Fusion Authority The House of Fusion Technical Magazine	Issue: 118 December 14, 2002 January 9, 2003
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Specials

Special Profile: Christian Cantrell, Macromedia Server Community Manager

 

Community

Upcoming CFUGs and Broadcasts

The Fusebox Co-op: An Introduction

CentraSoft Releases CFMX Exam Buster!

Christian Cantrell Announces His New Blog

 

News

Macromedia Makes Some Major Product Announcements at Macworld!

Apple Releases its Own Web Browser

 

Tech and Tags

Wildlife Project Sample Application

Logged In: Experience Matters

ColdFusion MX and JRun: Now Running on Mac OS X

Record Store Part 2 PHP Version

Optimizing Web Development for Contribute Users

Using Macromedia Contribute with Websites

Converting Images to Successful Web Graphics

John Dowdell: Searching Tips, Tools, Toys and Tomorrow

Parse an SVG File with Web Services for Macromedia Flash Content

Using SQL Parameters with the ASP.Net Server Model

Understanding Design-Time and Run-Time Connections

Creating ASP Pages Using FileMaker and Dreamweaver

Creating a ColdFusion Upload Page in Dreamweaver MX

 

Views

Great Things

 

Reviews

CF and Linux: The Real Deal

 

Best of ColdFusion Talk

Best of Talk (11/04/02)

Best of Talk (11/05/02)

Best of Talk (11/06/02)

 

Specials

Special Profile: Christian Cantrell, Macromedia Server Community Manager

This profile is based on an email interview with Christian Cantrell.

Since Devcon 2002, Macromedia's strategy has been the integration of its products and the cross-pollination of its developer communities. That focus has never been more evident than in the choice of Christian Cantrell as the new Server Community Manager. Christian brings to the position his expertise in Java, ColdFusion and Flash. Before coming to Macromedia, he managed a team of Java/JSP programmers at Amazing Media in Fairfax, VA. He has been working with ColdFusion and Java for the last five years with increasing emphasis on ColdFusion, especially with the introduction of the MX platform. Christian's name is strongly identified with Flash. He co-authored Macromedia Flash Enabled from New Riders and was the speaker on "Flash Remoting with Flash MX and ColdFusion MX" at FlashForward in July 2002.

When asked what makes him suited to the role of Community Manager, Christian emphasizes his love of ColdFusion, his appreciation of ColdFusion's power and elegance, and his experience with Java. "I have a huge appreciation for the power of ColdFusion as well as a thorough understanding of the development process. ColdFusion provides me with what I need to deliver highly functional applications as efficiently as possible, and I understand how important that is to web developers." He notes that he has several years of experience with Java, "which not only allows [him] insight into the implementation of ColdFusion MX, but also allows [him] to extend ColdFusion's reach into the Java community."

In addition, since Christian has been working with Macromedia in various capacities for several years, he's got the contacts and the internal relationships within the company that will allow him to effectively address the needs and concerns of the ColdFusion community.

"What exactly does the Server Community Manager do?" you might ask. Christian says one of the most important aspects of his job is to "make sure that the lines of communication between the ColdFusion community and Macromedia remain open, effective and productive." The other roles he will play include:

• brainstorming with the community to help guide future product direction.
• ensuring that the Macromedia Developer Resource Kit has a full complement of ColdFusion-related material.
• helping developers address implementation or architectural challenges.
• evangelizing ColdFusion and growing the community by extending its reach into other development communities.

Christian explains, however, that because of the tight integration between ColdFusion and Java in MX, Macromedia felt it was important to expand the role of the ColdFusion Community Manager to include both server products. "Having the ColdFusion community manager also responsible for JRun is actually a great opportunity to introduce ColdFusion to the Java community and really extend its reach. In fact, if anything, ColdFusion's ability to run within the JRun server and integrate so nicely into Java development platforms is going to increase the emphasis on and importance of ColdFusion."

He understands the fear that the expanded responsibilities of the server manager may lessen his attention to the ColdFusion community. He wishes to assure ColdFusion developers that Macromedia considers ColdFusion a top priority. "ColdFusion is central to Macromedia's web strategy both short and long term, and part of what makes ColdFusion the unique product that it is, is the strength of its community. Ensuring that the ColdFusion community gets the support that it needs is my highest priority." He feels that as ColdFusion is built partially on JRun technology and ColdFusion for J2EE can be run inside of the JRun server, there is a synergy between the products that will bring the two communities closer together.

