<!--- Gateway id --->
<cfset gateway_id="jabber cfdocs">

<!--- Status options
Bit off a hack needed because the
strings returned by getStatusAsString()
are not the same as the ones passed to
setStatus().
--->
<cfset status_options="ONLINE,AWAY,DND,NA,FREE_TO_CHAT">
<cfset status_display="ONLINE,AWAY,DO NOT DISTURB,NOT AVAILABLE,FREE TO CHAT">

<!--- Get the GatewayHelper --->
<cfset helper=getGatewayHelper(gateway_id)>

<!--- If form post is present --->
<cfif IsDefined("FORM.status_new")>
<cfset helper.setStatus(ListGetAt(status_options, status_new), "")>
</cfif>

<!--- Get current status --->
<cfset status=helper.getStatusAsString()>

<cfoutput>
<!--- Display current status --->
<h3>Status: #status#</h3>

<!--- Form to change status --->
<form action="#CGI.SCRIPT_NAME#" method="post">

<!--- Loop through status options --->
<cfloop index="o" from="1" to="#ListLen(status_options)#">
<input type="radio" name="status_new" value="#o#"
<cfif ListGetAt(status_display, o) is status>checked</cfif>
onChange="submit()">#ListGetAt(status_display, o)#<br>
</cfloop>

</form>

</cfoutput>

This is a pretty simple example. The gateway id is defined, as are lists containing the status values returned by and passed to the GatewayHelper methods. Next, GetGatewayHelper() is used to obtain a GatewayHelper object. The form in this little app is self-posting, and if a new status has been specified, helper.setStatus() is used to set the status (which will immediately be reflected in relevant buddy lists). The code then uses helper.getStatusAsString() to obtain the current status, and then displays a form used to change the status.

This is just a simple example, and there are lots of other GatewayHelper methods, too. Some are informational, like numberOfMessagesReceived() which returns the number of received inbound messages, and isOnline() which indicates whether or not the gateway is online and connected. Others are used to control buddy lists, including getBuddyList() which returns the buddy list, getBuddyInfo() which returns information about a buddy, and addBuddy() and removeBuddy() which do exactly what their names suggest. The full list of GatewayHelper methods for IM gateway types is included in the ColdFusion documentation (in the ColdFusion MX Event Gateway Reference section). Other gateway types may have other helper methods, consult the relevant gateway documentation to determine which methods are available to you.

Managing Session State
The last topic to discuss is session state management. Fortunately, there is not much to discuss. If ColdFusion session state management is enabled then you can use the SESSION scope in your bot code as you would in any other applications.

It is worth noting that although you may use SESSION just as you would in a web application, ColdFusion uses a different mechanism to identify sessions. In web applications ColdFusion uses a jsessionid or a cfid/cftoken pair (in cookies or URL parameters) to identify sessions, and these are passed back and forth with each request. There are no cookies or URL parameters to be passed back and forth when using IM, and so ColdFusion uses a combination of gateway id, gateway type, and the originator id (sender's buddy name) to identify sessions. And this is all handled internally by ColdFusion, you can just use sessions as you usually would, and it'll just work.

Summary
And there you have it, all you need to know to create your own IM bots, one example of the type of integration made possible but event gateways in ColdFusion MX 7 Enterprise. Have fun with this one, and if you do bring a public bot online, be sure to let me know about it.