This document uses the following terms when referring to event gateways:
Event A trigger that ColdFusion can receive from an external source. ColdFusion event gateways receive events.
Message The information provided by an event. In ColdFusion MX, a message is the data structure that the event gateway receives when an event is triggered.
Event gateway Java code that receives events and sends them to and from ColdFusion MX application code. This document uses the term event gateway, without the word type or instance, to refer to the general concept of a ColdFusion event gateway. Where the context makes the meaning obvious, the term can also refer to event gateway type or event gateway instance.
Event gateway type A specific event gateway implementation, represented by a Java class. Each event gateway type handles messages belonging to a particular a communications method or protocol, such as short message service (SMS), an instant messaging protocol, or Sockets. You generally have one event gateway type per communication protocol. You configure each event gateway type on the Gateway Types page in the Event Gateways area in the ColdFusion MX Administrator.
Event gateway instance A specific instance of an event gateway type class. You configure each event gateway instance on the ColdFusion MX Gateways page by specifying the event gateway type, an ID, the path to the event gateway application CFC that uses this instance, and a configuration file (if needed for the selected event gateway type). You can have multiple event gateway instances per event gateway type, for example, for different event gateway applications.
Event gateway application One or more CFCs and any supporting CFM pages that handle events from an event gateway instance and send messages using the event gateway instance. The event gateway application is not part of an event gateway instance, but the code that is responsible for processing event messages to and from the instance.
Event gateway listener Code in an event gateway that receives events from an event source and passes them to the ColdFusion MX gateway service for delivery to a CFML listener CFC.
Listener CFC A CFC that contains one or more methods that respond to incoming messages from one or more event gateway instances. Part of an event gateway application.
ColdFusion MX gateway service The part of ColdFusion that provides underlying support for event gateways, including a path between an event gateway instance and listener CFCs.