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Entries Tagged as ColdFusion Builder

Special ColdFusion Builder Tour Events

March 05, 2010 · 1 Comment

For some reason, the ColdFusion Team is going on a tour in March and April, to spread the word about ColdFusion Builder, which is currently in public beta 3 on labs.adobe.com.

I'm hitting two cities for now; some other dates are still in talks:

Dallas
March 24, 2010 7:30PM - 10:00PM
To RSVP

Philadelphia
March 30, 2010 6:00PM - 7:00PM
To RSVP

I'm extremely excited about both of these events. I hit Dallas on the last year's User Group and they did a completely kick ass event with the Flex Group. As for Philly, it's where I live, and I haven't been to an event here since I've worked for Adobe. I'm always somewhere else, but not this time.

I've got some cool stuff to show, and I can't wait to see you all.

→ 1 Comment Tags: ColdFusion · Appearances · ColdFusion Builder

ColdFusion Builder Extension Using Flex

March 05, 2010 · No Comments

So, buried in the documentation around ColdFusion Builder is the fact that you can write extensions in Flex. I decided to fool around with this for a bit.

If you want to skip all of the demo and explanation and just try it out, feel free to pull down the extension:

Builder Stats at RIAForge

 

Builder Stats - ColdFusion Extension with Flex from Terry Ryan on Vimeo.

 

So doing it is pretty easy on the Builder side:

  • Create a remote service CFC for all of the information that you want to expose to Flex
  • Have your ColdFusion Builder extension pass information to the Flex generated SWF
    • Pass any variables to the SWF just like you would pass URL variables

On the Flex side:

  • Pull in the remote service cfc as a WSDL* using Flash Builder's Data/Services
  • Write your Flex app to use the services that get created
  • Alter the generated ActionScript classes to use a WSDL that is passed into the SWF via the URL (Flash Params)

One more thing:

I'm not sure if this is a Flex thing, a ColdFusion thing, an OS thing, a webservices thing, or a me being dumb thing, but the automatically generated WSDL for my remote service CFC was different on Windows and Mac. Consequently the SWF could call the Mac hosted WSDL but not the Windows hosts WSDL. My solution? Create a static WSDL file that had the service spelled both ways. Maybe a hack but worked like charm.

Anyway, if you want to see the code, it's available on github:

*WSDL? Why not Flash Remoting (or ColdFusion in the Data/Services list)? Remoting needs to be configured to each system's configuration, and isn't very discoverable. WSDL doesn't require knowing about the Extension user's AMF setup; it just uses a URL, which can be easily discovered.

 

→ No Comments Tags: git · ColdFusion Builder Extensions · Flash Builder · Flash · ColdFusion · Flex · ColdFusion Builder

Builder Extension using HTML

February 03, 2010 · 1 Comment

One of the cooler features of ColdFusion Builder's extension tooling is the ability to create extensions that are driven with HTML/JS/CSS instead of with the default XML options. I think this has a few advantages:

  • Allows interface options enabled by the XML options
  • Allows better branded extensions via CSS and background images
  • Allows you to develop/debug your extensions like normal web applications

This is pretty easy to enable. Normally you would have code like this in your handler to communicate back to the IDE:

<cfheader name="Content-Type" value="text/xml">
<response status="success" showresponse="true">
    <ide >
        <dialog width="600" height="400" />
        <body>
            <![CDATA[
                Some Response
            ]]>
        </body>
    </ide>
</response>

Instead you pass a URL parameter to the ide tag in your extension handler:

<cfheader name="Content-Type" value="text/xml">
<cfoutput> 
<response showresponse="true"> 
    <ide url="http://localhost/extension/handler.cfm?configPath=#configPath#" > 
        <dialog width="655" height="600" /> 
    </ide> 
</response> 
</cfoutput>

As you can see it can even handle URL variables.

Now, where I ran into trouble with this was with the URL itself. Basically you can't be sure of the URL when dealing with extensions. It could be localhost, but it just as easily could be on a remote server. So I was all clever and wrote some code to handle this:

<cfset baseURL = "http://" & cgi.server_name  />
<cfset messagesPath = getDirectoryFromPath(cgi.script_name) & "/messages.cfm" />
<cfset messagesOptions = "?type=notanapplication" />
<cfset messagesURL = baseURL  & messagesPath & messagesOptions >

 

You see, this will give me the correct URL to use to pass information to a template named "messages.cfm" that sits in the same folder as my handler. I use CGI variables to grab the server information. Then I use getDirectoryFromPath to make sure that I get the real relative path of the folder that the extension is sitting in (as opposed to assuming that it lives in the webroot). This works great.

