ColdFusioning

Need Multiple EMail Addresses For Testing?

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:08:00 -0400

Many times when we're debugging software or testing new functionality, we need to use an email address to register, over and over. Well, rather than create multiple accounts over and over, you can just use Gmail.

Let's say your email address is:

james@gmail.com
(it's not because they require 6 letter minimum so this is a good example)

If you append a plus sign (+) after your username, but before the @, you can enter any number or combination of characters and you will still receive the email at your normal Gmail address. For example:

james+test@gmail.com
james+test1@gmail.com
james+test2@gmail.com
james+testOneMillion@gmail.com

All of these would be delivered to james@gmail.com and save you from having to create one million email addresses.

ColdFusion / Railo Object Relational Mapping - ORM Source Code and Notes

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:53:00 -0400

Tonight I gave a presentation on using ORM with ColdFusion or Railo. You can watch the recorded presentation on Adobe Connect. As promised, I'm publishing the source code from the meeting.

Since the code uses ColdBox and a database, it requires some setup. If you follow the steps below, you'll be able to get setup to run the examples:

Setup ColdBox with a mapping ("/coldbox") to the ColdBox source
(I'm using Version 3115)
Unzip the source files to a empty directory
Setup a new site (I'm using "http://office.scribble/" in the examples)
In ColdFusion Admin
- Setup a mapping "scribble" that points at the directory
- Create a datasource pointing at a new database
Update Application.cfc with the new datasource (line 24)
Call the application from the browser

At this point, you should see the ColdBox version number and a list of actions. You'll want to run the "Reload" link first so the tables are all created. I'm not sure why, but if you receive an error on the "Reload" page, refresh the browser a couple times and I'll complete properly.

If you have problems setting up ColdBox, please refer to the ColdBox Documentation at http://wiki.coldbox.org/

Most of the code you'll be utilizing is in either /handlers/dev/ or /model/objects/

Also, I added a deleteContact example that wasn't covered in the presentation. It should be pretty self explanatory.

Lastly, this code is a basis to build on and should not be used in a production environment.

If you have any questions or problems, please leave a comment below.

Download Source Code

Object Relational Mapping (ORM) in ColdFusion 9 and Railo Free Presentation

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:47:00 -0400

Tomorrow night I will be presenting on using ORM with ColdFusion and Railo. We'll be looking at the concepts behind ORM but will also be exploring code samples and practical, real-world utilization of ORM.

The presentation will be in Tampa, FL and will also be offered via Adobe Acrobat Connect. That's right, we'll be broadcasting live and accepting questions from remote attendees!

If you ever have wondered what ORM was and how you could use it or if you're already using ORM but would like to learn more and solidify your understanding, this is the presentation to attend.

View more information or register over on Meetup.

ColdFusion Now Supports Multiple Data Sources for ORM

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:05:00 -0400

With the ColdFusion 9.0.1 update, you can now use multiple data sources with ORM. When you create your objects, use the "datasource" attribute to specify which each should use. Below is an example of it in use:


component		persistent		= true
			accessors		= true
			entityname		= 'Contact'
			hint			= 'This object holds contacts and their associated properties'
			datasource		= 'mydatasource' {

property name='ContactID' type='numeric' persistent=true ormtype='integer' fieldtype='id' generator='increment';
}

If you don't specify a data source, the default data source is used.

Load jQuery From Google Without Risk of Breaking Your Site

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:23:00 -0400

We've all heard the best practices recommendation to load jQuery (or other JavaScript libraries) from a CDN, such as Google's for performance reasons. But what happens if, in the rare chance, Google's network is down or inaccessible? At a minimum, your site would start throwing errors & wouldn't function properly.

Fear not, all is not lost. Using the code below, we can try to load the file from the Google CDN and then quickly test if it successfully loaded. If it did load properly, we don't do anything different. But if it didn't, we can load the file from another location, assumingly our web server. Then our site will function properly and once Google's CDN is re-accessible, visitors will continue to benefit from the use of the CDN.

ColdFusion Developer Population Survey

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:26:00 -0400

Please take a minute (very quick) to fill out the survey from Adobe regarding the ColdFusion developer population.

From Adobe:
"There has been a bit of speculation on just how many ColdFusion developers there are in the world today. If you wouldn't mind, please take 1-2 minutes to complete the following survey. If you do, you will have a 1 in 100 chance of winning a copy of ColdFusion Builder."

http://bit.ly/CFDevPop

Thanks!

Tour de ColdFusion Beta Released

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:48:00 -0400

We are proud to announce the Tour de ColdFusion Beta is available for download! Check it out today! http://bit.ly/tourdecoldfusion If you would like to submit samples, please send them to: submit@tourdecoldfusion.com.

