A few people have asked me about the ColdFusion Builder scripts for Linux for the new 1.0.
I'm sorry to say that I won't be doing a script for ColdFusion Builder on Linux for the 1.0 release.
I tried this morning to run my usual scripts to get a plugin install out of ColdFusion builder, which ran fine, but after installing and attempting to run it, I was met with a dreaded:
!ENTRY com.adobe.ide.editor.cfml 4 0 2010-03-23 09:39:50.110
!MESSAGE
Whenever I opened a CFML file (which doesn't tell me much about what is going on where).
There is obviously something native built into ColdFusion Builder 1.0, that wasn't present in Beta 3 (I can see some .dll's etc), which is causing this error to occur. Adobe have also done the right thing, and removed all the debugging so that would be hackers have a hard time working out what is going on where.
If you want to get involved in evangelising ColdFusion Builder on Linux, there are some things you can do:
- Vote for the bug!
- Vote for the Flash Builder bug too (if they do one, they will have to do the other!)
- Bug your evangelists! (But do it in a nice way) Conference season is coming up, so have a chat with them when you see them around, and let them know that you would buy a copy for Linux.
- Run it in VMWare / VirtualBox
- Change your OS of choice (ECH!)
At the end of the day, I'm only upset about there being no Linux version, because I think ColdFusion Builder is a great product, and I want it to have as much exposure as it can. We need to convince Adobe that the Linux market is a viable one, and will have a good return on investment.
If I hear of any changes in the Linux landscape for ColdFusion Builder, I'll be sure to let you know.
I believe it is time for some shameless self promotion!
If you were looking for more information on the
ColdFusion 9 Object Relational Mapping Training that the venerable
Bob Silverberg and I are putting on at
cf.Objective() next April, we have just fleshed out the content section of our site to include a
detailed outline of the topics that we will be covering during the training program.
You'll know Bob from his blogging at
http://www.silverwareconsulting.com/, on a variety of all too clever stuff, including CF9 ORM, Git, Unit Testing, and
ValidateThis - his own open source validation framework. He's also an all-around nice guy
You'll
see that we cover a variety of topics with ColdFusion 9 ORM that will
allow you to hit the ground running once you have completed our
training, and it will be taught in a clear, step by step manner that
will leave you wondering why you ever thought the term "Object
Relational Mapper" sounded so scary and complicated.
So if you
are keen on expanding your skill-set with ColdFusion 9, and
specifically with its integrated ORM, we think this is the course for
you, and we hope to see you at cf.Objective()!
cf.Objective() Preconference Classes
When
ColdDoc was first born, the original idea was to just output a port of
Javadoc. Looking into it further, I realised that the mechanics where there to generate
any sort of documentation, not just a static HTML version of the API.
To
that effect, ColdDoc has been refactored so that it is possible to
generate documentation based on an arbitrary Template Strategy.
ColdDoc now ships with both a strategy that generates the port of
JavaDoc and a strategy that generates UML via the
UML2 Tools plugin in Eclipse, and plans are in the works to generate a PDF document strategy as well.
I won't take you through implementation details (there is new
documentation for that), but you can still generate the static HTML API documentation based on JavaDoc, for which you can see an example
here, but now it is done through the
HTMLAPIStrategy.
This also includes support for new ColdDoc based annotations, in which,
for example, you can specify generic types for return/arguments types
like array, struct etc, so you can finally answer that question in your
documentation of "Yes, but what does that array
contain?".
When
working on the ColdSpring 2.0 rewrite (wow, that is long overdue for a
blog post), I also really needed a way to generate UML diagrams from
the code I was writing, as a basic attempt to be able to roundtrip from
UML->CFC and then back again. Also included within ColdDoc is a
strategy to generate the XML that the Eclipse UML2 Tools Plugin uses to
create UML diagrams from. You can see a screenshot of a Class Diagram
here that has been created with this combination of tools.
This
is very useful, as it becomes very useful for collaboration and
software design sessions, even when you have started with UML diagrams,
as software designs can shift during implementation phases, and
diagrams and documentation often fall by the wayside during these rapid
change cycles.
If you are interested in more, or possibly
developing your own documentation generation strategies, download a
copy of ColdDoc, read the new
documentation, and join the conversation on the
google group.
Happy automation of documentation!
