ColdFusion CGI variables and Spiders
What's wrong with this bit of code?
1<cfset languages = CGI.HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE>
Well nothing as long as the page is viewed with a browser. However a cgi variable in your code may not exist if a spider rather than a browser looks at your site. This includes spiders like google. Your site may not be indexed by search engines if you don't handle CGI variables correctly.
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Testing for CGI variables
Because some browsers do not support some CGI variables, ColdFusion always returns True when it tests for the existence of a CGI variable, regardless of whether the browser supports the variable. To determine if the CGI variable is available, test for an empty string, as shown in the following example:
<cfif CGI.varname IS NOT "">
CGI variable exists
<cfelse>
CGI variable does not exist
</cfif>