Articles
InFused: the ColdFusion blog on Sitepoint
In late 2007, I started writing for the ColdFusion blog on Sitepoint. After a few general items, I hit on the idea of doing a weekly roundup of things that are happening in the ColdFusion blogosphere. As of the beginning of July 2008, I’ve done 25 weekly roundups which I call “The Week in ColdFusion”.
I’m also attempting to get the developer of each ColdFusion framework (or at least one of the team) to answer the same 10 questions. So far I have posted:
Geoff Bowers on the FarCry Framework
John Farrar on COOP
Mark Mandel on Transfer ORM
Integrated Reporting and the ColdFusion Report Builder
In 2006, I worked on a project that used ColdFusion MX7’s built in reporting feature extensively. In the process I learnt some disturbing and enlightening things about integrated reporting, and in particular the ColdFusion Report Builder application. Subsequent to some ranting and raving on this site, Judith Dinowitz, editor of Fusion Authority, asked me to write an article for the first edition of the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update.
While the article was being written, the 7.0.2 updater was in beta testing. This updater included fixes for some of the issues I discussed in the article, but unfortunately due to the print publishing schedule, I was unable to include full details. A further update to the ColdFusion Report Builder was released in mid-July, just two weeks later, squashing some more of the bugs. A follow-up article exploring the changes appeared in Volume II issue 1 of the FAQ-U.
Fusion Authority Quarterly Update
Fusebox
Fusebox Basics
Back in the dark ages, I was very involved in the Fusebox community. I wrote an article for the Macromedia Developer Centre on Fusebox – an introduction to the basic principles, using a Fusebox 3 application as an example. I’ve often thought about writing an updated version covering Fusebox 4, which I now use extensively, but I haven’t had time and there’s plenty of other resources available. Still, for a very simple overview of the core of Fusebox – the Fusebox itself, circuit, fuseactions and fuses – it is still relevant.
Fusebox Basics: Introduction to the Fusebox Framework
Fusebox Form Reuse
Searching for a clean solution for form reuse and server-side validation in Fusebox 3 led me to create this sample application, which illustrates the system I adopted (a mish-mash of best practises and ideas from other developers). It no longer applies as Fusebox 4 allows fuseactions to execute other fuseactions, but I’m keeping it here for historical interest.
Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver Fusedocs
Fusedoc is the documentation standard for Fusebox. Fusedocs are comprised of XML-formatted data in a pre-defined format, that sit in a comment block at the top of each individual file in a Fusebox application. If you use Dreamweaver as an IDE – and I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who does this – and you use Fusedocs, you will want most likely some code completion and color coding to make working with them easier. I wrote up an overview of how to do this back when Dreamweaver MX was first released.
CS-RCS Toolbar for Dreamweaver
CS-RCS is a revision control program that I used to use. I now mostly use Subversion instead, which sadly does not yet have any integration with Dreamweaver. But, should you need a free (for single users) revision system that can hook nicely into most IDEs, check it out (and also my toolbar).