Rob Brooks-Bilson
Tech, Photography, Stuff
Tell Adobe What You Want in a ColdFusion IDE
January 7, 2008
As has already been blasted around the blogs, Adobe has posed a survey asking what ColdFusion developers would like to see in a ColdFusion specific IDE. It goes without saying that many in the ColdFusion community have been asking/begging for an Adobe supported IDE to replace HomeSite +.
CFEclipse is a fantastic IDE, especially given the fact that it's essentially supported by a single developer and it's FREE! Now imagine what CFEclipse could become if Adobe got behind it. I don't know what Adobe's plans are (help enhance CFEclipse or create their own commercial IDE), but regardless, it's nice to see them showing interest in expanding the current ColdFusion IDE market.
You can take the survey here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=321RrO9_2fWaP_2bdYMnmF9CuQ_3d_3d
Jim Priest on CFEclipse at the IBM Developer Works Site
November 7, 2007
Kudos to Jim Priest for his latest CFEclipse article published on the IBM Developer Works website.
Jim's an avid blogger and regular contributor to the ColdFusion community. Getting an article on the IBM Developer Works site is no small feat, and an article there about ColdFusion is just one more feather in the cap of of CF developers. Cheers to Jim! This is the kind of exposure outside of the CF mainstream that we can all benefit from.
CFEclipse 1.3 Released - I'm late to the Party Again
January 26, 2007
Well, it looks like I'm a bit late on this one. I'm currently in Taiwan working on a project, so my news schedule is a little off ;-)
Mark Drew has Announced the release of CFEclipse 1.3. If you aren't currently using CFEclipse, all I can say is "why not"? It's a great IDE that only keeps getting better.
Cheers to Mark for a job well done, and for generating so much buzz around the release!
Converting HomeSite + Snippets to CFEclipse Snippets with ColdFusion
November 30, 2006
Thanks to Adam Crump, I finally got snippets working in CFEclipse. Turns out, it was something rather trivial, but I'll save that for another post. One of the things that's kept me from completely switching from HomeSite + to CFEclipse is snippets. I have hundreds of them, and the thought of living without them makes me cringe.
Once snippets were successfully working for me in CFEclipse, I decided I needed a tool to convert them from HomeSite + format to CFEclipse's XML format. HomeSite stores two files for each snippet you create. Each filename is the actual name of the snippet you see in Homesite. One file has a .hss extension, and contains the "start" text of the snippet. The other file gets a .hse extension, and contains the "end" text for the snippet. With this in mind, I outlined what I wanted my converter tool to do:
- Read snippets directory recursively
- Cead .hss and .hse files - these contain the snippet text
- Create folders in eclipse snippet directory
- Wrap the snippet text in xml (eclipse snippet format). Name of snippet is filename from homesite
- Write out xml files in eclipse snippets directory
Sounds pretty simple, right? ColdFusion MX 7 added a new recurse attribute to the cfdirectory tag which actually makes the whole process pretty simple. Here's the code I came up with. I have to admit, it's been a good while since I've written any code, so this took me a bit longer than I'd like to admit. I was able to use the code to convert and copy all of my snippets over, including all folders and subfolders, in just a few seconds. As always, YMMV:
1<!---
21. read snippets directory recursively
32. read .hss and .hse files - these contain the snippet text
43. create folders in eclipse snippet directory
54. wrap the snippet text in xml (eclipse snippet format). Name of snippet is filename from homesite
65. write out xml files in eclipse snippets directory
7--->
8<!--- set homesite and eclipse snippet base directories --->
9<cfset sourceDir = "C:\Program Files\Macromedia\HomeSite+\UserData\Snippets">
10<cfset targetDir = "C:\_source\snippets">
11
