do yyy?". Now you have one place you can point people to answer most such questions.

I started this list back in 2002, which I hosted on my older Systemanage site. I've updated it substantially since bringing it over to my carehart.org site in mid-2007 (and continue to do so: last updated on Nov 14, 2008.) It now has over links to over 700 tools/resources in over 100 categories. I welcome additions/corrections/feedback. I've gathered most of the first several hundred myself but I welcome community participation.

I don't here recommend any tools (since needs are so different between folks), and I can't offer an exhaustive list of all tools for all developers, but I do want to help list some of the alternatives available in a variety of categories that are either written for, or are useful by, CF developers. In some cases, I am able to offer below links to other sites that offer reviews of some of these tools.

I look to improve this interface over time, adding RSS feeds for when I add/change items, perhaps enabling comments per tool/resource, etc. We'll see. Until then, use your browser find feature to search for things, or the table of contents below, and enjoy.

The Categories

Check out Brian Rinaldi's list, too!

Be sure to also check out Brian Rinaldi's excellent site listing open source CFML products and projects: http://www.remotesynthesis.com/cfopensourcelist/.

Lest anyone think I'm trying to compete with his list, I'm not at all. Besides the fact that I started mine in 2002, I also don't focus just on CF O-S projects. Indeed, I've been pointing to Brian's list (on the old SysteManage page) since Aug 06 (which was 4 years after I started my list). If anyone's interested, you can see this by viewing pages from back then via the web archive site. I definitely have long been a supporter and fan of his list. These complement rather than compete with each other.

Of course, there's some cross-over (things on both lists), but I'm not going to just grab things from his list if they're not on mine. I just list here things I've heard of on my own. Indeed, where he has a corresponding category, I point to it (at the end of each of my lists) so people can check out his also, which may have updates I don't.

Additions/Corrections

This is a perpetual work in progress. I welcome additions or corrections to this list. If you have any to offer, please let me know. Be sure to clarify that you're providing additional items for "the 'tools to consider' list".

CFML-Oriented Resources

CFML Blog Aggregators (and bloggers) [link]

There are literally hundreds of CFML blogs. Some are popular and known by most, while some less popular ones may well offer some hidden gem. Rather than try to list them all here, and indeed rather than you having to read them all, the following aggregators focus on CF-oriented blogs.

Some blogs are in all the aggregators, but it's worth keeping an eye on more than one. I provide as well a link to the list of all CFML blogs that each aggregator follows. This way, you can find out all the folks who blog about CF.
CFML Blog Highlight Services [link]
I want to mention, separately from the aggregators above, that there are also some bloggers who have started organizing periodic highlights of what they deem to be "best of the blogs" in the CF blogosphere. It's a tough job, and it may be hard for them to keep it up, but let's enjoy (and thank) them while they do it.
Dont' forget to consider using a Feed Reader or RSS to Email service to be kept informed of updates to these.

Browser Alternatives [link]

Since most CFML developers build browser-based web applications, it may be helpful to be aware of many of the different browsers out there, which your users may use. There's more than just Firefox and IE (and even Opera and Safari.) This is not an ultimate list. There are a few more I found which I've just never heard of. Can't be an ultimate compendium in every category.

CFML Certification Preparation Resources [link]

The tools mentioned here are still only oriented toward CF 7, so if you're looking for CF8-specific information, the best bet is the CFML documentation.

CFML Conferences [link]

The following conferences have some, if not an entire, focus on ColdFusion and CFML.

CFML Documentation/Help Tools and Resources [link]

While the Adobe docs are the best source for CFML documentation, there are online versions of that both from Adobe and others, providing access to the docs in various ways. Please note, though, that while most of the other resources show only the CFML reference, the actual Adobe docs contain more than just the CFML Reference, including a Developer's Guide, Installation Guide, Administration Guide, and more. See the Livedocs for more on those.

