Looking for ColdFusion 2016 CFML language reference as a PDF

[Gary__F]

Hi. If you happen to know where I can find the 2016 CFML language reference PDF, please can you point me to it? I have Googled and browsed and can't find this particular document. It must have existed!

The current online docs are too "advanced" and I need the specific 2016 version. 

Thanks in advance.

Gary.

[BKBK]

https://usermanual.wiki/adobe/coldfusion2016cfmlen.663022365.pdf

[BKBK]

In addition:

https://helpx.adobe.com/pdf/coldfusion_configuring.pdf

[Gary__F]

Thank you for pointing me to that. 👍 I got excited until I clicked on a hyperlink to a CF tag and it took me to Adobe's website to view the online documentation for the tag. I was hoping to get hold of a snapshot of the CF 2016 reference guide, just like they published for CF 11 - the last self-contained PDF guide I could find. I guess Adobe stopped doing that after CF11.
I prefer the online cfdocs.org over Adobe's online docs because it's way faster, but cfdocs excludes referencing historic changes to tags and functions. i.e. an attribute that changed in previous CF releases.

[Charlie Arehart]

Bummer, Gary. I was writing my reply below while I didn't notice you'd replied here acknowledging essentially the same conclusions. I offer a bit more context, if it may help. 

[Charlie Arehart]

Sadly, Gary, there is none and have been none since cf11.

BKBK, what you shared may have seemed the answer but is not. Note how it's only a couple hundred pages. It should be a couple thousand. More specifically, look at the table of contents and its section  on functions, and those starting with a-b, for example.  It's only 3 pages, and if you go to those pages, they merely LIST the function names. Then they have links to the online version of the docs for that function. Same for tags.

As such, it doesn't serve what Gary seeks, as the online version is the latest one for cf2021, not cf2016. These pdfs also therefore don't serve us as a single searchable file for that manual, as was true in cf11 and earlier. It's all quite unfortunate. 

As for the second manual you link to, that's the cf admin guide, not the cfml reference. BTW, there was also a pdf of the developers guide (also a couple thousand pages in its cf11 pdf form), but it now suffers same problem as the cfml reference. 

And those problems stem from the Adobe doc system not supporting the depth that the cf docs use--sometimes being several levels of depth, while the Adobe doc software only supports a few levels of depth. That's also why many cf doc pages online seem to just "stop", without an indication of any next page--though one or more may exist "below" it with lots of valuable content. It's a terrible situation, but the cf team's hands are tied by the Adobe doc team, and no one seems compelled to solve it. 

All that said, Gary, when you say the online reference is "too advanced", you mean merely that you don't want to see what's "not supported" in your version, right? FWIW, the cfml reference (online) does at least indicate when tags/functions and even attributes /arguments have changed per some version. Also, FWIW, the cfdocs.org site does the same, via a different ui. 

Finally, as for your running cf2016, do beware that it got its last update over a year ago. It's risky to be running it. Both cf2018 and 2021 have had two updates since--including security fixes--and they are about to get a third, which cf2016 will never get. Just needs to be said. No need to defend why you can't or won't update. 

[Gary__F]

Hi Charlie,

Adobe have never had decent online docs. In contrast, a PDF is quicker and easier to search within, and as I alluded to it's exclusive for your particular version of CF. i.e. you don't have to look for additional notes checking for support and compatability. Speaking of which, you mentioned cfdocs.org has those additional notes, but I can't see them? Is it hidden away under an extra click?

It took me years to save up for the CF2016 Ent licenses and I have no intention in going bankrupt upgrading to CF2021 for functionality that I won't be using. Our modern firewalls and careful pen tests have done brilliantly in keeping our CF8 powered site safe for the last 15 years. (Hoping not to jinx it now) So this very slow upgrade to CF2016 is actually a very major advancement! 🙂 If I must upgrade again in the future I'd consider Lucee as Adobe's pricing is crazy if your project is poorly funded.

[Charlie Arehart]

Just to be clear, I wasn't praising the online docs. But perhaps you were just commiserating. And I'd praised the value of the pdfs and lamented their demise, so we're on the same page there.

As for "those additional notes" at cfdocs.org, I'm not sensing what you may be looking for. I was saying that they offer indications of what version supports what tags/functions and their attributes/arguments.

As for your decision to remain on 2016, I hear you, and to each his own. I am serving as a lighthouse/foghorn warning of rocks and reefs. Folks are free to trust their boats to navigate the shores, of course.

As for cf pricing, that's a long-debated topic, as you'll know from having been around so long. It's a bargain to some, piracy to others (to stretch my boating analogy). Again, I'm just here to help--either audience. 

[Gary__F]

Yes, I was just agreeing with you about the Adobe docs. 🙂

I get your lighthouse/rocks analogy, you're quite right. I'm glad you're still at the centre of the CF community, I had been out of it for a couple of years.

[Charlie Arehart]

Thanks for the kind regards. Thankfully we do have many "lighthouses" in the community. 

[BKBK]

Should that be the wrong documentation, my apologies. I saw it is a PDF, browsed the leading pages and verified it has the Adobe logo. Could this still be fake news? 🙂

I doubt it. @Gary__F , I too suspect what you suspect: "I guess Adobe stopped doing that after CF11". It looks like it. Adobe probably stopped publishing the large CFML-Reference PDFs we're accustomed to after CF11.

As a check, I visited a second site, the Adobe page at Central-Manuals.com. There I found the following CFML-Reference PDFs: CF9 (1594 pages), CF10 (1712 pages), CF11 (3053 pages), CF2016 (271 pages). I have attached the CF2016 PDF here.

[BKBK]

Backward-compatibility is a big thing in ColdFusion. So the CF11 CFML Reference PDF, which you presumably have, is largely applicable to CF2016.

The CF2016 Feature PDF contains What's-New-in-CF2016. If you combined both you would get a CF2016 CFML Reference document of sorts.

[Gary__F]

Thanks BKBK. That's probably the best approach to take.

The best CF docs I've ever had were the CF 3.1 version from Allaire. I've still got the original box somewhere - the days when software was more of a physical experience first. 🙂

Gary.