FuseBox developers have created extensive standards for documenting ColdFusion FuseBox applications, particularly in the context of collaborative application development. If you have extensive documentation needs, we recommend the FuseDoc tutorial by Hal Helms. This page provides recommendations for basic documentation needs.

Documentation for applications is generally included in the ColdFusion files themselves, mainly because they are most likely to be around in the future when the documentation is needed. Documentation is included as a comment using the <!--- and ---> tags. Documentation for a CFML file should contain some or all of the following information:

1. Responsibilities: A description of what the file does or is responsible for providing in the context of the application.

2. Author

3. Edits: A list of edits performed to the file after it has been put in production.

4. Variables: A list of variables and parameters that the file uses. The FuseDoc standard suggests the following key for labeling variables:

--> An incoming value
<-- A value that the file passes out
<-> A value that is passed in and out without changing
++> A persistent value such as a session or client variable
<++ A persistent value created by the file
+++ An included file

Enclose optional items in [square brackets].

The following is an example of documentation for a file that verifies a login submitted on a form:

<!---

Responsibilities: I make sure that the Username and Password provided by the user match a record in the Users table. If so, I set the variable Session.Authenticated to True and show a confirmation page. If not, I set Session.Authenticated to False and redirect the user back to the login page with a parameter ErrorMessage containing the nature of the error.

Author: Jane Doe

Edits: None

Variables:

--> Username

--> Password

++> Application.DatasourceName

<-- [ErrorMessage]

<++ Session.Authenticated

--->