Quick Media and Video Player in ColdFusion 9

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:49:00 -0400

If you are using the new ColdFusion 9 and need a quick video player, check out the new cfmediaplayer tag:

That's how simple it is to implement. Just put the FLV file on your server and change the source attribute above. That all being said, the tag is also very powerful and highly customizable. For a full list of attributes, check out Adobe Help.

ColdFusion 9 Server Lockdown Guide

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:28:00 -0400

The Adobe ColdFusion team has published a ColdFusion 9 server lockdown guide. Even if you aren't running your own ColdFusion server, this is a good read and a MUST if you are managing your own servers:

Download Today

Grab your copy today!!

ColdBox and Event Default Actions - Shorter Links and SEO

Fri, 14 May 2010 12:38:00 -0400

When using ColdBox, you are not required to call an action inside of an event. What this means is if the framework detects an incoming event, and one doesn't exist, it will look for a method called index. If it exists, it will execute it. You can also change the name of the default action in your configuration file.

For example, lets say we have an event handler called services and we call it like this:


index.cfm/services
or
index.cfm?event=services

ColdBox will now look in the services handler for the index method. If it exists, it will treat the request as services.index. This is how your function should look, inside of services:

This feature is wonderful on many levels. It lets you create shorter urls and also do some implicit declarations.

Building Site Site-Wide Links With ColdBox

Tue, 11 May 2010 10:15:00 -0400

Today, we're going to look at using ColdBox to build site-wide links and a global menu. This post assumes you have ColdBox successfully running and are using the standard folder structure for ColdBox.

The first thing we need to do is register an implicit event so we can build our Exit Event Handlers (xeh) for the site. The xeh variables will let us use the links site-wide and have a single point to update the links, should we need to later.

If you open up your Coldbox.cfc, you will see a requestStartHandler. We're going to set this to "general.onRequestStart". You could use any event handler, but we're going to use "general" for this example. Now every request will now run "onRequestStart" in the "general" event handler, before any other code is run. Think of it as a global pre-event.

Next, let's open up general.cfc and add the following function:



		
		
			xeh = {
						 home 				= ""
						,services		= {
												 index 				= "services"
												,consulting			= "services.businesslaw"
												,webdesign			= "services.webdesign"
												,seo				= "services.seo"
												}
						,about				= "about"
						,faq				= "general.faq"
						,contactus			= "contactus"
						,videos				= "videos"
			};
			event.setValue("xeh", xeh);

What this will do is build a struct, xeh, with our different links. Since we put this into the event object, we'll be able to use this anywhere, including our views.

The next step we're going to do is build our menu. Open up your layout file and let's add the following line where we want the menu to display:



#renderview(view="menu")#

Then go into your /views/ folder and create menu.cfm. This file is where we will build the actual menu. Let's use this menu to utilize the xeh we build above:




	Home Page
	Services
		
			Consulting


			Webdesign


			SEO


		
	
	About
	F.A.Q.
	Contact Us
	Videos

What this is doing is using the xeh links to construct the links. Now, as long as we build each function in our event handlers to accept the incoming requests, our links will work. Additionally, in any of our views, we can display links, and they will point to the correct location. For example:

Please view our full list of services.
Then if you need to change a link destination, you can just open up your "general.onRequestStart", update the struct, and site-wide your links will be updated.

ColdBox and Event Default Actions - Shorter Links and SEO

Mon, 10 May 2010 09:00:00 -0400


index.cfm/services
or
index.cfm?event=services

This feature is wonderful on many levels. It lets you create shorter urls and also do some implicit declarations.

Creative Suite 5 is Released - CS5

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 04:54:00 -0400

Download it today! http://www.adobe.com/downloads/

Massive ColdFusion Resource List

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 09:33:00 -0400

Get your bookmarks ready!

Time to take a visit to the site of the great ColdFusion "troubleshooter", Charlie Arehart. Charlie has put together an exhaustive list of tools and resources for ColdFusion. Titled CF411, the site features over 1,200 links and is quite comprehensive. The greatest part is it appears Charlie is actively maintaining the list, with the last update being only days before this post.

Jump on over to CF411 and bookmark it today: http://www.carehart.org/cf411/

Adobe Labs Ideas - Give Feedback On Your Favorite Products

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:25:00 -0400

Adobe now has a way you can give ideas and feedback on a select number of their products. Currently you can "Post Ideas" or "View Ideas" from the following products:

Adobe AIR
Adobe Flash Builder
Adobe Flash Catalyst
Adobe Flash Professional
Adobe Flex SDK
Adobe WorkflowLab

Personally, I think this is a great idea to get a pulse on feedback from the actual users of the product. Sometimes software companies feel they know best on what the users want, and websites like this would help confirm same. However, and more likely, it would give insight into ideas that the company may have never thought of themselves. The only criticism I have is that they only feature six products, out of more than 100 of their current products. The more noticeably missing is Photoshop and ColdFusion. Hopefully, this is just the beginning and they are gearing up to add their flagship products.

Check out the site today and leave a great idea: http://ideas.adobe.com/