Will a CF code run on regular server?

Question

I am tasked to integrate a CF code(about 70 lines) into our site then configure it to communicate to another site's server. However, our hosting site is just a typical server without CF support. Will the code run? All I know is that CF is Adobe's version of PHP and ASP. I have no experience coding it. Could you please enlighten me? From what I gathered from the internet, you have to have a CF server in order to run a CF code but the resources seem scarce. I just need someone knowledgeable to verify...

Answer 1

In order to run ColdFusion code (CFML), you need to have a ColdFusion processor on your server. This means either using Adobe ColdFusion, or if you're looking to save money, try looking at Railo or Open BlueDragon, both are CFML processors. Any one of these solutions will work if you are in control of the server, however, if you are on a shared hosting account, you may be out of luck. Many hosts will have ColdFusion as an add-on service to your hosting account. It's best to ask your host to see if they offer it.

If you can't get any of these solutions, the best you could do would be to go about translating that code (or, engaging the services of someone who knows how to do it) so that it would run on your host. This would mean taking it from CFML to PHP, ASP, or .NET (Visual Basic / C#). You won't find software that can do this for you.

Answer 2

ColdFusion will run on any J2EE servlet engine - which includes JRun, Tomcat, Resin, Jetty, and others.

It will not run directly on a web server like Apache or IIS (these are configured to send appropriate requests to the application server).

As Steve points out, there are alternative CFML engines to Adobe CF - the two main ones are Railo and OpenBD (both are Open Source with commercial options available), but these still both need Tomcat/etc.

If you have a Windows+IIS server, you might consider BlueDragon.NET, which is commercial only (not Open Source), but will plug directly into an IIS web server (no need for a J2EE servlet engine).

Whether any of this is easier than just re-writing the 70 lines of logic in a language/technology you're already using will depend on what precisely that code is doing.

On one hand, 70 lines isn't much and sticking to a single technology is better, but then again, Railo or OpenBD are both quick and easy to setup and wont cost you any licensing fees.

Answer 3

Coldfusion requieres a server component to interpret it. That said, there are many ways to have it run, based on what your host provides...

Such as the Adobe Coldfusion Server Product Line, BlueDragon, Railo.

There are open source solutions, and paid solutions.

Or depending on the complexity of the colfusion code, you could convert it to php or whatever language you are more familiar with.