ColdFusion

ColdFusion 9: What’s Hot

in Platform

I just read an article by Ben Forta on the new features of ColdFusion 9. Here is my initial take on them.

What I Like

  • I’m really excited about CF9′s support for Object Relational Modeling. I think thorough testing must take place to make sure it scales properly under load. I imagine it’s solid since it’s based on Hybernate, but I’ve seen a few promising ORM frameworks flame out before they had a chance to be adopted due to their inability to scale.
  • Access to server variables is also good. There is nothing worse than having to create service initializer hacks to pre-cache components in a clustered load balanced environment (think 4 physical boxes with 7 instances each) after server/instance restarts.
  • Multi-server admin tools. Enough said.
  • Although I prefer to code JavaScript applications separately from CFML, I am glad Ext-JS (3.0) continues to be the official JavaScript framework that ships with ColdFusion.

Not so Hot

I don’t think the new “local” scope adds any value. It seems we’re trying to hard to allow people to write inefficient code by being careless about scoping. Using “var” is fine with me as it is similar across multiple languages. “local” will just add another thing to remember when coding in CFML.

The Jury is Still Out

I’d like to get more testing done with the IDE, ColdFusion Builder, before making up my mind. I’ve been a fan of Aptana, the Eclipse-based IDE, for working with my favorite JavaScript frameworks, PHP and HTML/CSS. I hope the tool is both capable and fast, which has been tough to achieve with Flex Builder.

ColdFusion 9 and ColdFusion Builder Now Available on Labs

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Introduction to Ext.Direct

in Articles,Ext JS,Framework,JavaScript,Platform,Protocol

Evan Trimboli of the Ext-JS team just published an article describing Ext.Direct, a remoting API that is part of Ext 3.0. The team has created a remoting specification that you can use to implement the server-side stack of your choice.

Details about server-specific implementations already being maintained can be found here.

Ext.Direct is a new package in Ext JS 3.0 that helps alleviate many of these issues by streamlining communication between your client and server. When using Ext.Direct, you can expect to write 30% less code by eliminating common boiler plate code.

The Ext.direct namespace introduces several new classes for a close integration with the server-side. New classes have also been added to the Ext.data namespace for working with Ext.data.Stores which are backed by data from an Ext.Direct method.

Ext.Direct uses a provider architecture, where one or more providers are used to transport data to and from the server. There are several providers that exist in the core at the moment, for example a JsonProvider for simple JSON operations and a PollingProvider for repeated requests. One of the most powerful providers is the RemotingProvider.

Read the rest here.

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Force a URL to Use HTTPS

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Site owners sometimes need to make sure secure connections are used. They can do this quickly with this Apache rule.

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Ext-JS JSON Data Reader For ColdFusion

Steve “Cutter” Blades has created a custom JSON Data Reader for ColdFusion, CFQueryReader. It allows Ext-JS developers to populate GridPanels using serialized ColdFusion queries in their native format or formatted for grid. CFQueryReader is designed to accommodate either format automatically.

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ColdFusion Ranked Among Best Application Servers

Adobe ColdFusion has a long history. Originally introduced by Allaire, it was acquired by Macromedia, then became part of Adobe in yet another acquisition. ColdFusion version 8.0 was released in July 2007, featuring Microsoft .NET integration, integration with Adobe Acrobat forms, and enhanced performance. ColdFusion scored best with developers for its scalability, support and security.

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ColdFusion Tags for POI – Microsoft’s “Poor Obfuscation Implementation”

Ben Nadel of Kinky Solutions has posted his latest work. He has wrapped the Apache POI API in a ColdFusion tag to help us create “authentic” Microsoft Office file formats. Now, the project contains more than just the POIUtility.cfc; it also contains all the ColdFusion custom tags and some additional CSS-based components that can be [...]

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BlazeDS: Flex Data Services Goes Open-Source

So far the standard way of making data connections in Ajax applications has been over XmlHttpRequest, which requires clients to constantly poll backend servers. Adobe is taking advantage of the opportunity to open up a solid platform capable of providing persistent connections (server push / Comet) and the AMF specification. According to the Adobe Labs [...]

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CFHTTP Trouble: Connecting to Web Services that Use GZip Compression

Rob Gonda posted this today, which I had also experienced while attempting to connect to the Yahoo! Maps API. The solution in my case was to add charset=”utf-8″ to the cfhttp call.

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Where is ColdFusion Headed Under Adobe?

From the ColdFusion Developer Journal: “Adobe has been very successful in selling into the enterprise. This can only help ColdFusion going forward,” says Dave Mendels, SVP of Adobe’s new Enterprise & Developer Solutions business unit (pictured), in this exclusive interview with ColdFusion Developer’s Journal. ‘Scorpio’ is still on course, Mendels confirms, and the ColdFusion product [...]

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