ColdFusion Hosting Alternatives [link]

This is not an ultimate list of all CF hosts. Indeed, after this list I link to other places (Ben Forta's site, Adobe, and others) that have other lists of CF hosts. These are just some of the more widely used and named hosts that have specific CF support, some supporting CF 6, 7, and/or 8 specifically (some even offering BD), and most offer a choice of either shared, private, or virtual private servers (VPS).

CFML Job Resources (Hire/Be Hired) [link]

CFML Lists and Forums (finding help) [link]

CFML Podcasts [link]

I've divided the list into those that are active and those that seem no longer to be.
Active CFML Podcasts [link] Seemingly Inactive CFML Podcasts [link]

The following podcasts seem no longer to be updated:
  • ColdFusion Weekly, with Matt Woodward and Peter Farrell, went off the air in early 2008 after a 2 year run
  • OutLoud, with Hal Helms and Jeff Peters, ran for 47 episodes from Oct 2005 through Sep 2007
  • The ColdFusion Podcast, with Bryan Kaiser and Michael Haynie, ran for 38 episodes from Oct 2005 through Jan 2007
  • ColdFusion Muse, with Mark Kruger, ran for 13 episodes from Nov 2005 through May 2006
  • cfframeworks.com offered 8 interview podcasts hosted by Nick Tong and Kola Oyedeji, from Jan-Mar 2007
  • Mark Drew offered a few CFEclipse Videos as a podcast in 2006 (note they videos were designed to be small enough to view in an iPod)
  • the WebDU conference organizers (Geoff Bowers and Daemon), presented a couple of recordings of previous WebDU conferences in 2005
  • the Scotch on the Rocks conference organizers (Stephen Moretti and Andy Allan) tried to do this also with one episode in 2007
  • Aboutcast ran for a couple of episodes in 2006, hosted by Nic Tunney and AboutWeb
  • Steven Erat made two attempts at podcasts in 2005, first with the CFMX 7 podcast, where he read selected Macromedia Devnet articles about CF7, and then the even shorter-lived CF NewsRadio
  • I'm my own sql, hosted by C. Hatton Humphrey, ran out of HouseofFusion.com for just a couple of episodes in late 2006
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback.
Other Media Resources

See also other media resources which, while not podcasts, may appeal to those seeking audio/video presentations:

CFML-Powered Web Sites (who's using CFML?) [link]

CFML Resource Sites [link]

This site has many different kinds of resources, but here are some other sites that try to aggregate other CFML resources. See the list after these for other sections of this site that offer resources.

CFML-specific Search Resources [link]

Google has a feature called "Custom Search Engines" (or CSEs), where one can create a search mechanism that limits searches to a given set of sites, with the intention that this could produce a better topic-specific search. When this feature first came out, several people stepped up to create them. The following seem to be those that are more active and udpated (providing the ability to search upwards of 1,000 CF-oriented sites or more).

CFML Tuning/Troubleshooting Resources [link]

Rather than list specific articles and blog entries (as there are so many), here are resources that are themselves lists of other CFML tuning/troubleshooting resources.

CFML Tutorial/Article Sites [link]

Professional CF-oriented Assistance [link]

While there are many resources listed above where you can obtain free support (from mailing lists, to blogs, to user groups, and more), sometimes you just may be more interested in paying someone who provides proffesional support (development, consulting, training, or mentoring). As such, I've divided this category that way. Where possible, I've offered any direct link the company/person may have to their coverage of that specific sort of assistance.

(And while I've previously used "CFML" in the category names above, to avoid any engine-specific connotation, in this case I felt it could be misconstrued--the help may not be CFML-oriented if it's about configuration or administration, and it may be about technologies related to CF and other CFML engines.)

I do not want to list here web site development shops, unless they specialize in CF and/or CFML. I've pre-populated the list with several folks but as always I definitely welcome additions/corrections/feedback.
CF-oriented Application Development [link]

(See also the later list of CF-oriented Consultants, who can help with issues other than application development.) CF-oriented Consultants [link]

This focuses on CF-oriented consulting services related to other than application development. CF-oriented Mentors [link]

This list includes those who mention mentoring services on their sites. Note that their services may be very specific (mentoring in a given area or technique). CF-oriented Trainers [link]

This includes both those who do Adobe CF training and their CF-oriented own training, whether in their own locations, at contract training facilities, or over the web.