Christian points out three things that make ColdFusion MX the most important ColdFusion release so far:

1. CFMX is built on the Java platform and provides support for new and emerging web application standards like XML and web services.
2. The introduction of components give ColdFusion developers the option of leveraging a more modular development approach.
3. Native support for Flash Remoting allows rich Internet applications to be built with ColdFusion at their core.

A few weeks ago, Mike Chambers, who was at the time the Interim ColdFusion Community Manager at Macromedia, announced that the company intends to be more aggressive about marketing to and communicating with the ColdFusion community. Christian plans to engage in a dialogue with the community itself about how to best accomplish this more intense level of communication. "I will be looking for new ways to elicit and organize more specific feedback from the community regarding both their goals as developers and the techniques they need to accomplish those goals."

What should ColdFusion developers be doing to increase their skills and their marketability in today's economy? Christian suggests they keep an eye on XML and web services and other emerging Web standards. He says it's also a good idea to hone one's knowledge of object-oriented design. "Although ColdFusion is not an object-oriented language and in no way requires an object-oriented architecture, the introduction of components in MX does give developers the ability to leverage the advantages of more modular design."

Christian wants us to know that he is here to serve the community. "We understand that the advancement of a product like ColdFusion can't happen without input and involvement from the developers who use the product, so I would like to invite everyone within the ColdFusion community to contact me at any time with questions, ideas, suggestions or any issues they may have." You can email Christian at Cantrell@macromedia.com.

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Community

Upcoming CFUGs and Broadcasts

St. Louis Macromedia User Group
Monday, January 13, 2003, 7:00 PM EST
Presenter: Michael Dinowitz Via Flashcom
Topic: Flashcom Basics
http://www.stl-mmug.org

The presenter is speaking to a user group remotely via Flashcom!

New York ColdFusion User Group
Tuesday, January 14, 2003, 6:30 PM EST
Presenter: Jeffry Houser
Topic: Abstract Data Types in ColdFusion MX

http://www.nycfug.org

[Top]

The Fusebox Co-op: An Introduction

(This article is being published in both Fusion Authority and on Fusebox.org. It is copyright 2002 by Steve Bryant.)

You Are Not Alone

Most developers are involved in one or more development communities, whether the community is a mailing list like CF-Talk or a Forum like on Macromedia's site or even a local CFUG. Fusebox developers form one such community (which is centrally located on the new Fusebox forums (http://www.fusebox.org/forums)).

These communities are very helpful in our development life, but sometimes it doesn't seem like they are enough. We would like to be able to exchange more than ideas with other developers. We would like to be able to get help on large projects and to share code. We would like to be able to interact more significantly with other developers.

We Can Help

A co-op can provide more capabilities than a single developer. With multiple developers working together, you have the advantage of multiple specialties. This allows each member to draw on the specialties and experiences of other members, resulting in vastly more capabilities than one developer could have alone. Two heads are better than one!

A co-op can provide feedback on your work. So often in our own work, we know that things can be done a better way than how we are doing them, but we don't have the time to spend looking for the best method for everything we do. But with a co-op, we can get feedback on how to do things better. We can find out our own strengths and weaknesses.

Working with other developers in a co-op can provide us all with experience. We will have more opportunities when drawing from the co-op. By getting feedback from other members, we will learn more about web development. By working on projects with other developers, we can gain experience that would have been difficult to get otherwise.

What We Are

Plenty of other communities are large enough and active enough to be fertile grounds for a new co-op. CF-Talk is certainly the most obvious choice based on those criteria. So why are we focusing on the Fusebox community? In short, because we feel that for the co-op to work there needs to be a framework to start with. Some sort of common development ideology is needed for this to work. Fusebox has the right combination of a good framework and a good community. Other good frameworks exist as do other good communities, but Fusebox has both and so this is where we start.

This is also an effort to give something back to that community. All of us involved in building this co-op have benefited from our involvement in the Fusebox community. Now we want to give something back. This co-op is our contribution.

