Being the sloppy coder that I am, I often get to see the myriad of Coldfusion Error messages to indicate what I did wrong.
Below is a partial list.
Truncated Data – If you get truncation errors it generally means one of your data entry fields is too large for the database. You can fix this by using maxlength for cfinput tags, or by using javascript to count the number of characters input into text fields. Be sure to allow for regex or formatting changes to the data before insert.
SQL Errors – Coldfusion is fairly good at identifying SQL statement errors especially for invalid column names and basic syntax errors. It does not do so well with forgotten commas or mixed SQL + CFTags at identifying why variables are not passed or used in the statement.
Java Heap Space – If you have large data and or a multitude of dynamic variables you will get this error sooner or later. You may have to break down your queries into logical chunks and process smaller result tables.
variables/pages/cfms not found – Generally occurs with bad includes or links that have been moved or renamed. It can also indicate problems with your server if directories seem to not be available at peak load times. It can also indicate that the Application.cfc is not available to that cfm. Sometimes occurs when users hit back button rather than reloading page.
Form Variable not found – Sometimes you put a variable on the form that is not required for processing. It is good to get into the habit of creating a default for that variable so that if called for after submitting the error will not occur.
Time out message – Some long running queries take longer during peak times than they do when no one is on the server. You can increase the time allowed from the standard server setting by using the cfsetting requesttimeout=”secs” tag attributes where timeout is based in seconds; ie requesttimeout=”600″ is 10 minutes.