Tools (CFML and other)

Blogging Tools (written in CFML) [link]

The following are blogging tools (tools for creating a blog) that are written in CFML. Of course, you can find blogging tools written in many other languages that you may choose to use on your site (as well as hosted solutions, where the code platform doesn't matter to you). I don't want to try to keep here a list of all such CMSes, so this focuses on those that are written in CFML and that you can download. I list, after that, hosted solutions written in CFML.
  • 1ssBlog, open source, from Ed Tabara
  • AVBlog, open source, from Andrea Veggiani
  • BlogCFC, open source, from Ray Camden
  • BlogCFM, open source, from Rick Root
  • CFBloggy, open source, from John Ramon (see also his blog)
  • cfBlog, open source, from Francois Levesque
  • Fuseblog, open source, from James Husum (not updated in some time)
  • KoldKast, free for download, and also available as a fee-based hosted solution, from Rick Smith
  • MachBlog, a blogging package from Matt Woodward and Peter Farrell, and based on Mach-ii
  • Mango, "a sweet ColdFusion blog engine" from Laura Arguello of asfusion
  • See also Brian Rinaldi's Open Source CF list of blog tools
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback.
There are also a few blogging solutions that, while written in CFML, are not available for download but instead are available as hosted solutions:
  • Blog-City, fee-based hosted solution
  • BlogFusion, free and fee-based hosted solutions, from Jake McKee
  • CFBlog, free hosted solution for the CF community, powered by BlogFusion
  • InstantSpot, free hosted solution, from Aaron Lynch and Dave Shuck
  • KoldKast, free for download, and also available as a fee-based hosted solution, from Rick Smith
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback.
Besides the tools above used to create blogs, here are some that can help with creating blog entries:
  • Amazoner, a tool to help a blogger easily recommend books that they like, using their Amazon associate ID
  • LiveWriter, a desktop application from Microsoft that makes it easy to publish rich content to your blog
  • Post2Blog, an alternative to LiveWriter
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback.

Bug/Defect Tracking Tools [link]

I've split this list of bug tracking and defect tracking tools into those written in CFML, and the rest, both open source and commercial.
Following are the subcategories offered:
Bug/Defect Tracking Tools Written in CFML [link]
Bug/Defect Tracking Tools Written in other languages [link]
(some downloadable, others as services; some open source, others commercial)
  • Assembla, commercial with a free starting level (see blog entry by CFer Brian Kotek
  • Bugzilla, open source, from Mozilla
  • BugWiki,, commercial hosted service, free for one user. The term wiki refers merely to "easy". It's not a wiki, nor built on one. Tries to make bug tracking easy, from easy quick setup, low learnign curve, simpler reporting of bugs by non-developers (in as little as 10 seconds), to simpler setting of bug status by developers.
  • Eventum, open source, from MySQL
  • fixx, free and commercial editions, multiplatform, from HedgeHogLab
  • Fogbugz, commercial, from Fog Creek Software
  • Gemini (for .NET, commercial, with free 5-user license), from Countersoft
  • Jira, commercial, from Atlassian
  • Mantis, open source, from MantisBT
  • OnTime, commercial, with free single-user license, from Axosoft
  • Rational BuildForge, commercial, from IBM
  • Redmine, open source (project management app with issue tracking)
  • Scarab, open source
  • TestTrack Pro, commercial, from SeaPine
  • Trac, open source
  • Also, note that Mylyn, free, for Eclipse, offers integration to popular defect tracking tools
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback.