Right now, the founders of the co-op are Drew Harris, Paul Blanchard, and Steve Bryant. Hopefully more people will join us as we make progress. We all wanted a co-op, but one did not exist. So we are building one.

What We Are Not

Secondly, this may all sound very communal, but it is not communism. To find out more about what separates the co-op from communism, read our upcoming articles "Collaborative Development" by Drew Harris and "The Barter System" by Steve Bryant, soon to be published in Fusion Authority and on Fusebox.org.

The Possibilities!

The benefits of code sharing and collaborative development could be very similar to those of pair programming. We would each benefit from interacting with other developers and seeing their approach to problems. At the same time, we might each be able to develop more specialized skills and we could each benefit from the specialized skills of others. For example, we could build a first-rate shopping cart and have a superior CMS system available to use from someone else.

Find Out More

• Look for the upcoming articles listed above.
• Join the Fusebox Co-op mailing list at HouseOfFusion.com (many thanks to Michael and Judith Dinowitz for hosting the list). You can subscribe to the list at http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=22 . If you don't have an account at House of Fusion, you will need to create one to subscribe, but it's fairly simple and it doesn't take long. Once you've created that account (via the sign-in page at http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists), you can subscribe or unsubscribe to any list you want on the House of Fusion system.
• You can view the latest 20 threads of the Fusebox Co-op list at http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=threads&forumid=22&maxrows=20 .
• Also, we are hoping to have www.Fuseboxcoop.com up in a few months.

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CentraSoft Releases CFMX Exam Buster!

CFMX Exam Buster has over 750 questions designed to help you prepare for all aspects of the actual ColdFusion MX Certification exam. CFMX Exam Buster allows you to take eleven different tests, topic tests for your weak areas, and gives you the ability to create random tests. During your test you can save your test in progress, submit comments, bookmark questions, pause your test, and much more. You can control the look and feel of the CFMX Exam Buster application, by controling the fonts, colors, and appearance of many controls, to create a studying environment with which you are comfortable. After your test is scored, you will be shown a comprehensive breakdown of your test results.

There is a DEMO version on the Centrasoft website (http://www.centrasoft.com), which allows you to check out all the features of the program, plus one whole test. CFMX Exam Buster debuts for the low price of $39.95 US.

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Christian Cantrell Announces His New Blog

Christian Cantrell's Blog

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News

Macromedia Makes Some Major Product Announcements at Macworld!

Macromedia Ships JRun 4 for Mac OS X (Macromedia, Inc., January 7, 2003)

Macromedia ColdFusion MX for BEA Weblogic Now Available (Macromedia Inc., January 7, 2003)

Macworld: Macromedia touts Java server for Mac OS X Infoworld, January 7, 2003)

Macromedia Updates ColdFusion for J2EE, Adds OS Support (Internet News.com, January 7, 2003)

Macromedia heats up ColdFusion MX (ZDNet, January 7, 2003)

[Top]

Apple Releases its Own Web Browser

Apple Releases its Own Web Browser (CNet, January 7, 2003)

[Top]

Tech and Tags

Wildlife Project Sample Application

Wildlife Project Sample Application

[Top]

Logged In: Experience Matters

Logged In: Experience Matters

[Top]

ColdFusion MX and JRun: Now Running on Mac OS X

ColdFusion MX and JRun: Now Running on Mac OS X

[Top]

Record Store Part 2 PHP Version

Record Store Part 2 PHP Version

[Top]

Optimizing Web Development for Contribute Users

Optimizing Web Development for Contribute Users

[Top]

Using Macromedia Contribute with Websites

Using Macromedia Contribute with Websites

[Top]

Converting Images to Successful Web Graphics

Converting Images to Successful Web Graphics

[Top]

John Dowdell: Searching Tips, Tools, Toys and Tomorrow

John Dowdell: Searching Tips, Tools, Toys and Tomorrow

[Top]

Parse an SVG File with Web Services for Macromedia Flash Content

Parse an SVG File with Web Services for Macromedia Flash Content

[Top]

Using SQL Parameters with the ASP.Net Server Model

Using SQL Parameters with the ASP.Net Server Model

[Top]

Understanding Design-Time and Run-Time Connections

Understanding Design-Time and Run-Time Connections

[Top]

Creating ASP Pages Using FileMaker and Dreamweaver

Creating ASP Pages Using FileMaker and Dreamweaver

[Top]

Creating a ColdFusion Upload Page in Dreamweaver MX

Creating a ColdFusion Upload Page in Dreamweaver MX

[Top]

Views

Great Things

Along the lines of sharing code, there is a new Fusebox co-op starting. Steve Bryant, one of the co-founders of this organization, explains the purpose of this new organization, right here in the pages of Fusion Authority.

