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Fusion Authority The House of Fusion Technical Magazine |
Issue:
20 April 24, 2000 April 30, 2000 |
| This is an opt-in magazine. To join, leave or change subscription mode, please visit the signup page. All content of this magazine is copyright Fusion Authority, Inc. It may not be reproduced without permission. | ||
- Community
- TeraTech, Figleaf and Allaire Sponsor Free CFUG Meeting with Ben Forta and Ashley King
- ColdFusion Community Sites Seek to Inform at All Levels by Sharing Resources (Revised)
- Allaire's 1999 Conference Remembered
- ColdFusion Community Sites Seek to Inform at All Levels by Sharing Resources (Revised)
- News
- Jeremy Allaire Nominated for New England Entrepreneur of the Year Award
- AbleCommerce Names New CEO
- Jeremy Allaire Discusses Allaire's Full Internet-Business Platform in InfoWorld
- Top ASP On-Line Journal Takes a Look at ColdFusion
- AbleCommerce Names New CEO
- Tech and Tags
- What's New in the Tag Gallery
- ArrayIndexOutOfBounds Errors
- Oracle 7 Server Messages
- JRun Crashes Due to Core Dump and Dr. Watson Errors
- Allaire Offers Tips and Techniques for Succeeding with Spectra
- Setting Up Dynamic ClusterCATS Fail-over with CF 4.5.X on NT4.0/NES
- Setting Up Dynamic ClusterCATS Fail-over or Moving from Static to Dynamic Fail-over Running CF 4.5.X on NT4.0/IIS4.0
- CFOBJECT and EJB
- CFX, CFOBJECT and Java on Linux
- Using JRun with Other Linux Distributions
- Setting up a CFML-based 'Missing Template' (404 Error) Handler in ColdFusion 4.5
- JRun 2.3: Using JSP When JRun Is Not on the Same System as the Web Server
- ArrayIndexOutOfBounds Errors
- Reviews
- A Review of Ektron's eWebEditPro
- Security
- Security Zone Alert: Microsoft Internet Information Server Patch Available for 'Myriad Escaped Characters' Vulnerability
- Security Zone Alert: Microsoft Internet Information Server Procedure Available to Eliminate 'Link View Server-Side Component' Vulnerability
- Security Zone Alert: Patch Available for Spectra Container Editor Preview Object Security Issue
- Security Zone Alert: Microsoft Internet Information Server Procedure Available to Eliminate 'Link View Server-Side Component' Vulnerability
Community
TeraTech, Figleaf and Allaire Sponsor Free CFUG Meeting with Ben Forta and Ashley King
To see two of today's big names in ColdFusion FREE, come to a joint MDCFUG (Maryland ColdFusion User Group)/DCCFUG (DC ColdFusion User Group) meeting in Washington DC on May 17, co-sponsored by TeraTech, Figleaf and Allaire. The meeting will be held at the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, at 6:30 PM.Ben Forta is the author of the popular book The ColdFusion 4.0 Web Application Construction Kit (now in its third edition), the more recent Advanced ColdFusion 4.0 Application Development, and the upcoming Allaire Spectra E-Business Construction Kit. He will present tips on how and, more importantly, how not to use ColdFusion. Also included in his presentation will be tricks of the trade used by some of the largest web sites powered by ColdFusion.
Also speaking will be Ashley King, a chief architect and senior engineer of the Allaire Spectra product who is now the Spectra Evangelist for the Allaire Corporation. King is co-author of "The ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit", "Advanced ColdFusion Development", and the upcoming "Allaire Spectra E-Business Construction Kit". King will be presenting an overview of Spectra, including tips and tricks.
For more information, email Michael Smith at TeraTech.
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ColdFusion Community Sites Seek to Inform at All Levels by Sharing Resources (Revised)
Fusion Authority (http://www.fusionauthority.com) and CFNewbie (http://www.cfnewbie.com), two sites dedicated to providing information to the ColdFusion community, have joined forces. This merger is in the free exchange of information between the sites, allowing Fusion Authority articles that are written for new ColdFusion developers to be reprinted in CFNewbie, and CFNewbie articles to be reprinted in Fusion Authority.The March 13 - March 19 issue of Fusion Authority featured an article written for CFNewbie by Rey Bango, editor of CFNewbie, and Michael Dinowitz, publisher of Fusion Authority (CF-Talk - How to *NOT* get flamed!). The current issue of CFNewbie.com contains a beginner's article by Michael Smith that was originally published in Fusion Authority. By reprinting these articles, both publications are adding content and broadening their exposure in the ColdFusion community.
