Adobe/ColdFusion News Brief (August 8, 2006)

Aug 07, 2006

by Ryan Hartwich

New TechNote on MS SQL

Adobe has released a new TechNote, ColdFusion MX: Configuring the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 JDBC Driver, that describes how to get the newest incarnation of MS SQL Server to work with ColdFusion. A similar TechNote covering MS SQL 2000 is available also.

ColdFusion MX: Configuringthe Microsoft SQL Server 2005 JDBC Driver

ColdFusion MX: Configuring the Microsoft SQL Server 2000 JDBC Driver

The Ultimate ColdFusion IDE?

On Monday, August 1st, Damon Cooper, asked, "What's Your Ultimate ColdFusion IDE?". His blog has received over 100 responses so far. It appears as if the majority of responses are from full time avid coders (versus people who code only part time or designers who do a little ColdFusion). The hard code coder bias is probably a function of who is likely to read a blog entry about an IDE and respond to it.

What's Your Ultimate ColdFusion IDE? (Damon Cooper's blog, August 1, 2006)

News on the ColdFusion 8 Survey

Tariq Ahmed was the writer of the unofficial ColdFusion 8 survey covered in the last Adobe/ColdFusion News Brief. He posted his results, which provoked some debate on what they mean.

CF8 - Scorpio WishList Survey Results!

Sean Corfield has briefly responded to the survey results:

Scorpio Wish List Survey - Tariq Ahmed

Rob Brooks-Bilson attempted to add a bit more meaning to the statistics behind the survey results.

Interpreting the ColdFusion 8 Scorpio Wishlist Survey Results (Rob Brooks-Bilson's Blog, August 6, 2006)

SeeFusion 4 Released

SeeFusion 4.0, an update to the ColdFusion Server Monitoring tool from Webapper Services, LLC has been released. SeeFusion is a leading tool for assisting developers and server administrators in monitoring and supporting ColdFusion based servers. Major enhancements in 4.0 include a complete overhaul of the user interface into a Flex 2 application, enhanced monitoring and debugging tools. A competing product (FusionReactor 2.0) and a new product, (FusionDebug) have been recently reviewed on Fusion Authority.

New in Version 4.0 of SeeFusion (Seefusion.com)

FusionReactor 2.0 and FusionDebug: Monitor and Debug Your ColdFusion Server in Real Time (Fusion Authority)

IFBIN Released Free to the Community

IFBIN, publisher of the 'Flash by Example' and 'Flex by Example' products, has released both products via the BSD License to the community. They include hundreds of Flash and Flex code examples, applications and components. Theodore Patrick, CEO of IFBIN, says the company plans to release these products as an Adobe Apollo desktop application in the future.

IFBIN 2.0 Begins: IFBIN is Open and Free

Model-Glue:Unity Beta 2 is Coming!

Model-Glue:Unity beta 2 should be available in August. The popularity of this new framework/tool seemed to be rising quite quickly at CFUnited in June.

Model-Glue Website

Salary Survey

A recent thread on CF-Talk (see houseoffusion.com) has seen increased interest in the salaries being paid to ColdFusion Developers.

Keystonesymposia ColdFusion Developer Salary Survey

Discussion threads:

Unofficial CF Developer Salary Survey

Advanced Developer Average Salary

Flex 2 Code and Training

If you're looking to use your ColdFusion programming skills in an RIA environment, a great resource is the onflex.org website organized by Ted Patrick, Adobe's Flex Evangelist. There is a useful blog as well as countless Flex based (MXML and AS3) code examples at:

http://www.onflex.org/code/

If you are interested in learning more about Flex 2 and you learn best from watching a speaker or video (versus reading a manual) you should check out two new resources available as training videos.

The first is Flex 2 Essential Training by David Gassner (published by Lynda.com). It runs a bit over 4 hours long and available through a one time charge of $100 or through the $25/month subscription package Lynda.com offers. I have viewed about 90 minutes of this and it seems pretty easy to follow. The early sections start out with very elementary material and the video appears to target (as its name implies) beginners with minimal existing Flex knowledge.

Flex 2 Essential Training (Lynda.com)

The second is "Total Training for Adobe Flex 2 Rich Internet applications" by James Talbot. It retails for $150 (available for 20% off through August when you use the coupon code 'save20flex2'). The course outline hints that this eight-hour training video targets more advanced users who have a higher understanding of Flex 2. The basic fundamentals covered by Lynda.com appear to be here but condensed into less time. I have not personally experienced the videos yet, but did have the opportunity to attend 2 days of Flex 2 training that the author conducted at Adobe's headquarters in late July.

Total Training for Flex 2 Rich Internet Applications

My recommendation is to give Lynda.com (and their large selection of training materials) a spin by signing up for a free 24-hour access pass. Once you do, you will probably find that you want to enroll in their monthly membership plan (unlimited training videos on countless products). After you sample the Flex 2 training on Lynda.com you will probably opt for the more comprehensive training from Total Training. The free 24-hour pass is available at http://www.lynda.com/freepass/24.

While attending 2 days of Flex 2 training at Adobe's HQ, I asked our trainer about the apparent lack of Word Wrapping in the Flex Builder 2 IDE. The trainer was not aware of any word wrap capability and a quick search of Google shows that it isn't a feature available in Eclipse. Word Wrap in Eclipse (Brajeshwar.com)

ColdFusion Frappr Reminder

A few months ago, a Frappr-based mash-up was created to show where ColdFusion developers live/work. The mash-up was used frequently in the first few days but usage has since slowed dramatically. The map shows only about 650 developers, most in the United States and Western Europe. If you have a few minutes, check out the page and add your own information.

ColdFusion Developer Frappr Mash-Up

The ColdFusion Community on Skype

Stephen Collins, a ColdFusion developer and producer of a great set of documentation titled ACME, "Comprehensive Guide to Building a Development Workstation using Apache, ColdFusion MX 7, MySQL and Eclipse," is encouraging his blog readers to share their Skype contact information and thereby make it easier for fellow ColdFusion developers to communicate. If you are interested in sharing your Skype information check out his blog posting.

Adobe Supports Public Art

Mike Lyda wrote an interesting but short blog entry about Adobe's support for public art. I noticed a fair amount of artwork at their San Jose headquarters when I was there in July.

Adobe Produces Some Public Art (Mike Lyda's Blog, August 2, 2006)

Adobe is also a very large supporter of the The Tech Museum of Innovation (in San Jose, California).

Corporate Sponsors of the Tech Museum of Innovation

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