More news: Two weeks ago, Macromedia announced the new Server Community Manager, Christian Cantrell. He has already created a blog, which I'm sure will be a wonderful resource for the community. You can find out more about that in this issue.

Combine that with the new version of ColdFusion MX for BEA Weblogic, just released by Macromedia, and I'm sure you'll agree that this is a very exciting time for ColdFusion and Macromedia developers. Enjoy the ride! I know I am.

Judith Dinowitz
Editor-in-Chief
Fusion Authority

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Reviews

CF and Linux: The Real Deal

This article is an outgrowth of my own puzzlement when reading "Linux ColdFusion Users Irate with Macromedia," a December 2 eWeek article by Darryl K. Taft (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,741132,00.asp). The article, which caused quite a storm on the CF-Linux and CF-Talk lists on House of Fusion (www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists), and on the MXDev list on Devmx.com, stated that "problems with the San Francisco company's software on Linux have prompted hundreds of user complaints to the Macromedia Web site regarding server crashes and other anomalies." That sky-is-falling attitude of the article, and the claim that hundreds of users have complained on Macromedia’s website, led me to some research of my own.

I tried to find evidence that "hundreds of user complaints" were in fact voiced at Macromedia.com, but could not find it. I attempted to contact the author of the eWeek article to ascertain the source of his claims, but he did not respond to my email. I have even contacted Linux users on the CF-Linux list at House of Fusion to ask about their hands-on experiences with CFMX, both good and bad. The questions I asked focused on whether they had experienced problems with CFMX, to determine what was done to resolve them and how Macromedia responded to them. Finally, I spoke to Phil Costa, Senior Product Manager at Macromedia, to get Macromedia’s side of the story. My purpose here was to cut through the fear-mongering and get to the truth.

Costa was eager to dispel some of the confusion about what he felt was eWeek’s misrepresentation of the customer situation and Macromedia’s response to it. He was forthright in saying that there are some open issues with Linux, but added that Macromedia has been working to resolve these issues through its standard support channels.

What process does Macromedia have in tech support for resolving these issues? Costa said that Macromedia documents each issue that comes in and tries to reproduce it. It doesn’t generally take a long time to find out what’s causing the problem. "The key here is that there has to be a structured and well-documented set of information, because otherwise we can’t respond in any meaningful way."

Costa emphasized that there are issues with software programs on any platform, just as there are with ColdFusion on Linux, and referred to a TechNote on Linux and CFMX that lists the various bugs and problems that have been found, including configuration recommendations and known issues: http://www.macromedia.com/v1/Handlers/index.cfm?ID=23524&Method=Full.

He also stressed that, because Macromedia puts fixes for their software products into Updaters, customers should always be sure to download and install the latest version of the Updater. Macromedia is currently on Updater version 2. For information about the issues resolved by Updater 2 and the links to download it, visit: http://dynamic.macromedia.com/bin/MM/software/trial/hwswrec.jsp?product=cfmx_updater.

The CFMX Release Notes also contain a great deal of information relevant to Linux users: http://www.macromedia.com/support/coldfusion/releasenotes/mx/releasenotes_mx.html.

The Scope of the Problem

"We have a lot more customers on Windows than we do on any other platform. We also had a lot more Windows customers participating in the beta. To the extent that customers on Linux can participate in the beta, it only leads to quality. There are certain problems that we only uncover in the real-world environment," said Costa.