Except I got reports of one of my extensions not working at all for some people. Look at that code again… There's another big assumption there. The assumption is that the extension is being called over the default http port, which for many ColdFusion developers it isn't. So the correct version of this code goes:

<cfset baseURL = "http://" & cgi.server_name & ":" & cgi.server_port />
<cfset messagesPath = getDirectoryFromPath(cgi.script_name) & "/messages.cfm" />
<cfset messagesOptions = "?type=notanapplication" />
<cfset messagesURL = baseURL  & messagesPath & messagesOptions >

Doing this you can be sure that you hit the right URL regardless of:

  • Server hostname
  • Server http port
  • Relative location of extension to the webroot

Happy extension building.

→ 1 Comment Tags: ColdFusion Builder Extensions · ColdFusion · ColdFusion Builder

Apptacular Update and Video

February 02, 2010 · 3 Comment s

I know I've been quiet of late. But I've been working.

You see a few weeks ago I had this checklist up on the site:

  • Make sure apptacular_blog database works on MySQL on MAC.
  • Make sure apptacular_blog database works on MySQL on PC.
  • Make sure sakila database works on MySQL on MAC.
  • Make sure sakila database works on MySQL on PC.
  • Make sure apptacular_blog database works on MSSQL on MAC.
  • Make sure apptacular_blog database works on MSSQL on PC.
  • Make sure adventureworks database works on MSSQL on MAC.
  • Make sure adventureworks database works on MSSQL on PC.
  • Fix major issues in code readability.
  • Start Document how to work with Apptacular

See those AdventureWorks database items? They nearly killed me and made me want to stop work on Apptacular. AdventureWorks is like a cruel Double Dare obstacle course for code generation:

  • Composite primary keys
  • Composite foreign keys
  • Composite primary keys that are also foreign keys
  • Custom Datatypes
  • Constraints (Really only affected unit testing).

I came through, and now I can give you this list:

  • Make sure apptacular_blog database works on MySQL on MAC.
  • Make sure apptacular_blog database works on MySQL on PC.
  • Make sure sakila database works on MySQL on MAC.
  • Make sure sakila database works on MySQL on PC.
  • Make sure apptacular_blog database works on MSSQL on MAC.
  • Make sure apptacular_blog database works on MSSQL on PC.
  • Make sure adventureworks database works on MSSQL on MAC.
  • Make sure adventureworks database works on MSSQL on PC.
  • Fix major issues in code readability.
  • Start Document how to work with Apptacular

So that's where I am. A few of you asked if you could get your hands on Apptacular and I would be happy to distribute it to individuals. I'm not ready for general availability yet though.

And as a final note, I thought I would share this feature with you: Apptacular can model CRUD for image fields in your database.

Apptacular ColdFusion Builder Extension - Working with Images from Terry Ryan on Vimeo.

→ 3 Comment s Tags: ColdFusion Builder Extensions · ColdFusion · ColdFusion Builder

Builder Stats

January 27, 2010 · 7 Comment s

You may have seen my previous posts about Apptacular. I'm getting pretty far along in it, and I wanted to figure out how many lines of code I had written, you know, for my only curiosity's sake. There's no easy way of doing this, but I figured that this was the perfect excuse to build another extension.

So basically I wrote an extension that will count every nonblank line in every file in a targeted folder. It then groups those line counts by folder, extension, and then just all files.

This extension isn't going to change anyone's life. But it's a great example of the fact that ColdFusion Builder extensions remove barriers to entry for this sort of thing. If I had to drop to Java to extend this in Eclipse I would have never done it - too much work for too little reward. But with ColdFusion Builder extensions in ColdFusion there's very little cost to indulging in this sort of experiment:

  • 10 minutes to write the base code
  • 10 minutes to turn it into an extension
  • 1 hour getting the formatting right to share publicly. (CSS is sadly harder then ColdFusion)

Feel free to use it, and improve on it: BuilderStats at RIAForge.

→ 7 Comment s Tags: ColdFusion Builder Extensions · ColdFusion · ColdFusion Builder

Apptacular Plans

December 21, 2009 · 3 Comment s

A few people have asked: When will Apptacular be released?

Short answer: I don't know.

Long answer: I have a plan. Read on.

Before I release Apptacular, I want to make sure that it's solid. Right now it works with the database I have but I know it will fall down when it hits a "real" database. The fix for that problem is to run it against demo databases that come with various RDBMSs. I'm targeting sakila for MySQL and AdventureWorks for MSSQL.