Caching Tools for CFML [link]

Captcha Tools/Alternatives for CFML [link]

CFMAIL Replacements/Enhancements [link]

These are tools that either can replace CF's built-in mechanism for generating and sending email, or that supplement and enhance it (such as tools to help manager undelivered email).
  • ActivMail, once commercial, now to be open source, from Zrinity (formerly from CFDev)
  • CFX_Imap4, commercial, from Paul Vernon (also available at CFTagStore)
  • InFusion Mail Server (IMS) and FusionMail, commercial (with free Developer edition), from CoolFusion
  • intelli Mailbot
  • Spoolmail, open source, from Ray Camden
  • Undelivrnator , open source, from Andy Matthews
  • See also the Adobe Developer's exchange on tags/functions/apps related to CFMAIL, though it may contain very old variants that no longer work or are supported
  • See also Brian Rinaldi's Open Source CF list of Email tools
  • Note, as well, that the CFMAIL tag itself has evolved significantly over the years, so some of the various alternatives may not always be needed. 6.1 added replyto/failto/username/password/wraptext attributes, support for multiple mail servers in the server attribute, and several configuration options to the ColdFusion Administrator Mail Settings page. 6.1 also added support for HTML email via CFMAILPARAM and multipart email with CFMAILPART. You can even optionally not use the spooling process via an optional SpoolEnable as of 6. Finally CF 8 added priority, useSSL, and useTLS attributes.
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback.

CFML Debugging Tools [link]

CFML Documentation/Help Tools and Resources

See this section as listed above under CFML Resources.

CFML Engine Alternatives [link]

Code Formatting Tools [link]

CFML Frameworks/Methodologies [link]

There are far more CFML frameworks or methodologies than many may realize, and of course some will debate whether something should be called a framework or a methodology. I don't want to get into that debate, so I've just listed them here all together.

I provide whatever brief description may be found on the respective web site (so if you don't like the description, talk to the site owner and let me know if it changes...and framework owners, you'd do well to have a nice succinct description to help visitors get a quick understanding of the frameworks purpose, goals, intended use, etc.)

Similarly, if there's a name associated with the project on the site, or if a name is commonly known as being responsible for the framework, I list that. As always, I'm open to updates. Finally, I also don't for now order them by "type" of framework, since again some may debate what kind each is. For now, I'm just looking to help people realize the wide range of alternatives available. Check each out for yourself.

