Category: ColdFusion
43 posts in this category. View all posts
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
VerifyClient() with non-standard CF AJAX
If you've ever researched ColdFusion AJAX security features such as VerifyClient() or secureJSON or secureJSONPrefix, you've probably come across Ray Camden's article already (or one of his blog posts about it) but in case you haven't, before you continue I want you to at least read this post from Ray. (If I hadn't read Ray's postings I wouldn't have been able to come to the solution I'm going to tell you about without more effort. So thanks Ray!) Now, with that out of the way...
I'm using both some custom AJAX and some built-in ColdFusion AJAX goodness on a client's website. I only want AJAX calls to be able to get data from a particular page. Otherwise, I want to return a blank page to the user. In other words, I don't want someone browsing directly to callbyajax.cfm.
Now we all know that URL parameters can be hacked, but in my client's case if someone manages to pass in valid params that will get them results and they can bypass ColdFusion's VerifyClient() too, then that's good enough for me. With that in mind, my ideal solution would allow me to still use VerifyClient(), even though I'm using custom AJAX. So how can I make that happen?
Once you know that all VerifyClient() is doing is looking for a valid URL._cf_clientid, then it becomes a matter of passing in a valid _cf_clientid. The next thing that comes to mind is, "How can I get that value on my own so I can use it?" Unfortunately it wasn't as simple as I hoped... To my disappointment, the value used for _cf_clientid isn't anywhere to be found in the Client or Session scopes.
Something generates the parameter and the output looks something like this: ?_cf_clientid=C56E92048D21B1B348A3D097D842866B. I could only conclude that ColdFusion was using some sort of encrypted value and it didn't seem there was a way to access it natively. I was stuck. So I turned to my wonderful husband Dan who happens to be a ColdFusion genius, for some help and brainstorming. (Thanks for your patience Dan!)
Dan noticed that the URLs generated by native ColdFusion AJAX calls use some global JavaScript variables that ColdFusion sets right after the opening <head> tag. So Dan suggested that I use <cfajaximport tags="cfdiv" /> to force my page to write the global variables so that I could references them much like ColdFusion does. I didn't like that idea, mostly because importing tags I didn't need seemed wasteful. Once I got over trying to find a native way to get that same string of alphanumeric characters, I decided I should probably think about Dan's suggestion some more. I recalled recently seeing an example somewhere (though I can't recall where), that showed <cfajaximport /> without the tags attribute. Turns out, the tags attribute is optional, so I only had to use <cfajaximport /> in order to render the globals to the document. Ok, that feels a lot less dirty to me; I can live with this workaround.
Here's a simple proof of concept (by no means perfect) for you to view in the browser: VerifyClient.cfm. Notice the comment in the source code that points out that the globals were generated by using <cfajaximport /> at the top of the page. Here's the ColdFusion Code in the file that it links to (which is supposed to be called via AJAX, but faked for proof-of-concept purposes):
<cftry>
<cfset VerifyClient() />
<cfcatch>
NO!<cfabort>
</cfcatch>
</cftry>
YES!
The beauty of this solution is I can now use one file for both custom and built-in AJAX functionality and still use VerifyClient().
Don't forget: You must enable client or session management in your Application.cfm or Application.cfc file for VerifyClient() to work at its best. Without client or session management enabled, VerifyClient() will not throw an error if URL._cf_clientid exists. (Empty values and bad values will pass, but missing _cf_clientid entirely will throw the expected error.)
Sidenote: I ran a test to see if I could get away with passing _cf_clientid via the Form scope instead of the URL scope. No luck; ColdFusion is only checking for URL.
Posted by ~Angela
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Sunday, June 1, 2008
Happy National Regex Day - 5 Tips for working with Regular Expressions
Happy National Regex Day!
To celebrate I'd like to share some tips for working with Regular Expressions that have helped me over the years I've been using them. I've got 5 tips to share today (#1 is already in the post on Ben Nadel's blog that I linked to but thought it worthwhile to repeat here, sorry if it is a dupe for you...)