Also the source is somewhat hard to follow. There is no documentation. Most people won't give a project a second look unless the documentation can at least get them started. Most potential contributors won't even try to jump in unless the source is manageable.

So to those ends I have sort of a checklist to go through before I release the extension and code:

  • Make sure apptacular_blog database works on MySQL on MAC.
  • Make sure apptacular_blog database works on MySQL on PC.
  • Make sure sakila database works on MySQL on MAC.
  • Make sure sakila database works on MySQL on PC.
  • Make sure apptacular_blog database works on MSSQL on MAC.
  • Make sure apptacular_blog database works on MSSQL on PC.
  • Make sure adventureworks database works on MSSQL on MAC.
  • Make sure adventureworks database works on MSSQL on PC.
  • Fix major issues in code readability.
  • Start Document how to work with Apptacular

So I'll keep you all up to date on where it is. If you want to test it ahead of time, and are willing to deal with bugs, then drop me a line in the comments.

→ 3 Comment s Tags: ColdFusion Builder Extensions · ColdFusion · ColdFusion Builder

Apptacular ColdFusion Builder Extension - Unit Tests

December 18, 2009 · 2 Comment s

I just cannot get enough of making videos for Apptacular it seems. This latest one is about unit tests, specifically MXUnit tests. I need to test if Apptacular is creating applications properly. I wrote up some traditional unit tests for my code, but I really need to test the code that Apptacular makes. So I got it to generate unit tests that help me determine if the applications that Apptacular creates actually work. However, in the process I have to wire up a few things that make it really easy for you to get started writing unit tests in your applications. So it's a win-win.

The generator does some smart things like wiring up ORM tests that test across many-to-one relationships. (I haven't figured out how to do one-to-many or many-to-many yet.) Anyway, check out the video.

Apptacular ColdFusion Builder Extension - Unit Test from Terry Ryan on Vimeo.

→ 2 Comment s Tags: ColdFusion Builder Extensions · ColdFusion · ColdFusion Builder

ColdFusion Builder for Dreamweaver Shops

December 17, 2009 · 6 Comment s

I was asked on Facebook today: "Hi, is this builder applicable if you are a DreamWeaver shop? Looks interesting. I see it uses eclipse. I'm trying to see the value in looking at it."

This is a great question, and like most the answer is: it depends.

If you are a Dreamweaver shop because Dreamweaver has traditionally included ColdFusion support, and is a more capable solution then other actively developed ColdFusion editor choices to date, then ColdFusion Builder is definitely for you. We definitely go beyond what Dreamweaver can offer in terms of ColdFusion support. If Dreamweaver is simply "good enough" for your ColdFusion development, but you don't leverage all of the HTML GUI goodness that Dreamweaver has to offer, then ColdFusion Builder is definitely for you.

If you are doing complex DOM manipulation in your front-ends and really need to be able to drill into those manipulations or if you use Design view a great deal in your development process then Dreamweaver may still be the product for you.

Here's a little feature comparison chart to help you out.

ColdFusion Builder ID Comparisons

Update:  The origianal version of this chart failed to recognize that Homesite had FTP support.  Sorry about that. I thought I had fixed that.  Also Homesite had a way of being extended via VTML. Dreamweaver is extensible via JavaScript.  However neither are/were extensible via CFML.

→ 6 Comment s Tags: Dreamweaver · ColdFusion · ColdFusion Builder

ColdFusion Builder Beta 3 Released

December 17, 2009 · No Comments

Just to join the chorus, ColdFusion Beta 3 has been released on Labs today. 

Okay, stop reading this and just download it already: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/coldfusionbuilder/

→ No Comments Tags: ColdFusion · ColdFusion Builder

Apptacular ColdFusion Builder Extension - Working with Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder

December 16, 2009 · No Comments

For my next Extension trick, I want to show how to use Apptacular to jump start your Flex development. Apptacular by default creates remote services that are compatible with Flex. Flash Builder 4 has a new tool called "Data/Services" that makes working with ColdFusion remote services simplistic. Too simplistic. "Oh crap, what happens if my boss finds out I have all of this free time now" simplistic.

This demo will take you from a Flash Catalyst driven front-end to a Flex application back-ended by Apptacular created ColdFusion services.

Apptacular ColdFusion Builder Extension - Flash Builder and Flash Catalyst from Terry Ryan on Vimeo.

→ No Comments Tags: ColdFusion Builder Extensions · ColdFusion · ColdFusion Builder