Every Linux customer should take the following steps when upgrading to CFMX:

• Set up a test environment, regardless of the platform.
• Read the documentation, especially the manual. It has a lot of information about CFMX on different platforms.
• Use the tools that Macromedia provides, especially the code compatibility analyzer.
• Install the latest version of the CFMX Updater.
• Install the new connector patches for Linux or Solaris, which are available at http://www.macromedia.com/v1/Handlers/index.cfm?ID=23524. These patches are not included in the Updater 2. They were released a few days after my interview with Phil Costa and indicate that Macromedia is working to resolve the issues relating to Linux.
• Be sure that you change the settings in the jrun.xml file to the recommended settings detailed at: http://www.macromedia.com/v1/Handlers/index.cfm?ID=23524.
• Read the Technote(s) that are published about Linux. They provide the most current information about running on Linux. Given the unresolved CFMX issues, users will have to make a determination about whether CFMX is the right choice for them.

Users Speak Up

1. The experience that seemed most like the tone of the eWeek article is that of Kevin Bridges, Senior Applications Engineer for Collect America, LTD. Bridges said, "We are running a dev farm and a production farm and could paint quite the colorful picture about the hardships and weirdness we have endured. We are running Red Hat 7.3 and Oracle 8.1.5 and 8.1.6. I was asked to wait for this second CFMX updater before completely losing faith in the MX product line. I am impressed by Macromedia's commitment to making the product work on Linux, but reality has come very close to pushing us away from CFMX until it matures." (Since this interview took place, Bridges installed the Updater 2 and he said he is doing much better now.)
2. Toby Tremayne, Senior Technical Consultant, Lyricist Software, is solidly behind ColdFusion on Linux but noted that there are problems. Tremayne loves Linux for its security and stability and because it's significantly faster than Windows. He runs both CF5 and CFMX on SuSe Linux, and says that ColdFusion, once installed properly, is the easiest thing to maintain.

   "I do like CFMX, although it has the 'feel' of a beta release, especially on Linux. [There are] too many issues with the installer, enormous difficulties getting various things to work with the 'supported' postGreSQL database (stored procedures for example, just don't work properly at all) and some really nasty error messages that … don't identify the actual problem and … tend to display a completely different piece of code as being the problem, when in fact the error is due to something else entirely."

   Tremayne said that the issues with the installer are a key factor. "The installer for CFMX goes smoothly enough, but the problem is that 9 times out of 10, … the installer will complete successfully, [but] that doesn't mean CFMX will run. There's been absolute minimal effort put into the Linux installers, in every version I've ever installed. Nothing but the most absolutely base generic setups of Red Hat will work 'out of the box' and nobody runs a server system like that. With a little more testing, and taking the time to build a slightly smarter installer, we wouldn't have these problems."

   One example Tremayne gave is that the mod_jrun.c object is often not installed at all, and every time there's an update to Apache the installer will fail. "All this nonsense about the magic module number in the Apache releases is mind-boggling in my opinion, as installers for things such as PHP don't seem to find this a problem."

   But Tremayne stated that he appreciates the support that Macromedia gives in its forums. "There are Macromedia staff members helping out on the forums, and on the mailing lists … which is great. There are a bunch of people giving them a very hard time, but they're still doing what they can. I appreciate the help we get on that end, but I think if Macromedia put a little more work into the installer and their Apache connectors then a lot of people would be a great deal happier."

3. Dennis Baldwin, co-founder of devmx.com and founder of flashcfm.com, is an avid Linux fan and a big supporter of ColdFusion. His installations of CFMX on Linux tend to go smoothly as long as the recommended libraries are installed. He encountered problems on three separate installs of CFMX, and noted that CFMX is not as stable as CF5 on the Linux platform. "We upgraded from CF5 and ran into all kinds of problems, including the issue with spawning threads until the service eventually stops responding. If this issue could be resolved, I think it will benefit the community tremendously … [and] make CFMX on Linux a more viable product." He added that CFMX is very easy to maintain once you get it up and running and overcome the problems mentioned above.

   Baldwin has contacted Macromedia for support, but ultimately found answers either through community resources or on the Macromedia forums. The resources he recommends for Linux users are the CF-Linux list on House of Fusion (http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists) and the MXDev list on DevMX.com. "Macromedia has great support and resources,” he said, “… I only wish they could invest more time and resources with the Linux community."

