Thoughts, ideas, tips, musings, and pontifications (not necessarily in that order) by Ben Forta ...
NOTE: This is my personal blog, and the opinions and statements voiced here are my own.
A colleague just forwarded me a link to a page describing WebAssist Database Search, a Dreamweaver extension which generates rather impressive looking search and drill-down interface code against databases of your choice. Code is generated for ColdFusion, ASP, and PHP (as the code supports CF5 or later I am assuming that it does not generate CFCs which is a bit of a bummer). I've not played with this one myself yet, but considering just how many of the apps I run into that are database search front-ends, this one could be well worth $150.
ColdFusion creates a folder named /cfide/installers under the ColdFusion web root. This folder contains two files, one is the ColdFusion Report Builder installer, and the other is Macromedia Extension file (MXP) used to install the ColdFusion MX 7 extensions for Dreamweaver MX 2004.
If you are installing ColdFusion MX 7 on a shared development server, you'll want to run these two installers from each developer workstation.
Dreamweaver supports the creation and use of ColdFusion Recordsets (essentially tags), listing returned columns as bindings which can subsequently be used in output code. Dreamweaver has been able to do this for a while, generating a single .cfm page containing both the query and the output code. One of the Blackstone Dreamweaver extensions enhances this functionality so that generated code adheres to best-practices guidelines while retaining the simplicity inherent in the feature. The extension optionally changes the generated code so that Dreamweaver creates a ColdFusion Component containing a method that returns the query, output code that uses to invoke the CFC method, and still populates the bindings properly. This extension will make Dreamweaver Recordset functionality useful to those of us who have shied away from it in the past, and will also teach and demonstrate better coding practices to those that do rely on this functionality already.
ColdFusion debug output is displayed at the bottom of the generated page, right? Well, not necessarily. Ever since ColdFusion MX, this output has also been available in a separate window, as well as in the results panel in Dreamweaver (in a really nice tree control). But, as many Dreamweaver users know, clicking the debug button might generate no debug output at all, because the relevant IP address may not have been defined in the ColdFusion Administrator. One of the Blackstone Dreamweaver extensions solves this problem, cleanly and transparently, so that debug output will be generated when the debug button is clicked without having to manually set any IP address.
Need to add a datasource but don't have access to the ColdFusion Administrator? One of the Blackstone extensions to Dreamweaver solves this problem for you. Click the + button above the list of datasources and you'll be prompted for all the details needed to define a datasource, details which Dreamweaver will then submit to ColdFusion creating the datasource on the server (without ever having to open the ColdFusion Administrator). This one will make life easier for lots of users.
Blackstone will ship with Dreamweaver extensions designed to simplify ColdFusion application development (especially for beginners, but some useful for all developers). One that I was just using is a toggle inserted into the Application panel that changes the list of displayed CFCs, toggle one way to show all CFCs and toggle the other way to see just the ones in your application. My server-wide CFC list has grown to the point that this list was too long to be useful, and this little enhancement is much appreciated.
DRK7 is available, see http://www.macromedia.com/software/drk/productinfo/product_overview/volume7/. This edition includes content for ColdFusion, Dreamweaver, Flash, and more.
A new six-part ColdFusion training series has been posted to http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/coldfusion/articles/rd_cf.html. These Flash based videos start with absolute basics, and move up to data driven pages, and even using ColdFusion Components. If you are new to ColdFusion, or have yet to work with CFC's, these are highly recommended. (FYI: these tutorials were created using Macromedia RoboDemo).
I have not tried this one, but Katsuyuki Sakai (a Japanese ColdFusion and Dreamweaver user) has created a Dreamweaver extension that allows for ColdFusion service stopping, starting, and restarting right from within Dreamweaver. See http://www.wcan.jp/blog/katz/archives/000385.html for details. Thanks to Gus for brining this o my attention.
Dreamweaver features color coding and language awareness for lots of languages, all built in. Files are associated with a language by file extension, but what if you wanted to add an extension? I recently needed to edit an XML file as an XML file, but it did not have an XML extension, and so Dreamweaver treated it as text only (and would not even open it when clicking on in the Files panel). Some users save ColdFusion files with extensions other than CFM or CFML, and Dreamweaver won't recognize those by default. It took some digging around (and e-mailing the Dreamweaver team) to find out how to add my file extension, and now that I have it working I thought I should share the info in case others want to do the same. So:
1) The list of files that Dreamweaver edits are stored in Configuration\extensions.txt (under the Dreamweaver root). This is a plain text file, and you need to add the extension to two places, the "All Documents" line, and the specific file type line ("XML Files" for my file). Doing this allows you to click on a file in the Files panel so as to edit it.
2) You may have a second copy of this file in the user configuration directory (for example, mine is in C:\Documents and Settings\ben\Application Data\Macromedia\Dreamweaver MX 2004\Configuration), and you'll need to make the same changes to that file.
3) Next, edit file \Configuration\DocumentTypes\MMdocumenttypes.xml (this is the file that associates color coding with file extensions), locate the document type ("XML" in my case), and add the extension to the extension list.
ColdFusion expert (and long time CF Studio user) Simon Horwith has written an intriguing article on using Dreamweaver MX 2004 with ColdFusion. He presents some very compelling ways to extend Dreamweaver for ColdFusion use, and even confesses "the truth is that the more I use Dreamweaver MX 2004, the more I am convinced that it offers developers benefits that are superior to anything we ever had with ColdFusion Studio". Regardless of how you feel about Dreamweaver, this one is worth checking out: http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/dreamweaver/articles/server_behaviors.html.
One of the Dreamweaver "features" that us CFers complained loudly about was the need to define a site to be able to do anything. Unlike ColdFusion Studio which allowed you to browse an FTP or RDS connection for files, Dreamweaver required that a local site be created and that edits be made locally and then uploaded to the server (not a bad process in truth, but still one that gets in the way at times). Dreamweaver MX 2004 solves this problem. It's a little buried, but ...
Go to the Manage Sites dialog and click New. You'll be prompted for "Site" or "FTP & RDS Server". Select the second option, fill in the form, and save the server definition. You'll now be able to select that server and edit files directly over FTP and RDS, just as you could in ColdFusion Studio.
ColdFusion MX 6.1 adds a few new tags to the CFML language, and makes changes to some existing tags. If you are using HomeSite+ or Dreamweaver MX you can download tag updates so that your IDE is aware of these language changes. The updates can be downloaded from http://www.macromedia.com/software/coldfusion/downloads/ (scroll down, about half way down the page in the right column).
Here's another tip to improve Dreamweaver load time. In Preferences select the File Types / Editors screen and add .cfm and .cfc to the Open in Code View list. You'll lose support for design view and the Insert bar, but the load speed will be much faster. (Applies to: Dreamweaver MX)
When the Dreamweaver Application window is open (particularly with the Databases or Component tab selected) Dreamweaver will keep refreshing window content. This can have a real impact on Dreamweaver performance, and so it is best to keep the Application window closed when it is not being used. (Applies to: Dreamweaver MX)
Converting your HTML to XHTML? Dreamweaver can help. Simply open the file to be converted, and then select File, Convert, XHTML. (Applies to: Dreamweaver MX)
Suffering from a sluggish Dreamweaver? One quick tip is to turn off "Refresh Local File List Automatically" and "Refresh Remote File List Automatically" in the Site settings. (Applies to: Dreamweaver MX)
If you ever have to show code on a projected screen you've probably discovered that the default code size is too small to be readable. The solution? Go to Preferences, Fonts, and increase the size of the Code View font. (Applies to: Dreamweaver MX)