Note as well that some of these may be defunct. As long as there was a working site (or some relatively recent site talking about it, even if a third party), I list it. At the end I list some frameworks whose sites seem defunct. Again, updates are welcomed.
  • Blackbox "ColdFusion Development Methodology", from Dan Chick
  • CFObjects, "object-oriented ColdFusion development framework", from Steve Brownlee and Orbwave
  • COOP, "a framework that separates mark-up from processing logic", from John Farrar
  • cfrails, (couldn't find any brief description), from Sammy Larbi
  • COAL (Coldfusion Open Application Library), from Ryan Guill
  • ColdBox "event-driven CFC based ColdFusion Framework", from Luis Majano
  • ColdSpring "framework for CFCs", from Chris Scott
  • DataFaucet, an ORM tool from Isaac Dealey
  • DataMgr, an ORM tool from Steve Bryant
  • Edmund, "event-driven model framework and workflow components ", from Sean Corfield
  • FarCry, "a cutting edge ColdFusion MX application framework for web based content management", from Geoff Bowers and Daemon Consulting
  • Fusebox, "the most popular framework for building ColdFusion and PHP web applications", from Team Fusebox
  • HomePortals, "especially tailored for building portals and other highly modular sites", from Oscar Arevalo
  • iiFramework, "manages many aspects of e-business development so that the programmer doesn't have to", from Infranet
  • Lightwire, "a very lightweight Direct Injection/IoC engine for directly injecting dependencies into singletons AND transient business object", from Peter Bell
  • Mach-ii, "a powerful, object-oriented, open source MVC framework for ColdFusion that focuses on easing software development and maintenance", from Team Mach-II
  • Model-Glue, "a family of frameworks [that] support Web application developers by making the construction of Object-Oriented Web and Rich Internet Applications a straightforward process", from the Model-Glue Team
  • onAir, "a 'Smart Connection Framework': Connect backend business logic written in CFCs with different clients (e.g. AJAX, Laszlo) via XML, XML-RPC, JSON, etc.", from Jan Jannek
  • OnTap, "shares some similarities with Ruby on Rails", from Isaac Dealey
  • Plum, "stands for Practical Lightweight Universal Methodology, and it incorporates a rich code generator, a development methodology, a comprehensive application framework that does just about everything you'll ever need to do with a ColdFusion application, a unit test generator, and stored procedure generator, a component generator, and much more.", from Productivity Enhancement
  • PureMVC, a CF port of PureMVC, "a lightweight framework for creating applications based upon the classic Model, View and Controller concept", from Cliff Hall (other ports include Flex [AS2, 3], PHP, Java, and .NET [c#])
  • Reactor, "an Object-Relational Modeling tool which generates database abstractions on the fly, as needed. Reactor is sometimes called an "Inline Dynamic Database Abstraction" API", from Alagad
  • SOS, "stands for Servant Oriented Software...uses the technology in a way that matches your developing style and needs", from John Farrar
  • Switchboard, "MVC framework with built in authentication, redirecting, and URL routing. It's non-OO approach makes it super fast during execution. No XML or Objects are ever used in the framework. No configuration is required to set which files are included, the framework discovers that for you. The URL routing is beneficial for search engine optimization (SEO). And all this can be yours in less than 250 lines of code", from Daniel Slaughter
  • Switchbox, "a programming technique and coding style used to develop flexible and scalable applications", from Joseph Flanigan
  • Tardis, "Model-View-Controller Framework for ColdFusion", from Shawn Gorrell
  • Tartan, "a command-driven service framework for ColdFusion", from Paul Kenney
  • TheHUB, "homegrown application development framework", from Neil Ross
  • Transfer, "ColdFusion Object Relational Mapping Library...to automate the repetitive tasks of creating the SQL and custom CFCs that are often required when developing a ColdFusion application", from Mark Mandel
  • ColdFusion on Wheels, "provides fast application development, a great organization system for your code, and is just plain fun to use", from the CFWheels Team
  • Some that seem defunct include cfoo.org, cfoop.com, fusionscript.com, MXF, MVCF, objectbreeze.com, underscoreframework.com
  • Some folks also see CMSs as frameworks, so see my list of them.
  • See also
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback.

Code Generators [link]

There are multiple categories of code generators offered here.
Following are the subcategories offered:
CFML Code Generators [link]
Flex Code Generators [link]

Comparison Tools [link]

There are multiple categories of comparison tools offered here.
Following are the subcategories offered:
Text/File/Dir Comparison/Merge Tools [link]

Following are tools that can compare text, file, and directory comparisons and merging. Database Comparison Tools [link]

Content Management Systems (written in CFML) [link]

The following are CMSes written in CFML. Of course, you can find a CMS written in many other languages that you may choose to use on your site. I don't want to try to keep here a list of all such CMSes.

Database Engines [link]

I split the list into two categories: free/open source and commercial DBMSs. (I used to split it instead into "name brand" and "alternative", but I think free/commercial makes more sense.) As I note below, some commercial DBMSs do offer free editions.
Free/Open Source DBMSs [link]
Commercial DBMSs [link]

Database Tools [link]

There are multiple categories of database tools offered here.
Following are the subcategories offered:
Database Coding Tools [link] Database Comparison Tools Database Migration Tools [link]

The following tools assiset with database migration/conversion, change migration, synchronization, conversion of stored procedures, and more. Database Monitoring Tools Database Query/Explore Tools [link]

This category includes both tools to help you build SQL statements as well as to explore your databases and their tables, columns, indexes, data, etc. Some are CF-specific tools, some are generic. Database Testing Tools

E-commerce Enabling Solutions (written in CFML) [link]