4. Michael Brandt, Senior Software/Sales Engineer, Recruitmax Software, said that his company, Creative System Solutions, did not experience any major issues when installing CFMX on Linux. His company creates enterprise recruiting software for clientele that includes some well-known recruiting firms, and although they do testing for clients on Linux, their in-house work is accomplished within a hosted Windows environment. So this was a jump from Windows to Linux for them. Brandt said that minor installation issues are normal with any software product. "Everyone has a problem when you first install something. You just have to work through it. The biggest thing is checking all your code [and] knowing Linux." He noted that those moving from Windows to Linux need to be aware of case sensitivity (Linux is case-sensitive while Windows is not).
5. Don Cosseboom, Director of Research and Development at Molecular, Inc. (a 100-person, Boston-based consulting firm) said that his development team just completed a two-month long project using CFMX on Linux. This was the first time they had used ColdFusion at all, and aside from some initial installation issues, they had no problems whatsoever. Cosseboom explained that they had been running on an unsupported version of Apache. Once they figured that out, and installed the right version, their problems were solved.

   In fact, contrary to the claims of the eWeek article, Molecular, Inc. had a rather good experience with Macromedia. They contacted tech support and had a callback within 24 hours. "We had a very positive experience, even considering it was our first time using ColdFusion for any real development project." Cosseboom said he would highly recommend CFMX for Linux, and that he can find any information he needs from Macromedia’s site, or from technical support.

6. Perhaps most encouraging of all is the experience of Joseph Thompson, a Certified ColdFusion Developer. At first, Mr. Thompson was having difficulties installing CFMX on Linux, and put it down to his ignorance of Linux as a platform. In the last two months, he has been able to install and run CFMX with no problems at all. "If you actually follow the directions to the letter and install the supported versions of Linux and Apache, the whole install is a cake walk." He says that he even has PostGres and MySQL going now, although his lack of Linux experience is making the whole process very tedious.

Putting it in Perspective

• One’s experience with CFMX on Linux varies greatly depending on how well one knows the Linux operating system, and on how closely one follows the practices and configurations recommended by Macromedia.
• Most of the users I spoke to said that ColdFusion was easy to maintain once CFMX was installed properly on Linux.
• If you install the recommended libraries and use the recommended installation of Apache, etc., CFMX on Linux seems to be a fairly stable and powerful application.
• Macromedia states that the Linux user base is much smaller than the Windows user base, although I was not able to get any information about relative numbers. Therefore, it is not as heavily represented in their beta testing. This does make a difference when ferreting out bugs before a release.
• Far from the universal outcry against CFMX, most users I have spoken to are happy with CFMX on Linux, but are unhappy with some of the technical problems with installing it. This seems to be a standard complaint, for those that like ColdFusion and those that don’t. Macromedia might accomplish much by creating a better installer program for its Linux version of ColdFusion (as suggested by Toby Tremayne).
• Even those who were unhappy with the product acknowledge the effort put forth by the Macromedia Linux team to help them.

Linux Resources:

• The CF-Linux List on the House of Fusion archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=threads&forumid=14
• The Unix Topic on the Macromedia Forums: http://webforums.macromedia.com/coldfusion/categories.cfm?catid=10
• www.devshed.com: An open-source site that includes sections on Apache, MySQL and other things you're likely to find on Linux.
• www.linuxquestions.org: Great forums and a very helpful site.
• http://www.redhat.com: The official site of the Red Hat distribution of Linux, with White Papers, news, webcasts and links to other open-source sites.

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Best of ColdFusion Talk

Best of Talk (11/04/02)