Tip #1, for Dreamweaver Users: If you're a Dreamweaver user and need to build a regular expression, start learning about the Server Behavior Builder. When you create a server behavior, Dreamweaver generates a regular expression to match the code block(s). If you're in a hurry (or especially if you're just learning regular expressions), the regexes Dreamweaver generates can be a good starting point. You'll find the regexes it generates are in your user's Configuration in .edml files (which are XML files).
Tip #2, for CFEclipse users (assuming this works in other flavors of Eclipse as well): When you use the Search dialog (ctrl+H on the Mac), there's the obvious Regular Expression checkbox. With your focus in the Containing Text field, press Ctrl+Space to get a handy regex cheat sheet.
Tip #3, a Workflow Tip: When trying to come up with that perfect regex, take the time to build a static page or two that has what you want to match in it. Essentially, create a use case document. Then use your favorite regex capable Find and Replace tool to work up to creating the perfect regex. For instance, if you have a huge string to match, start by trying to match only the first 5 characters then add on to your regex and test again. When you've got it matching your use cases, then go ahead and plug it into your ColdFusion or JavaScript code (you don't use other code right? ;-))
Tip #4, Debugging Regular Expressions: You'll most likely find yourself debugging a regex at some point or another, and for me its usually because I missed a use case. (That's when its time to update the use case document.) Any time I've got a regex that isn't quite working right, I trim it back. In other words, I do the opposite of what I described in the first part of my workflow tip above. Stop trying to match what you really want to match in its entirety, take a bit away from the regex at a time until it starts matching your use case file. (If you didn't make a use case file, now is the time to do it!) Then build that regex back up again little by little until you have it matching everything you want.
Tip #5, Application Comments: In the case of using a regex in an application (versus in Find and Replace), always, always make a comment on what that regex means in plain English terms and why you need to use it in the first place. Sooner or later, someone will look at the regex and quite possibly have their eyes glaze over -- it could be you! So do yourself and others a favor and take a couple minutes to comment it. If you're extra geeky you'll have your comment refer to your use case file so they can actually see exactly what the heck that fancy string of characters is supposed to match.
Posted by ~Angela
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008
UPDATE - CFGRID wrapping text
A few weeks ago I posted about needing to wrap text in a CFGRID's cell. (Read the original posted that I just updated...)
The code I provided didn't work in IE (figures!) but I've since added display:block; to the rule and it works for me...
Here it is, new and improved:
div .x-grid-cell-text{white-space:normal;display:block;}
I'm interested in hearing if anyone has a better fix, or if this doesn't work right for some use case or browser.
Posted by ~Angela
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Saturday, April 5, 2008
Wrapping text in CFGRID that uses format="html"
I Googled. I googled some more. I found lots of blogs where people asked in the comments how to wrap text in a CFGRID tag, but either no answer was given or the format was Flash.
Well, for the sanity of those on the same mission I was on, I shall blog the solution that satisfied my quest. (It may or may not satisfy yours depending on what you're trying to achieve.)
A simple line of CSS did the trick in my use case:
div .x-grid-cell-text{white-space:normal;}
UPDATE: To fix IE, add display:block; to the rule above.
That's it, one line of CSS. Hope it helps!
Posted by ~Angela
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Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Adobe Sells ColdFusion
It's true; Adobe sells ColdFusion. In fact, they have for a few years now. Ever since they acquired Macromedia.
Gotcha...Just like last time.
Posted by ~Angela
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Thursday, June 29, 2006
What is Flex?
Macromedia, err I mean Adobe, has released Flex 2! It just so happens that lynda.com released Flex 2 Essential Training yesterday and in Chapter 1 there's a free 9 minute movie that answers the question, "What is Flex?". You'll also find a few other free movies in chapter 1, Getting Started.
Enjoy!
Posted by ~Angela
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Monday, June 5, 2006
lynda.com now hiring...
If you're a regular reader of my blog, you already know that I've been working for lynda.com since late January of this year. I started out as the Web Interface Architect and have since moved to a new position, Web Production Manager.
We've hired Dan as our Web Application Architect. (If JD can "out" my new job, I can certainly "out" Dan's!)
To those who know both of us, to answer your question... Yes, I am Dan's supervisor. Nope, that's nothing new. ;-)
We're building our web team and are looking to fill a few positions in the Austin, Texas vicinity. Please visit http://www.lynda.com/jobs/ for available openings.
