How To: Install ColdFusion on IIS 7 in Windows and Vista. (No more 500 errors!)

After much head scratching I finally got ColdFusion working on my Windows 7 computer.   I've also done this process on windows Vista so I know it works for both Operating Systems.   If you install IIS 7 with its default options on 7/Vista and run the ColdFusion 8 or ColdFusion 9 installer you will get a funny little 500 server error when the installer tries to run the post-installation scripts on your server.

The solution is very simple, all you have to do is enable CGI and ISAPI in IIS!  The following instructions apply to Windows 7 however they are very similar in Vista.

1. Open Control Panel -> Programs
2. Select "Turn Windows features on or off"
3. If "Internet Information Services" is not already selected make sure you select it.
4. Expand the "Internet Information Services" Node
5. Expand the "World Wide Web Services" Node
6. Expand the "Application Development Features" Node
7. Check "CGI", "ISAPI Extentions", and "ISAPI Filters"
8. Hit "OK"
9. If you have the ColdFusion post-installation screen still open in your browser "refresh" it.
10. If you don't still have the screen open re-install ColdFusion and this time the post-installation script should run just fine.

ColdFusion 9 Still a Macromedia product?

I know its not but  look at this error I received today on my local machine ruining ColdFusion 9.  As I was waiting for ColdFusion to start I grew impatient and tried to pull up a template while the server was still starting and got this error message:

Local Websever + Port 80 + Skype = Fail!

On my local development environment I run both IIS or Apache depending on weather I'm doing ColdFusion or PHP development.  I run both of those servers on port 80 and use manual scripts to start them.  I recently installed Skype on my development box and afterwards none of my local servers were starting properly!

I ran a netstat - ab and found that Skype was listening on port 80!  Looking at the Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Connection setting in Skype I found a little checkbox that says:  "Use port 80 and 443 as alternatives for incoming connections."  I unchecked this box and my webservers started again!

ColdFusion CFInvoke Eliminates The Need For Evaluate() When Dynamically Executing User Defined Functions

This came in very handy for me today.

ColdFusion CFInvoke Eliminates The Need For Evaluate() When Dynamically Executing User Defined Functions

We are looking to hire a new ColdFusion developer and I'm looking for some fresh ideas on interview questions.

We are looking to bring on a new Junior or Intermediate ColdFusion developer to help code a few large projects we have coming up.   I've conducted about 8 ColdFusion interviews and have a standard set of questions that I usually ask but I'd like some feedback from the community.

What are some questions you guys typically ask CF candidates?  What kinds of things are you looking for in a prospect?