Product comparison
TerraForm is designed to make creation of good-quality forms easier. Here's a quick comparison with some other technologies.
| HTML forms | CFForm () | CFForm (Flash) | TerraForm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Server? | Any | Any ColdFusion | ColdFusion 7+ | ColdFusion 5+ |
| Cross-browser compatible? | Yes | Yes (may require Java) | Yes (requires Flash) | Yes (better with JavaScript) |
| File upload | Basic | Basic | No support | Advanced * |
| Consistent form field markup? | No | No | No | Yes |
| Rich interactive widgets? | No | Some, Java-based | Some, Flash-based † | Yes, dHTML |
| Security features? | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Validation? | No | Client-side (JavaScript) with limited server-side | Client-side (Flash) with limited server-side | Advanced server-side, integrates with qForms for client-side ‡ |
| Accessibility features? | Manual | Manual | Limited | Automatic |
| Internationalization / localization? | No | No | Limited, manual §§ | Yes (automatic) |
| Extensibility? | n/a | No | No | Yes |
| Automatic insertion of existing data? | No | No | No | Yes |
| Skill level | Beginner | Beginner | Beginner | Features range from Beginner to Medium |
*
File upload is a weakness of many -based forms, due to lack of data persistence when an invalid form is returned to the user. TerraForm supports persistent file-upload fields, including validation, thumbnail previews, and automatic storage. As at CFMX 7, Flash forms have no file upload support at all.
†
As at 7, some desirable widgets are missing, such as a POP-up date picker.
‡
TerraForm lets you validate your data using four different technique, to provide both ease of implementation and power.
§§
For example, you may specify Date or Eurodate validation and you may set the day and month names manually.
qForms
A JavaScript forms API featuring client-side validation. TerraForm includes support for qForms as a convenient way to add client-side validation to your forms. qForms is a product of PengoWorks.