12<!--- read in the snippet files and directories from homesite recursively - need mx 7 --->
13<cfdirectory
14 action="LIST"
15 directory="#sourceDir#"
16 name="dirList"
17 recurse="Yes"
18 sort="directory">
19
20<!--- strip out .hse and other files so only .hss and directories are left --->
21<cfquery name="theData" dbtype="query">
22 SELECT *
23 FROM dirList
24 WHERE type = 'dir'
25 OR name like '%.hss'
26</cfquery>
27
28<!--- loop over each directory, creating the same thing on the eclipse side --->
29<cfoutput query="theData" group="directory" groupcasesensitive="yes">
30 <cfset myDir = replace(directory, sourceDir, "")>
31 <cfif directory is not sourceDir>
32 <cfdirectory action="CREATE" directory="#targetDir##myDir#">
33 </cfif>
34
35 <cfoutput>
36 <cfif listLast(name, ".") is "hss" and type is "file">
37 <!--- read in the .hss file (start of a snippet) --->
38 <cffile action="READ" file="#directory#\#name#" variable="snippetStart">
39 <!--- read in the .hse file (end of a snippet) --->
40 <cffile action="READ" file="#directory#\#ReplaceNoCase(name,".hss",".hse")#" variable="snippetEnd">
41
42<!--- create the xml for each eclipse version of the snippet --->
43<cfsavecontent variable="targetSnippet"><?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
44<snippet filetemplate="false" extension="cfm">
45<name>#ReplaceNoCase(name,".hss","")#</name>
46<help>#ReplaceNoCase(name,".hss","")#</help>
47<starttext><![CDATA[#snippetStart#]]></starttext>
48<endtext><![CDATA[#snippetEnd#]]></endtext>
49</snippet></cfsavecontent>
50
51 <!--- write out each file on the eclipse side --->
52 <cffile action="WRITE" file="#targetDir#\#myDir#\#ReplaceNoCase(name,".hss",".xml")#" output="#targetSnippet#">
53 </cfif>
54 </cfoutput>
55</cfoutput>
56
57All Finished!
21. read snippets directory recursively
32. read .hss and .hse files - these contain the snippet text
43. create folders in eclipse snippet directory
54. wrap the snippet text in xml (eclipse snippet format). Name of snippet is filename from homesite
65. write out xml files in eclipse snippets directory
7--->
8<!--- set homesite and eclipse snippet base directories --->
9<cfset sourceDir = "C:\Program Files\Macromedia\HomeSite+\UserData\Snippets">
10<cfset targetDir = "C:\_source\snippets">
11
12<!--- read in the snippet files and directories from homesite recursively - need mx 7 --->
13<cfdirectory
14 action="LIST"
15 directory="#sourceDir#"
16 name="dirList"
17 recurse="Yes"
18 sort="directory">
19
20<!--- strip out .hse and other files so only .hss and directories are left --->
21<cfquery name="theData" dbtype="query">
22 SELECT *
23 FROM dirList
24 WHERE type = 'dir'
25 OR name like '%.hss'
26</cfquery>
27
28<!--- loop over each directory, creating the same thing on the eclipse side --->
29<cfoutput query="theData" group="directory" groupcasesensitive="yes">
30 <cfset myDir = replace(directory, sourceDir, "")>
31 <cfif directory is not sourceDir>
32 <cfdirectory action="CREATE" directory="#targetDir##myDir#">
33 </cfif>
34
35 <cfoutput>
36 <cfif listLast(name, ".") is "hss" and type is "file">
37 <!--- read in the .hss file (start of a snippet) --->
38 <cffile action="READ" file="#directory#\#name#" variable="snippetStart">
39 <!--- read in the .hse file (end of a snippet) --->
40 <cffile action="READ" file="#directory#\#ReplaceNoCase(name,".hss",".hse")#" variable="snippetEnd">
41
42<!--- create the xml for each eclipse version of the snippet --->
43<cfsavecontent variable="targetSnippet"><?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
44<snippet filetemplate="false" extension="cfm">
45<name>#ReplaceNoCase(name,".hss","")#</name>
46<help>#ReplaceNoCase(name,".hss","")#</help>
47<starttext><![CDATA[#snippetStart#]]></starttext>
48<endtext><![CDATA[#snippetEnd#]]></endtext>
49</snippet></cfsavecontent>
50
51 <!--- write out each file on the eclipse side --->
52 <cffile action="WRITE" file="#targetDir#\#myDir#\#ReplaceNoCase(name,".hss",".xml")#" output="#targetSnippet#">
53 </cfif>
54 </cfoutput>
55</cfoutput>
56
57All Finished!
