Developing ColdFusion Applications
Indexing and Searching Data

Managing Collections

As with any data source, the maintenance requirements of a Verity collection are dictated by the number, frequency, and type of changes that occur in the records. You can run maintenance routines directly from either the cfcollection or cfindex tags or via the Administrator Verity Collections page. For more information on this topic, see the Knowledge Base article "Maintaining Collections" (ID# 1080) at http://www.coldfusion.com/Support/KnowledgeBase/SearchForm.cfm.

The easiest way to perform collection management tasks is to create a ColdFusion page that runs the operations, and then add the task on the Administrator Scheduler page. The page presents a wide range of scheduling options.

Maintenance options

Choose an option based on the following function descriptions:

• Repair Runs internal Verity routines to fix corrupted records. If you suspect a collection is corrupted, it is probably safest to repopulate it.
• Optimize Packs the indexed data for better performance. You can use this procedure, which is similar to database optimization, as part of routine maintenance.

  You should not use the Optimize action in a cfindex tag except to maintain legacy code. The cfcollection tag is recommended instead. For more information on this command, see the Knowledge Base article "How To Optimize Your Verity Collection" (ID# 416) at http://www.coldfusion.com/Support/KnowledgeBase/SearchForm.cfm.

• Purge Removes all data marked for deletion from a collection.
• Delete as the cfindex action attribute Marks for deletion the specified key attribute value, or comma-separated values, from the collection. Use Purge to remove these items.
• Delete on the Administrator Verity Collections page or in cfcollection Deletes the entire collection.
• Update Repopulates the collection with changed records and new records and adds a key if one is not part of the collection. This operation does not delete records that have been deleted from the data source. To update a collection from the Administrator Verity main page, select a collection on the list, click Index, and then click Update on the index page.
• Refresh (cfindex action attribute only) Deletes all data and repopulates the collection.

Securing a collection

Scenarios for restricting access to a Verity collection include:

• The ColdFusion Administrator might need to specify developer access to collections.
• A public site might need to limit user access to collections.

To restrict access to a collection, follow these steps:

1. In the ColdFusion Administrator, click the Security tab and select Advanced Security > Security Configuration.
2. Select the Use Advanced Server Security box.
3. Click the Submit Changes button.
4. Click the Security Contexts button.
5. Enter a name for the secured collection and click Add Security Context.
6. (Optional) Enter a description for the secured collection.
7. Select Collection on the Enable Security for Resource Types list.
8. Click Add.

You can then develop an appropriate authentication interface to allow access to the secured collection.

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