Posted by ~Angela
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Monday, January 16, 2006
Dreamweaver 8.0.1 Updater Released Today
Adobe realesed the Dreamweaver 8.0.1 updater today. (It is sure going to take some getting used to not saying "Macromedia"...)
Get the scoop on what's been fixed by checking out the Resolved Issues: http://www.macromedia.com/go/f56452a8
In the first paragraph of the Release Notes you'll find a link to the download. Be sure to read the installation instructions! (Don't forget to disable virus protection like I did...Oops!)
Posted by ~Angela
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Sunday, January 15, 2006
<cfinclude /> Rendering Trick for Dreamweaver
Here's a tip for you if you don't want Dreamweaver to render a specific <cfinclude> tag in Design view. Look at the tag in the previous sentence. Now go back and look at the tag in this subject line. Spot the difference?
If you close a cfinclude tag as if it were an empty element like in XHTML, Dreamweaver does not render the contents of the cfinclude.
This won't render in Design view:
<cfinclude template="/includes/header.cfm" />
This will render in Design view:
<cfinclude template="/includes/header.cfm">
Why wouldn't you want Dreamweaver to render a cfinclude you ask? Oh, I can come up with a lot of reasons... I'll give you but a few of them.
- Dreamweaver parses the code in includes, hence rendering can be slowed down in Design view.
- The Server Behaviors panel may take longer to load.
- If you work with others who use Dreamweaver's Server Behaviors panel a lot, but they won't have any reason to touch your code you can hide it from them this way. (Sure, they can get around this but I mean hiding it from a Designer who might mess things up.)
- If you're doing conditionial logic and showing includes with an if/else or switch case, Dreamweaver will render all of the includes. Having all includes render at once could distort what the layout might look like if only one were showing. So you could disable includes using this trick and only enable the one you need to see.
If anyone cares to share some potential uses for this trick, please be sure to leave a comment.
To any Adobe employees reading this blog post: Please do not "fix" the translator to account for the space and closing slash. This is not a bug; its an undocumented feature. ;-)
Posted by ~Angela
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Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Will Adobe support ColdFusion?
It seems that many people are wondering whether or not Adobe will continue to support ColdFusion. Let me first say that despite whatever you might think given what you (may think that you) know about me, I have no "insider" information. That said, here's what I think about it...
I've been to numerous government websites that are powered by ColdFusion. If I were Adobe, I wouldn't want to upset the government. Can you say tax audits? ;-)
In all seriousness, I don't think ColdFusion is going to disappear anytime soon -- at least not in the next 2 or 3 years. According to Macromedia's website, ColdFusion 5 is still supported in some capacity until January 1, 2007.
Further, they are still selling their Gold Support Program which is unlimited email or telephone incidents for one year. Adobe would have to honor that agreement, so that says to me that there's at least one more year where ColdFusion will be supported.
So I say, stop your worrying! You can start to worry when you see that Adobe has updated the site and it says they won't support ColdFusion anymore. When they do so, I doubt very much that it would be an overnight end to support. Most likely it would be at least a year from such announcment that support would be discontinued.
Keep in mind that Flex is also tied closely to ColdFusion. Imagine the uproar among Macromedia's (now Adobe's) enterprise level customers if they were to discontinue technologies they invested so much money in.
The aftermath of such a thing would surely damage Adobe's reputation and rattle customer confidence. Adobe has to know this, they aren't blind.
Granted large companies make stoooopid mistakes all the time. In my opinion discountinuing certain technologies such as ColdFusion would be a huge mistake. I just can't see Adobe making a mistake of that magnitude.
If I happen to be wrong and Adobe doesn't keep ColdFusion going, another group/company is sure to pick up where they left off. (If the sky did fall, there's always BlueDragon.)
I for one am sticking to ColdFusion.
Posted by ~Angela
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Monday, October 24, 2005
Dan on SYS-CON.TV (and others too)
There's a bunch more interviews up on SYS-CON.TV from MAX, including one with Dan Short who is the Lead Developer of Cartweaver, a coder extraordinaire, and more. (Yes, I am quite biased!)
