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Client variable planning

Using a series of methods and options, you can manage client variables in the following ways:

 

The method you use to store client variables depends on various factors. The following table describes some considerations:

 

Storage type

Advantages

Disadvantages

System Registry

  • Simple implementation

  • Good performance

  • Easy to export registry to other systems

  • Server-side control

  • For Windows, must be aware of the registry's maximum size limit as defined in the System Control Panel

  • Tied to the host system; not practical for clustered servers or a round-robin DNS configuration

  • Not recommended for production applications

Browser Cookies

  • Simple implementation

  • Good performance

  • Can set to expire automatically

  • Client-side control

  • Users can disallow cookies in their browser

  • ColdFusion limits individual cookie data to 4 KB

  • Netscape Navigator allows only 20 cookies from any host; ColdFusion uses 3 cookies to store read-only data, which leaves 17 cookies available

External Repository

  • Can use existing data source

  • Portable: not tied to a server

  • OS portability in a mixed environment

 

  • Requires database transactions to read/write variables

  • Somewhat involved implementation

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