There are certainly carts and other e-commerce enabling solutions written in other languages, and some could possibly even be called or leveraged from CFML, but for now, this list focuses only on those that are CFML-based.
  • Able Commerce, commercial, for CF and .NET
  • Auction Builder, from Able Commerce
  • Broadchoice platform, as described by Sean Corfield, "You can build and manage a website on the Broadchoice platform that includes applications such as blogs and forums and integration with YouTube, SlideShare, SalesForce.com etc. Looking to the future, we'll be offering a developer SDK and the ability to integrate third-party external applications - such as CF developers might build and host on their own sites. We're looking to change the way organizations manage their digital marketing."
  • CF-ezCart
  • cfCommerce , a CFML eCommerce open source project by Nick Tong
  • CF WebStore, from DogPatch Software
  • SiteDirector, commercial open source, from Quill Design
  • See also Brian Rinaldi's Open Source CF list of e-commerce tools
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback.

Editors/IDEs [link]

This list offers both editors that focus on CFML and some others that don't, but are popular among some CFers.
Following are the subcategories offered: See also WYSIWYG/Rich Text Editors.
CFML Editors [link]
  • D20, open source, from John Farrar. An IDE for developing COOP-based CFML apps (not quite general purpose, but CFML-oriented nonetheless)
  • Dreamweaver, commercial, from Adobe
  • Eclipse, free, from the Eclipse Foundation (see discussion of CFEclipse and other plugins below in the subcategory Eclipse plugins)
  • E Text Editor, (Textmate for Windows), there is a Textmate bundle for ColdFusion
  • HomeSite, commercial, from Adobe
  • HomeSite+, which comes on the Dreamweaver CD, and adds some features over HomeSite (it's essentially the same as the old ColdFusion Studio)
  • JEdit (open source, which does have CF support)
  • PrimalScript, commercial, from Sapien, which offers support for CFML
  • SourceEdit, free, for Windows
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback.
Other Editors [link]

Unlike those listed in the previous section, these don't list specific support for ColdFusion, but may still be useful for some.
  • AptEdit, for Windows, available in Lite (free), standard and pro (commercial) editions
  • Cream, free, multiplatform
  • Crimson
    They're kind enough to offer a link to other popular shareware editors.
  • E, "the power of TextMate on Windows", commercial, for Windows
  • EditPad, for Windows, available in Lite (free) and pro (commercial) editions
  • GNU EMACS, free, multiplatform
  • GridinSoft Notepad , multiplatform, available in Lite (free) and commercial editions
  • IntelliJ
  • JBuilder, from Borland
  • JDeveloper, from Oracle (free, useful for reverse engineering DBs to generate ERDs, DDL scripts, and more, with support for more than just Oracle BDs)
  • Jext (open source)
  • Multiedit, commercial, for Windows
  • Notepad ++
  • NotePad 2
  • NoteTab, free and commercial, for Windows
  • PSPad, free, for Windows
  • TextMate, for OS X
  • TextPad (shareware)
  • TSW WebCoder, commercial, for Windows, includes intellisense, a MySQL client, FTP support, and more (a more generic version of their PHPcoder tool)
  • UltraEdit, commercial, for Windows
  • Vim ("Vi Improved", free)
  • XML Copy Editor, open source, for Windows and Linux
  • Be sure to see other text editors that are listed instead CFML Editors, including some not traditionally thought of as CFML editors. They're listed there if they DO support CFML.
Eclipse Plugins [link]
Eclipse Plug-ins for CF or with support for it [link]
  • CFEclipse
  • Adobe ColdFusion 8 Extensions for Eclipse, which add interactive step debugging, RDS Data and File Views, code generation wizards, log viewing, and more:
    The extensions were also available in a somewhat reduced feature set for 7.02, where they were known as the ColdFusion extensions for Flex Builder, and were provided in the trial or commercial edition of Flex Builder 2. Someone using CF 7 should still be able to use the CF8 extensions for all but the features that rely on CF8.
  • Adobe CF8 Help files for Eclipse
  • FusionDebug, a commercial plugin providing CFML step debugging for CF 6, 7, and 8
  • MXUnit eclipse plug in for the MXUnit unit testing framework for CF
Other Eclipse Plug-ins of interest to CFers [link]
  • Aptana, for its support of HTML, JavaScript, AIR, and more.
  • Eclipse SQL Explorer: query and browse any JDBC compliant database
  • JSEclipse, Javascript coding in Eclipse, from Adobe Labs (aquired from Interakt)
  • Mylyn, offers integration to popular defect tracking tools
  • MyEclipse, a commercial addon which adds Javascript editing and debugging, CSS editing, database explorer, ajax tools, image editing, and much more
  • QuantumDB, Eclipse plugin
  • Subclipse, offering support for Subversion
  • XMLBuddy, an XML editing plug-in, available in free and commercial editions