Find out why Dan's asking for "more love" and from whom. View Dan's interview or check them all out, whatever you'd like...
Posted by ~Angela
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Monday, August 22, 2005
More MAX Sneak Peeks
This just in... Macromedia has put up more MAX session sneak peeks. Yes, there's even one from yours truly. Ok, so I'm not "yours" but you know what I mean.
Posted by ~Angela
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Sunday, August 21, 2005
Free Macromedia Seminars
Some things in life are free, like Macromedia's online (live) seminars, recorded seminars, and regular old-fashioned-style seminars. So if you're looking for information on Studio 8, get it straight from Macromedia, free!
Macromedia will be visiting the following communities to present a free three-hour technical seminar all about Studio 8 between 08/23/2005 and 09/22/2005: Boston, Burnaby (Vancouver), Calgary, Chicago, Los Angeles, McLean, Montreal, New York, Ottawa, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington DC.
Hurry, space is limitted and (online) registration is required to attend.
Posted by ~Angela
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Friday, August 12, 2005
Sneak Peek at Dreamweaver 8
If you've been looking for more Dreamweaver 8 sneak peeks, here's a few you may not have seen yet. The following three links will lead you to previews of three MAX 2005 presentations. Can you guess which one of these three were written by yours truly?
~ Using the Power of XML with Dreamweaver
~ Using the CSS Box Model for Page Layout
~ Dreamweaver Killer Tips
Posted by ~Angela
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Monday, April 18, 2005
Speculations and Team Macromedia
Ben Forta has said it well, "Since the announcement hit the wire this morning, the various ColdFusion related lists have been buzzing with rumors, speculation, and predictions. Of course, that is all they are, rumors, speculation, and predictions. I don't think anyone really knows what this means for any product yet, and it'll be a while until all that gets figured out." (Read Ben's entire blog post for more of his take on the acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe.)
I have been asked by several people what I think will happen to both Dreamweaver and ColdFusion. First, I'm not sure it really matters what I think. Second, I don't know and thinking about it only makes my head hurt wondering. I'm waiting for answers just like anybody else.
To that end, if I happen to spot any info online that might be of interest to those reading my blog I'll be sure to point it out. I have no inside scoop to dish out and was completely surprised when I heard the news. (When my boyfriend told me I thought he was just teasing me!)
There has also been the usual attempts to discredit any reactions favoring Macromedia given by a Team Macromedia Member. (I happen to be a TMM.) It seems to be popular belief that TMMs must at all times sing the praises of Macromedia and their products no matter what happens.
I guess I can't blame people for making that assumption. It does make sense that we speak in favor of Macromedia. However, to the best of my knowledge, nowhere is it written that we must never criticize and only say good things when it comes to Macromedia and their products. Sure, it is probably in our best interest to do so if we want to remain TMMs... (After all team members should like the team they're playing for else the other people on the team won't want them around, right?)
I trust that when someone such as Ben Forta says that ColdFusion MX 7 is selling very well (even though he couldn't share exact numbers), that it truly is selling well. I don't doubt him; the quarterly reports should be out soon enough to prove his statements to anyone who does have doubt.
To me it makes sense that a product that sells well will not be dumped as a result of the acquisition. Does that mean it won't be dumped? I already said I don't know; I have no inside scoop! I sure wish I did though...
In the meantime, I will wait for more news from Macromedia and\or Adobe and refrain from speculations best I can.
Posted by ~Angela
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Saturday, April 2, 2005
Speaking
I've added a new section to my blog today called Speaking. That's where I plan to list my speaking engagements at conferences, user groups and other special events. This month there are two conferences I'll be giving presenations at, Powered by Detroit and TODCon.
I plan to eventually add past speaking engagements as well and possibly include past presentations and\or other materials related to my sessions such as links or extensions and whatnot.
If you have any ideas about ways I can improve what I've posted so far or have suggestions about things I can add to this section please be sure to leave a comment. I'll take any serious suggestions under consideration. - Thanks!
Posted by ~Angela
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Monday, March 28, 2005
Three Very Heavy Cases
I just about had a heart attack, I was so startled. I'm in my office when I hear someone run up the stairs to my front door, an extremely loud thud, then running down the stairs.
