Have you ever stopped to think about just how much functionality is baked into ColdFusion? We use to work with databases, allowing for highly flexible and dynamic SQL as well as query caching and more, and this is powered by a sophisticated internal engine. We use tags like and expect charts to be generated and displayed, without ever really paying attention to the fact that an entire Java-based charting engine is built in and actually doing the heavy lifting. The same is true for , , , support for SOAP and Web Services, XMPP and JMS integration, and so much more. While most of us focus on CFML the language, the truth is that the bulk of ColdFusion, the majority of what gets installed, is not the language but the extensive array of integrated services, services that are exposed to ColdFusion via CFML tags and functions.
But what if these services could be accessed outside of ColdFusion? If a PHP developer in the next cube over needed to merge PDF files, why couldn't he invoke the PDF manipulation services in ColdFusion? If a .NET developer needed to access Microsoft Exchange, why couldn't she use the brilliant Exchange tags in ColdFusion (rather than having to write lots and lots of .NET code, and I do mean lots and lots)? What about the Java developer who needs to easily manipulate spreadsheet files without tinkering with low level libraries?
And while we're at it, what about the Flex developer who needs to generate an e-mail message? Flex (well, Flash) has no built-in SMTP libraries, and so Flex developers who need to programmatically generate e-mail messages do so by writing code on the server. For ColdFusion developers this means creating a ColdFusion Component which accepts data from a Flex application (likely via an AMF call) and then passes that same data to a tag. In other words, code is being written on the server just to be able to pass data from Flex on the client to the tag. So why couldn't a Flex developer just invoke directly, passing it name=value pairs so it can generate an e-mail?
Well, with the upcoming ColdFusion 9, the answer to all of these questions is yes. These are all doable! In ColdFusion 9 we're exposing lots of those integrated ColdFusion services via AMF (Flash Remoting) and SOAP (Web Services). The PHP, .NET, and Java developers can invoke ColdFusion built-in Web Services, pass in data, and get back results. And the Flex developer can include a ColdFusion SWC file exposing ActionScript classes and MXML tags via simple abstracted AMF calls.