Judith Dinowitz, editor-in-chief of Fusion Authority, feels that this partnership is a good thing for the ColdFusion community, and should be emulated by other magazines. "The ColdFusion community can only benefit from sharing content and ideas, and from partnerships such as this one. Fusion Authority and CFNewbie address the same audience, but at different levels of experience. As free ColdFusion resources, it is only logical that we lend each other support."
Rey Bango, editor of CFNewbie, agrees. "The ColdFusion community has had great online resources for quite some time but there has never been a comprehensive and centralized portal for getting information out to developers of different experience levels. This partnership will provide the balance that ColdFusion enthusiasts have been longing for."
Fusion Authority publishes a weekly email newsletter with timely news, articles and reviews for ColdFusion developers of all levels. CFNewbie focuses on the vital area of articles targeted to newcomers to ColdFusion. Interested readers can sign up for these publications at the following URLS: Fusion Authority signup page and CFNewbie Main Page.
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Allaire's 1999 Conference Remembered
A "nostalgic" look back at last year's tremendously successful Developer's Conference, including tapes of key addresses and the Spectra roll-out.[Top]
News
Jeremy Allaire Nominated for New England Entrepreneur of the Year Award
BOSTON, Apr 27, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Among the finalists for Ernst & Young's prestigious New England Entrepreneur of the Year(R) awards is Jeremy Allaire. This awards program honors outstanding leaders of entrepreneurial companies.Jeremy Allaire Nominated for New England Entrepreneur of the Year Award
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AbleCommerce Names New CEO
VANCOUVER, Wash., Apr 25, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- AbleCommerce has announced that David R. Henderson has joined the company as its new Chief Executive Officer effective immediately. Henderson brings over thirty years of management experience in a variety of technical and administrative roles to the post.[Top]
Jeremy Allaire Discusses Allaire's Full Internet-Business Platform in InfoWorld
Allaire's CTO took time out to discuss the company's long-term plans with InfoWorld's Martin LaMonica.[Top]
Top ASP On-Line Journal Takes a Look at ColdFusion
Of note: ASPToday's article, "ColdFusion For ASP Developers," which has gathered excellent response from its readers. Supposedly just an "overview," it is a well-written, detailed review of ColdFusion's capabilities and how ASP programmers can best take advantage of them.[Top]
Tech and Tags
What's New in the Tag Gallery
- CF_NAVDROPDOWN
- CF_Navdropdown generates a select box, dropdown list navigation menu.
- Active Scheduler
- Generic FREE open source scheduler. Supports MS Access and MS SQL. No bells and whistles; just plain CF code for ColdFusion developers. Documentation included with the zip file.
- HelpDoctor
- HelpDoctor.com is a web-based help desk and customer service tool. Sign up FREE today! It is extremely customizable for easy integration with existing web sites, or for use independently. Reduce costs, increase revenues, AND serve your customers better.
- CF_StockGrabberEurope
- This tag queries Yahoo UK with a list of ticker symbols. The results are parsed and presented to the user as variables. These variables can be used in a wide variety of ways such as sending the quotes in an e-mail, to a pager's e-mail address, in a table, inserted into a query, stored in a database, or as a text file. The following exchanges are supported: Barcelona, Berlin, Bilbao, Bremen, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, London, Madrid, Madrid (M.C.), Milan, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Valencia, Xetra.
- CFX Tag for IBM MQ Series
- Make seamless calls to IBM MQ messaging system via a single ColdFusion tag from anywhere:
Send text data files of size up to 100 MB.
Dynamically build the data buffer for the IBM MQ message descriptor.
Provide identifiers for the message file which can be used by the receiving MQ system in uniquely identifying the source of the incoming MQ message.
Instant interface between the web clients and the corporate legacy systems.
Return the following values to the calling template: message time stamp, and size of the file. - Web Site Statistics Engine
- Captures site statistics for ColdFusion Web sites and provides a means to view the data in searchable and graphical formats.
- CFX_MQPUT
- Make seamless calls to IBM MQ messaging system via a single ColdFusion tag from anywhere. Send text data files of size up to 100 MB. Dynamically build the data buffer for the IBM MQ message descriptor. Provide identifiers for the message file which can be used by the receiving MQ system in uniquely identifying the source of the incoming MQ message. Instant interface between the web clients and the corporate legacy systems. Return the following values to the calling template: - message time stamp(the date and time the message was successfully sent to the message queue) and size of the file (in Kilo bytes) that was provided.