Thread Title:	Big Problem- Session Vars Not Saved in IE6 on CF5
End Date:	11/04/02      14 Posts
Summary:	This thread was reactivated to provide a URL for what may be a cause/cure for session problems in IE6. Since new privacy settings may disable cookies, it's important to check for their existence.
Thread Title:	CFQUERYPARAM and IN
End Date:	11/04/02      16 Posts
Summary:	Here's an often-overlooked feature of the CFQUERYPARAM tag...it can support lists! So to use CFQUERYPARAM with the SQL IN operator, just add LIST="Yes" and there you have it.
Thread Title:	Need Assistance with Listbox on a Form
End Date:	11/04/02      20 Posts
Summary:	Newbie Tips: Always scope your variables. Hashes are unnecessary within CFIF statements. Use IsDefined() to test for the existence of a variable. Use Len() to check the length of a variable.
Thread Title:	Passing Anchor Results to a Template
End Date:	11/04/02      9 Posts
Summary:	To pass a value based on the link clicked by a user, simply add "?name=value" to the path in the HREF attribute of the anchor tag to create a URL-scoped parameter.
Thread Title:	Query Caching
End Date:	11/04/02      12 Posts
Summary:	Need to cache a query for the duration of a session? Try saving the query to a session-scoped variable. You can then use Not IsDefined() to run the query only if the variable does not already exist. Don't forget to lock where appropriate.
Thread Title:	Where Do CFC's Go?
End Date:	11/04/02      10 Posts
Summary:	This is a good resource for ideas and recommendations about structuring your CFMX file system.
Thread Title:	Words
End Date:	11/04/02      10 Posts
Summary:	Try <CFIF listfindnocase(path, "subdirectory", "/")>, <CFIF findnocase("/subdirectory/", path)>, or simply <CFIF find(path, '/subdirectory/')> to test for a subdirectory contained in a filepath.

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Best of Talk (11/05/02)

Thread Title:	CFMAIL
End Date:	11/05/02      11 Posts
Summary:	Use CFFILE ACTION = "upload" to send a client file up to the server so it will be available as a CFMAIL attachment. Test code included.
Thread Title:	HTML E-mails with CFMAIL
End Date:	11/05/02      17 Posts
Summary:	Here's an excellent discussion about using CFMAIL to send HTML-formatted messages. Code for two custom tags is included.
Thread Title:	outputting all client vars
End Date:	11/05/02      14 Posts
Summary:	To view client variables, try: <cfoutput>    <cfloop list="#GetClientVariablesList()#" index="i" delimiters=",">       #i# : #Evaluate(i)# <br>   </cfloop> </cfoutput> But don't bother with <cfdump var="#CLIENT#">...it doesn't work.
Thread Title:	Query help
End Date:	11/05/02      9 Posts
Summary:	We analyze two SQL queries and recommend solutions. Specific topics: MAX() aggregate function, TOP function, ORDER BY, GROUP BY, and CFQUERY's MAXROWS attribute.
Thread Title:	Sanitize - Prevent SQL Injection
End Date:	11/05/02      6 Posts
Summary:	Prevent URL/SQL injection attacks by using CFQUERYPARAM in your queries. Read all about it at: http://www.macromedia.com/desdev/articles/ben_forta_faster.html.

[Top]

Best of Talk (11/06/02)

Thread Title:	ActivePDF (Web Grabber) and CFMX Does Not Work.
End Date:	11/06/02      18 Posts
Summary:	What begins as concern over lack of CFMX support for the ActivePDF web grabber ends as a debate over the future of COM. Note: ActivePDF toolkit works fine with CFMX; so does htmldoc.
Related Threads:	ActivePDF (Web Grabber) and CFMX. (long)
Thread Title:	Downside to disabling "Maintain Database Connections"
End Date:	11/06/02      8 Posts
Summary:	When a developer disables "Maintain Database Connections" for MS Access datasources, he notices a significant improvement in server performance. Find out why this is a recommended best practice for MS Access data sources: http://www.macromedia.com/v1/Handlers/index.cfm?ID=1540&Method=Full.
Thread Title:	Error Processing CFFILE
End Date:	11/06/02      7 Posts
Summary:	For improved server performance, try storing uploaded files in multiple directories and subdirectories.
Thread Title:	Form with Tab Stops
End Date:	11/06/02      11 Posts
Summary:	Need to skip a form field when a user hits the tab key? Here are several suggestions using either Javascript or the TABINDEX attribute of the HTML INPUT tag.
Thread Title:	Resizing Images Under Linux
End Date:	11/06/02      13 Posts
Summary:	Need a Linux solution for resizing images? Try CF_ImageMagick available at www.imagemagick.org/ or, if you're using CFMX, you can use ImageJ, a Java imaging library like JAI that is easier to use and offers GIF support.
Related Threads:	Problems With Dynamically Generated Images... (was Re: Resizing Images Under Linux

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