Damon Cooper's Looking For ColdFusion IDE Feedback
August 1, 2006
Damon Cooper (Adobe CF Team) is looking for feedback on what people would like to see in the ultimate ColdFusion IDE. He doesn't make any mention of what Adobe is planning to do with this feedback, but if I had to guess, I'd say they are planning to put some Adobe resources toward supporting CFEclipse. Just before Macromedia was aquired by Adobe, Macromedia had made a similar pledge. Either way, it will be interesting to see what comes of this.
Help Support CFEclipse
May 24, 2006
The CFEclipse team has done a fantastic job developing an open source, community driven IDE for ColdFusion developers. If you're using CFEclipse, you know exactly what I mean. If you aren't using CFEclipse, you owe it to yourself to give it a look.
That said, the team at CFEclipse is always looking for volunteers to help out with the project. Java skills are especially helpful. However, if you don't know Java and still want to contribute, there are several other ways you can help.
If you find that you just don't have the time to help technically, you can also contribute to the project financially. The CFEclipse team has put together a selection of branded CFEclipse merchandise that you can purchase. They have everything fron hats and t-shirts to coffee mugs and even a messenger bag.
Finally! RDS Support For CFEclipse
March 21, 2006
One of the most requested features for CFEclipse is finally here. That's right, RDS support is now available from the Adobe Labs website. The engineers at Adobe have been collaborating with the CFEclipse team to bring RDS to the masses.
I personally know quite a few people who just couldn't make the switch from Homesite to CFEclipse because of the lack of RDS support (myself included), so now that it's finally here, there should be one less barrier keeping people from switching.
I've been using the plugin for a while now, and it is working rather well. In addition to the standard file browsing capabilities, there's also a nice dataview which allows you to visually build queries and generate SQL statements. Very handy.
If you've been on the fence about using CFEclipse before, download the latest build, download the RDS plugin, and give it another shot. There's an active and vibrant community coming up around CFEclipse as well, so there's plenty of opportunity to help shape and contribute to the ongoing development.
MAX 2005 Sneaks - RDS Support for CFEclipse
October 19, 2005
During yesterday's sneaks session, Damon Cooper showed off RDS support from within Eclipse. This feature has often been cited as one of the "must have" features missing from CFEclipse. In addition to the basic file capabilities or RDS, Damon also showed database browsing and query building from within Eclipse. Very nice and very sought after.
Previously at CFUnited, Damon indicated that Macromedia would be working with the CFEclipse team to contribute to the project. When we'll see this feature incorporated into CFEclipse, or perhaps released as a separate plugin is still not known.
Adam Crump Enters The Blogroll
June 30, 2005
That's right, Adam Crump is finally blogging. Adam's a very talented developer with strong mach-ii experience. He already has some good posts from CFUNITED up on his site. I'm looking forward to a lot of great content from Adam on ColdFusion topics such as architecture, frameworks (mach-ii, model-glue, etc), CFEclipse, build tools, and more.
Macromedia and Open Source - CFEclipse Announcement
June 29, 2005
From the CFUNITED conference in Bethesda, MD...
Macromedia announced formal support for the CFEclipse project, pledging engineering support and collaboration for the project. CFEclipse will remain an independant project, with Macromedia providing advice, research, and code as time unfolds.
Simeon Bateman, the project leader for CFEclipse also addressed the crowd stating that we should start to expect more regular builds as the collaboration with Macromedia moves forward.
Expect the CFEclipse 2.0 release sometime this fall. In the meantime, the new CFEclipse Website is now online.