- Feedback Form
- This is a simple app that allows visitors to your website to send you email with comments or suggestions for your records.
- CF_HitCounterV 1.4
- This tag counts visitors of the Web pages and optionally gathers information about Date/Time of the visit, visitors browser, referrer site, Host name and visitor's IP address. Information is gathered in the tab delimited text file, which can be used for web site analysis. Counter is font based (not image based), so to change the size of the numbers, font, color or background color, just wrap the counter tag into a FONT tag and set the necessary attributes. Counter can be set to be invisible. Added to version 1.4: MODE attribute allowing you to set file permissions (UNIX only). Tag requires CFFILE tag to be enabled in CF Administrator.
- CF_BUComments
- CF_BUCOMMENTS uses CFMAIL to send comments from users of your Web site. Implements easily. There are no databases to define.
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ArrayIndexOutOfBounds Errors
This URL gives the causes of this JRun/Java Script generated error and what to do about it.[Top]
Oracle 7 Server Messages
This TechNote points developers to the appropriate areas of Oracle's support site to troubleshoot its error messages.[Top]
JRun Crashes Due to Core Dump and Dr. Watson Errors
This Note gives a rundown on the How's and Why's of some the difficulties you may encounter using JRun in UNIX and Win32 environments.JRun Crashes Due to Core Dump and Dr. Watson Errors
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Allaire Offers Tips and Techniques for Succeeding with Spectra
Charles Teague, of Allaire's Spectra Engineering Division, has written up a set of approaches that organizations can adopt to help take advantage of Allaire Spectra. These are designed to help avoid the headaches resulting from an incomplete development practice. This document establishes general rules of thumb for developing with Allaire Spectra.[Top]
Setting Up Dynamic ClusterCATS Fail-over with CF 4.5.X on NT4.0/NES
When clustered with CF 4.5.x using static IP addresses, ClusterCATS IP Failover causes an Address conflict when the failed server recovers until it reboots and clears the IP conflict. This URL goes into considerable detail about how and why the problem occurs and how to detect and prevent it.Setting Up Dynamic ClusterCATS Fail-over with CF 4.5.X on NT4.0/NES
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Setting Up Dynamic ClusterCATS Fail-over or Moving from Static to Dynamic Fail-over Running CF 4.5.X on NT4.0/IIS4.0
When clustered with CF 4.5.x using static IP addresses, ClusterCATS IP Failover causes an Address conflict when the failed server recovers until it reboots and clears the IP conflict. This URL goes into considerable detail about how and why the problem occurs and how to detect and prevent it.This article starts out exactly as the one above but changes in the middle. These are two different articles (believe it or not).
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CFOBJECT and EJB
This TechNote clarifies ColdFusion and JRun's respective handling of CFOBJECT and EJB.[Top]
CFX, CFOBJECT and Java on Linux
Here you'll find details of the additional components needed for various aspects of ColdFusion to operate properly in the Linux environment.CFX, CFOBJECT and Java on Linux
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Using JRun with Other Linux Distributions
This article discusses some of the limitations developers may run into when attempting to use ColdFusion with versions of Linux other than RedHat.[Top]
Setting up a CFML-based 'Missing Template' (404 Error) Handler in ColdFusion 4.5
Here's where to find how-to's for ColdFusion 4.5's site-wide "Missing Template" (404 Error) exception-handling facility. These exception-handling templates can use the full power of CFML to produce highly customized pages.Setting up a CFML-based 'Missing Template' (404 Error) Handler in ColdFusion 4.5
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JRun 2.3: Using JSP When JRun Is Not on the Same System as the Web Server
This article explains how to get JSP to work when JRun and the web server are running on two different systems.JRun 2.3: Using JSP When JRun Is Not on the Same System as the Web Server
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Reviews
A Review of Ektron's eWebEditPro
by John CestaForget about all those other easy to use, requires-no-previous-knowledge-of-HTML, WYSIWYG editors you've heard and read so much about. Forget about learning HTML. Forget about loading your FTP software whenever you need to copy images up to your site. And you tech-support people, forget about getting hassled ... or ... called, every time your users need to copy updated content to the Web server. Forget about ALL that, and just remember this -- eWebEditPro from Ektron!
eWebEditPro is a Web content authoring tool with:
and lots more, and -- the best and most important feature of all -- it runs in the browser!
