Chapter 20. Working with Sessions

IN THIS CHAPTER

Addressing the Web's Statelessness 569

Using Cookies to Remember Preferences 572

Using Client Variables 580

Using Session Variables 593

Locking Revisited 614

Working with onSessionStart and onSessionEnd 616

In the last chapter, "Introducing the Web Application Framework," you learned about application variables, which live in your ColdFusion server's memory between page requests. You also learned that application variables are shared between all pages in your application. There are plenty of uses for application variables, but because they aren't maintained separately for each user, they don't go far in helping you create a personalized site experience.

This chapter continues the discussion of the Web application framework, focusing on the features that let you track variables on a per-user basis. This opens up all kinds of opportunities for keeping track of what each user needs, wants, has seen, or is interacting with. And in true ColdFusion style, it's all very easy to learn and use.