Migrating from ColdFusion 5 or Earlier to ColdFusion 8

I am regularly asked about the process of moving applications from ColdFusion 5 or earlier releases (ColdFusion 4.5, ColdFusion 4, etc.) to ColdFusion 8. Nowhere else is there good consolidated information on the subject so, with some help from the excellent Adobe ColdFusion Support Team, I have compiled this information:

First and foremost, to set things up: as noted in the following link, ColdFusion 5 or earlier to ColdFusion 8 is not a valid upgrade path:

• http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/upgrade [UPDATE: with the release of ColdFusion 9, this link has been updated to pertain to upgrading to ColdFusion 9--please consider migrating or upgrading to ColdFusion 9!]

However, you can still migrate your ColdFusion applications from ColdFusion 5 to ColdFusion 8. Note that unlike the valid upgrade paths available for moving from ColdFusion MX 6.x and 7.x to ColdFusion 8, migrating from ColdFusion 5 to ColdFusion 8 does not allow for automated migration of ColdFusion settings like datasources, mappings, custom tag paths, and so on; instead, you must migrate your ColdFusion 5 settings to ColdFusion 8 manually.

Below you will find a number of resources that will be helpful in the process of migrating from ColdFusion 5 to ColdFusion 8:

"Migrating Applications to ColdFusion MX 7" is an incredibly valuable resource and although it was unfortunately not updated for ColdFusion 8, to a large extent that's because there really wasn't any need: the concerns involved when migrating from ColdFusion 5 to ColdFusion 8 are (with possibly some small exceptions that don't come to mind right now) the same as those involved when migrating from ColdFusion 5 to ColdFusion MX 7:

• http://download.macromedia.com/pub/documentation/en/coldfusion/mx7/cfmx7_migrating.pdf

Although this article was written for migration to ColdFusion MX, which is 2 full releases earlier than ColdFusion 8, many of the topics covered will apply to ColdFusion 8 as well:

• http://www.adobe.com/devnet/coldfusion/articles/migration_overview.html [UPDATE: this link is no longer active.]

The previous link also mentions the Code Compatibility Analyzer. You can use the ColdFusion Code Compatibility Analyzer to determine if your code is valid for ColdFusion 8:

• http://livedocs.adobe.com/coldfusion/8/htmldocs/basiconfig_24.html
• http://livedocs.adobe.com/coldfusion/8/htmldocs/Debug_18.html

I recommend also this link for ensuring your migration from ColdFusion 5 will at least be compatible with ColdFusion MX:

• http://livedocs.adobe.com/coldfusion/6/Migrating_ColdFusion_5_Applications/cf_migration_guide.htm

I recommend reviewing the tag and function changes to ColdFusion. Be sure to note the addition of functions with names that collide with user-defined functions in your code (for instance, ColdFusion 8 introduced the isImage() function; if your code has a user-defined function called isImage() you will need to change the name of that user-defined function and all references to it in your code before upgrading to ColdFusion 8):

• http://livedocs.adobe.com/coldfusion/8/htmldocs/Tags-pt0_21.html
• http://livedocs.adobe.com/coldfusion/8/htmldocs/functions-pt0_22.html

You may also wish to check the CFML Language History:

• http://www.adobe.com/go/tn_18791 [UPDATE: this link is no longer active.]

It's very important to read the release notes in case some might apply to your environment:

• http://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/coldfusion/releasenotes.html

Many of these upgrading best practices from Adobe's Sarge Sargent's blog will certainly apply:

• http://www.sargeway.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=6DBD3FC6-C29F-05EC-8BC78715AD424685

For even more helpful info, visit this blog post from Charlie Arehart:

• http://www.carehart.org/blog/client/index.cfm/2009/8/10/cf8_migration_resources

And finally, when you're ready to install ColdFusion 8, you'll want to review the "Installing and Using ColdFusion" documentation:

• http://livedocs.adobe.com/coldfusion/8/htmldocs/Part_1_Installing_1.html (HTML LiveDocs version, containing comments from users and Adobe employees)
• http://livedocs.adobe.com/coldfusion/8/install.pdf (PDF version with no comments)

Still have questions? First, visit the Installation section of the ColdFusion Support Center. If you can't find your answer there, feel free to contact me or, particularly if your question is one you believe would benefit other readers of this post, add a comment on this post.

One final note: Adobe offers implementation consulting for a fee; if you would like more information on this offering, please contact me.