I love this editor. As a programmer I love it because it's easy to install, it's fast and, from a programming standpoint, it's intelligent. As a content provider I love it because:
- It's easy to use.
- It's a true, "true WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor."
- It runs right in the browser; when I hit the save button, I am finished. There is no need to load the pages up to the server; they are already there. It's so much more efficient this way and less time consuming.
- It checks spelling as I type, and it uses the MS Word spell checker on my local PC. No need to worry about inferior spell checkers missing words, which is so often the case with HTML editor's integrated spelling checkers.
- I can do all of the traditional things like bulleted lists, ordered and unordered, right and left indent, centering etc.
My biggest problem with eWebEditPro was what to use it for first ... there are so many things.
OK, first, what is it?
eWebEditPro is a piece of code which takes the place of a text box in a Web form. What happens is, the eWebEditPro editor appears in place of a rinky-dink little text box. This editor can do just about everything a real word processor can do, within reason. You don't need 100% of the power a real word processor affords, not on the Web anyway. Basically, the editor works this way:- As you enter text into eWebEditPro, it creates an underlying layer of HTML.
- This HTML code gets stored in a database when you save your eWebEditPro document.
- This HTML code is now available to appear anywhere, on any of your site's pages.
What does eWebEditPro do?
It lets you create Web content with ease. If you can use a word processor, you can create Web documents with eWebEditPro Pro. You can change font characteristics, including size, color, face, bold, italics and underline. You can search for text in the document, it supports multiple undo operations, and it will cut and paste.Complete MS Word documents may be copied and pasted right into the eWebEditPro editor and they will retain all formatting. I tried this with quite a complex document and it worked perfectly. Also, spreadsheets may be copied and pasted into the editor. The editor will create the tables necessary to retain the spreadsheet format. This is a fantastic feature!
For those of you who have extended your knowledge of HTML, and maybe found a neat little HTML table on the Web or a cool JavaScript window manager, by right clicking within the editor you have the option to not only view the underlying HTML, but to insert HTML code right into the text editor. Immediately upon inserting the HTML into the WYSIWYG editor, it is transformed into its text equivalent. For example: I inserted this HTML code into the "insert HTML text box," clicked OK and, like magic, this green table appeared right before my eyes:
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Did you know... |
It was instant! When I showed my wife she said, "If it's all so easy, how come it takes you so long to do everything?" I don't think she really got the point! Hey, what does she know, anyway?
What can eWebEditPro be used for?
I found it to be very useful for many tasks. First and foremost, eWebEditPro was designed for companies whose staff needs to update Web content on a monthly, weekly, or even a daily basis. eWebEditPro makes it simple. The staff member is completely insulated from any HTML and other complexities of Web development. Anyone who can use a word processor (and who can't?) can develop Web content using eWebEditPro. There really is nothing to learn. Here are a few ideas for eWebEditPro:- Keep your Web content fresh without the hassles of knowing HTML code.
- Create a News program. Simply edit the document and add the date and time to each entry.
- Authors may use the editor to convert their stories, white papers, recipes or even reviews into HTML. Write your document using your favorite word processor, when you're finished, simply copy it to the clipboard and paste it into eWebEditPro. That's it.
- I personally use the editor to keep up my children's Web site. I became the "black sheep relative" of the family by not updating the site with new pictures and stories, because it was too time consuming. Now, it's easy.
Who needs eWebEditPro?
Anyone that needs and wants to keep their Web content updated.How about the technical side of the editor?
