Adobe ColdFusion 8 Developer
Certification Examination Specification

These guidelines can be found in PDF format on the Adobe website.

1. Programming Fundamentals

• Given a type of variable, explain how to create and use that variable by using implicit and explicit syntax
• Control the flow of a program by using conditionals and boolean expressions
• Manage program iteration by using tags
• Given a task, select and use the appropriate built-in function to perform that task
• Create a user-defined function by using tags

2. Working with the Application framework

• Given an Application.cfc method identify the use of that method
• List and describe the differences between application scope variables and Application.cfc variables

3. Handling exceptions

• Handle exceptions by using <cftry/>, <cfcatch/>, <cfthrow/>, and <cfrethrow/>
• Handle exceptions by using the onError method of Application.cfc
• Handle exceptions by using <cferror/>
• Handle exceptions by using the site wide error handler server setting

4. Interacting with databases

• Create, read, update, and delete data by using <cfquery/>
• Create dynamic queries by using conditional clauses, variables, the like operator, and wildcards
• Return data by performing a Query of Queries
• List and describe the properties of the RESULT structure of a query object
• Manage access to data by using <cfldap/>
• List and describe the information returned by the <cfdbinfo> tag
• Implement database transactions by using <cftransaction/>
• Use <cfqueryparam/> in SQL statements
• Use <cfstoredproc/>, <cfprocparam/>, and <cfprocresult/> to interact with database stored procedures

5. Working with XML

• List and describe the differences between an XML document and an XML object
• Parse XML data by using <cfxml/> or xmlParse()
• Extract an XML document from an XML object by using the toString() method

6. Reusing code

• Include one page of code into another page of code by using the <cfinclude/> tag
• Given an approach, reuse code by using a custom tag. (Approaches include: using the <cf_.../>, or <cfmodule/> tags
• Reuse code by creating user-defined functions. (User-defined functions written with either <cffunction/> or within a <cfscript/> block
• Resuse code by creating ColdFusion Components (CFCs)
• Control public or private access to CFC properties and methods by using scope prefixes for properties and the access attribute for methods
• Understand the options available for instantiating CFCs and invoking CFC methods

7. Managing client state

• List and describe the available variable scopes
• Enable an application to use application and/or session scoped variables
• Explain when you should lock variables by using <cflock/>

8. Interacting with remote systems

• Given a scenario, create a Web service proxy and interact with that Web service
• Explain how to expose a CFC method as a Web service
• Create and read Atom and RSS feeds by using <cffeed/>
• Programmatically retrieve information from a remote server by using <cfhttp/>

9. Managing files

• Upload, read, write, and delete files by using <cffile/> and file functions
• Create directories on an application server by using <cfdirectory/>

10. Tuning application performance

• Manage application performance by using query caching
• Use the <cfcache/> tag to cache static content
• List and describe the use of the <cfthread/> tag and the associated actions: join, run, sleep, and terminate

11. Delivering and presenting information

• Create and manipulate PDF documents by using <cfdocument/> and <cfpdf/>
• Create and manipulate images by using <cfimage/>
• Expose a Rich Text editor by using <cftextarea richText="true"/>