Distributed Caching Tools [link]

Excel File Processing Tools [link]

Following are approaches for reading or creating Excel files from CFML. Note that they're in alphabetical order (like the rest of the tools in this list), not in any preferred or recommended order of consideration. Some are much easier than others, while others offer greater power and capability. Some are for creating XLS files from CFML, some are for reading them into CFML, and others are for populating a spreadsheet with data from a CFML request. Consider them all to find the best to suit your needs.

BTW, one may argue that I could have a generic section on processing all sorts of file types (or even just all kinds of MS Office) file types, but there are so many requests for Excel file processing specifically, and so many approaches/tools to suit those needs, that I just figured I'd start out with this and consider other filetypes later (and may rename this section then). It's also certainly true that most of the techniques/tools shown here can be used with any spreadsheet tool that reads xls files or processes CSV/HTML table files in a similar way (like OpenOffice).
Following are the subcategories offered:
  • COM [link]- Since CF on Windows can integrate with COM, there are solutions available using that interface. There are a number of tools that uses the approach in the CFCOMET tools list, including CF_Excel2CSV, CF_ReadXLS, HTML2Excel, and SQL_export.cfm. (Note that you'll often find references to a site called CFCOMET, but sadly the CFCOMET site is no more. It was resurrected at http://www.cfregex.com/cfcomet/ back in 2002, though not completely .) As you contemplate working with COM, if performance is an issue, consider these Adobe technotes: 1, 2, and 3.
  • CSV [link]- You can both create Excel files using CSV, as well as read in CSV (or other delimited files) to create a query, such as from an Excel file. To create an Excel file, you can simply send to the browser a CSV (or other delimited) file. There are UDFs to ease converting a query to a CSV, such as QueryToCSV2, by Qasim Rasheed. See also a tweaked version of this by Aaron Longnion. There is also the Query to Excel Component from Jason Presley, as well as the UDFs GenerateExcel UDF from Topper, and CSVFormat and GetTabTextFeed from cflib.org. When you do this, you need to use CFCONTENT to set the mime type to "application/msexcel" (and may want to use CFHEADER to set a filename to be chosen for the user, and may need to use CFSETTING to turn off debugging.)