eWebEditPro requires either ColdFusion, ASP, PHP or some other language technology to be present on the hosting server. Most hosting companies today support at least one of these mentioned. Here's a little about how eWebEditPro works. Let's use this comparison as an example. There is a product on the market called The FlyPage Updater. The FlyPage Updater is a set of tags you use in a standard HTML Web page. Each tag is specific to an HTML tag or area. There is an image tag, a link tag, an email tag and a text box tag. There are even tags available for meta data keywords and descriptions. FlyPage Updater tags work simply: First, create the entire Web page. Next, decide what areas the client wishes to update himself. Armed with this information, you place the FlyPage Updater tags around the user updateable areas. (Here's an example). Finally, the client (or user) goes to a pre-defined area on the site, enters in a username and password, and is presented with a screen of the updateable areas. There, he is allowed to add/delete/change content on the site. This is exactly how eWebEditPro works - except on a much higher level. The FlyPage Updater tags are PERL-based and, although somewhat user friendly, they do not totally insulate the user from HTML (FlyPage tags require the user to enter HTML code, unless you want a straight text document.) Also, there is no provision for spell check, changing font characteristics, tables, etc. eWebEditPro, on the other hand, does totally insulate the user from any HTML.For those of you who know a little HTML and ColdFusion you may benefit by looking at this. eWebEditPro is a tag, called CF_Webeditorpro, which runs in the text area of an HTML form tag. CF_Webeditorpro opens up, via the form, and becomes the editor. The text-to-edit is retrieved from the database (any database will do, even a flat file) and passed to a JavaScript function within CF_Webeditorpro. The JavaScript performs its magic and passes the text-to-edit directly to the editor. When the form's save button is clicked, CF_Webeditorpro saves the edited text back to the database. You end up with a database full of records which contain HTML content. These records may be accessed and displayed wherever you'd like to present the content. The editor has been tested -- and the code is available -- in a ColdFusion, ASP, PHP (and a few others) environment. You will need two basic routines to get started. One to create a new record in the database and one to retrieve the record, or records, from the database. A nice table of records can be retrieved and presented to a user (like a news program), or a record of information can be dynamically generated and displayed on the page. Once the information is in the database, how you use it is up to you. A database may be loaded with records at the corporate office, and copied up to the site. Then it's just a matter of updating it periodically.
eWebEditPro is only a piece to the puzzle ...
It is a "straight forward browser-based, easy-to-use, WYSIWYG content authoring tool for the Web," but only after your programming staff has set each "piece to be authored" in place. And, ongoing future pieces must be configured as well. For Web hosting companies, eWebEditPro is not a product you can give to your hosting clients and say, "Here, with this you can build a Web site." Rather, it requires some up front attention paid to it in order to function. However, I've been informed by Ektron that a future release will include intelligent wizards which will simplify the startup process. This will definitely make an already wonderful product outstanding!After all was said and done ...
I found eWebEditPro to be a pretty fantastic product and I kept forgetting I was working in a browser connected to the Internet. It was very responsive, it provides almost all the functionality of a word processor, and just about everything you need to build Web content. A new beta version of the editor is currently available. The new version will be more compatible between browsers by creating a more optimized HTML. It will also be XHTML compatible. Take a look at eWebEditPro. In it, I think you'll find a tool you can use.PS: I had, and have, a lot of fun with eWebEditPro! And, since it helped me find time to update my kid's Web site, it got my relatives off my back too!
For more information about Ektron's eWebEditPro, visit their Web site.
John Cesta, is lead developer at cybersmarts.net, a ColdFusion ASP and ActivePERL hosting company. You can reach John at: john@cybersmarts.net
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Security
Security Zone Alert: Microsoft Internet Information Server Patch Available for 'Myriad Escaped Characters' Vulnerability
(Allaire Security Bulletin (ASB00-08):Microsoft has announced that it has released a patch that eliminates a security vulnerability in Microsoft(r) Internet Information Server which allowed a malicious user to slow a web server's response or prevent it from providing service altogether for a period of time. While not a ColdFusion Server problem in itself, it is an issue that could affect ColdFusion users. Allaire's Security Zone points customers to instructions posted on the Microsoft Web site to address this issue.
Allaire Security Bulletin (ASB00-08)
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Security Zone Alert: Microsoft Internet Information Server Procedure Available to Eliminate 'Link View Server-Side Component' Vulnerability
Allaire Security Bulletin (ASB00-09):This Allaire Security Alert points to Microsoft's released procedure to eliminate a security vulnerability that could allow a malicious user to cause a web server to crash, or potentially run arbitrary code on the server, if certain permissions have been changed from their default settings to inappropriate ones. While this is not a problem with ColdFusion Server itself, it is an issue that can affect ColdFusion users, through an unchecked buffer in Dvwssr.dll, a server-side component used to support the Link View feature in Visual Interdev 1.0. Allaire recommends that customers follow the instructions posted on the Microsoft Web site to address this issue.
Allaire Security Bulletin (ASB00-09)
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Security Zone Alert: Patch Available for Spectra Container Editor Preview Object Security Issue
Allaire Security Bulletin (ASB00-10):This URL leads to a patch released to take care of the Spectra Container Editor Preview problem of not properly enforcing object security.
Allaire Security Bulletin (ASB00-10)
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| This is an opt-in magazine. To join, leave or change subscription mode, please visit the signup page. All content of this magazine is copyright Fusion Authority, Inc. It may not be reproduced without permission. | ||