When developing a ColdFusion web application in Dreamweaver, you connect to a database by selecting a ColdFusion data source defined in Dreamweaver or in ColdFusion Administrator, the server’s management console.

Before connecting to a database, you must set up a ColdFusion web application. You must also set up a database on your local computer or on a system to which you have network or FTP access.

Make sure that Dreamweaver knows where to find the ColdFusion data sources. To retrieve the ColdFusion data sources at design time, Dreamweaver places scripts in a folder on the computer running ColdFusion. You must specify this folder in the Testing Server category of the Site Definition dialog box.

Next, you must create a ColdFusion data source in Dreamweaver or in ColdFusion Administrator (if one doesn’t already exist). After creating a ColdFusion data source, you can use it in Dreamweaver to connect to the database.