    To create a CF query result by reading a CSV (or other delimited) file, as might be exported from Excel, you can use CFHTTP. See the CF docs on CFHTTP, specifically the subsection "Building a query from a delimited text file", as well as blog entries such as those by Ben Nadel 1 2, and Alex Le. There's yet another approach of reading a CSV using a DSN as discussed by Mark Kruger.
  • HTML Table [link]- Another long-existent, simple way to create output to Excel from CFML is creating an HTML table, again prefaced by a CFCONTENT setting the mimetype for Excel and such. Many have written on this useful, simple approach, including Jeremy Petersen (in the ColdFusion Cookbook) and Jehiah Czebotar. It's also covered in the docs, such as these CF6 and CF8 pages on CFContent (and notice all the comments in the older CF6 one, for additional info). There are UDFs and custom tags to do it for you, too, such as Query2Excel in the cflib site. A still more elaborate approach is discussed in this blog entry by Ben Nadel.
  • Java (including JExcel, JXLS, and POI) [link]- There are many Java APIs for manipulating Excel files. Since CF6 and above are built atop Java, it's easy to leverage such Java libraries.
    • (Don't miss the relatively straight-forward JDBC-oriented options in the ODBC/JDBC section, below.)
    • JEXCEL- CF Product Manager Jason Delmore has released a JXLCFC that integrates with JExcel, and he blogged about it in Jan 08. Both Ben Nadel and "Denny" also blogged about JExcel/CF integration in 2006.
    • JXLS - Matt Williams has written on a couple of blog entries on this. I figure I'd just point you to his Excel category, which lists entries that discuss both jXMS and a beef he had with using POI (discussed next here). In case you miss his reference to a zip file in his "enclosures" link in one of the entries, here is the link directly. BTW, you may find references on the web to his stuff being at http://mattw.mxdj.com/, but that domain is no longer functioning. Fortunately, he moved his stuff to the new mattjanell.com domain.
    • POI - cfExcelProxy is an open source effort by Francois Levesque. Also, many have written about POI/CF integration, including Dave Ross; Ben Nadel, who has written a POIUtility CFC wrapper that makes it easy to use POI (and here are a couple of other entries by him 1 and 2, 3, with more info on the approach.) Still more interesting for some will be this entry of his on Populating An Existing, Formatted Excel Document Using ColdFusion And POI. Ben Forta also discusses POI in Chap 27 of his CF7 Advanced book and has an example available in this zip file. There is yet another CFC that helps use POI in CFML, cfHSSF, as well as a few custom tags: the free CFX_ExcelQuery in the JavaCFX library at OpenXCF project, and the following commercial tags: CFX_Query2Excel and CFX_Excel in the Adobe Developer's Exchange and from the cftagstore; and CFX_Query2Excel and CFX_Excel2Query from Ryan Emerle.
  • .NET [link]- Now that CF8 can directly integrate with .NET, it should be possible to perform interaction with Excel files directly using .NET. I've not yet found any articles by anyone doing that. Both the CF docs and Ray Camden have hinted at the possibility.
  • Office Automation [link]- While you may read some articles talking about doing "Office automation", by trying to run MS Office apps on the server, this is something that even Microsoft cautions against, saying
    CAUTION: Automation of any Office application from an unattended, non-interactive user account is risky and unstable. A single error in code or configuration can result in a dialog box that can cause the client process to stop responding (hang), that can corrupt data, or that can even crash the calling process (which can bring down your Web server if the client is ASP).
    WARNING: Office was not designed, and is not safe, for unattended execution on a server. Developers who use Office in this manner do so at their own risk.
  • ODBC/JDBC [link]- it's long been possible to open more than just database files using ODBC (and the Jet Engine) as well as JDBC. It's been written about by many over the years, including the CF5 docs, a CFDJ article (whose title has a mistake and should be "ColdFusion Techniques: Text & Excel ODBC"), and a blog entry by Christopher Wigginton, to name a few. Just note that there have been changes in ODBC processing: before CF6, you could create such datasources directly in the CF Admin. In CF6 and above, you would create them in the Windows ODBC administrator and then point to them using the ODBC/JDBC bridge option when creating a DSN in the CF Admin. Ben Forta also has an example of using this approach in his ReadExcel.cfm, available in this zip file (as discussed in Chap 27 of his CF7 Advanced CF book).

    Still other solutions leverage Java calls to enable this capability via JDBC, such as Kyle Hayes who has written about it in both the ColdFusion Cookbook and on his own site.

    Another curious one is the jacoZoom driver, which uses a DSN-less connection to get to the file. Though those are technically not supported since CF5, Adobe has a technote on how to get around this limitation when reading an Excel file, using a "passthrough" DSN. Finally, see other Java-oriented options under the "Java" section, above.
  • Report Builder [link]- Don't forget that the ColdFusion Report Builder (in CF7 and 8) can export its results as Excel, and of course can generate its data from CFML. See more in the Adobe DevNet articles,