My heart racing, I wonder what it could be. Then again, the same thing; running up the stairs, THUD, running down the stairs.
I'm still startled but realize it could be a delivery. I wonder what it could be since I'm not expecting anything...
As I open the front door, it happens again; running up the stairs, THUD, and the UPS guy runs down again.
I'm still a bit shaken up from the initial (then unidentified) thud, but pleased that three very heavy boxes are stacked by my door, each filled with copies of ColdFusion MX 7 Web Application Construction Kit.
Even as I type this message my heart is not quite back to its normal pace. Whatever happened to the days when the driver would knock or ring the doorbell...?
Posted by ~Angela
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Wednesday, March 23, 2005
ColdFusion MX 7 Web Application Construction Kit now available!
I haven't gotten my copy of the new ColdFusion MX 7 Web Application Construction Kit, but Ben has gotten his already and he's written about it on his blog. Ben has also published a description and the table of contents to his site for anyone looking for more info.
Hopefully my copy will be here tomorrow! Thanks to Ben for asking me back again. I am honored to have done my part, and have my name listed on the cover with such phenomenal authors.
Posted by ~Angela
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Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Due out soon - Macromedia ColdFusion MX 7 Web Application Construction Kit
Due out soon, is Macromedia ColdFusion MX 7 Web Application Construction Kit by Ben Forta and Ray Camden with Leon Chalnick and Angela C. Buraglia (that's me!). I only wrote chapter 2, which is an overview of Dreamweaver geared towards ColdFusion developers. (The new ColdFusion MX 7 extensions for Dreamweaver are covered in other chapters, not the one I wrote.)
Ben will be posting the table of contents on his site. I do have the back cover copy from the book that I can share:
Macromedia® ColdFusion® MX 7 Web application construction kit
The ColdFusion MX 7 Web Application Construction Kit is the latest edition of the best-selling ColdFusion book of all time-the one that most ColdFusion developers used to first learn the product.
This reference starts with ColdFusion fundamentals, then progresses to techniques for all the most critical functions, including creating data-driven pages, building complete applications, implementing security mechanisms, integration with email, building reusable functions and components, generating data driven reports and graphs, interacting with Macromedia Flash, and much more. From design and installation, to application deployment and troubleshooting, this book is all you need to succeed with ColdFusion MX 7.
New ColdFusion MX 7 features and options covered in this edition include:
-
Using Dreamweaver MX 2004 extensions to simplify application development
-
Creating printable documents in PDF and FlashPaper formats
-
Leveraging ColdFusion's new reporting tool
-
Generating engaging Flash forms
-
Harnessing the power of XForms and XSL
-
And much, much more
CD-ROM includes:
-
Developer edition of ColdFusion MX 7
-
Evaluation version of Dreamweaver MX 2004
-
Ten bonus chapters on more advanced ColdFusion topics
-
All source code and example applications
Posted by ~Angela
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Friday, March 18, 2005
A must-read blog post by Tom Muck
I just got done reading a post by Tom Muck about rogue extensions for Dreamweaver. Though his post is geared towards Dreamweaver, it is important to note that the same issues exist for other Macromedia programs such as Flash and Fireworks which also rely on the Extension Manager to install/uninstall extensions. Tom's post is a must-read for anyone using any Macromedia product that uses the Extension Manager to install extensions.
A rogue extension can come from any extension developer, including reputable companies. There are no regulations in place to prevent extensions from the problems described in Tom's post.
For the average user it is not easy to determine if the extensions offered by any particular person or business are safe to install without worry that their configuration will be corrupted. At this point, the average user is left to trial and error...
Rest assured that any extension that I've written and will write will never "overwrite" a Macromedia default file. If it means that I can't release the extension without modifying one of Macromedia's files, oh well. I'd rather know that I haven't caused the frustration of even a single extension user than be selfish and write my extensions without regard to repercussions.
I feel it is important to spread the word about the potential for problems. Tom's points are all very valid concerns. At the same time, I hesitate to write on this topic because it could easily be seen as trying to bash a potential competitor or further my own business.
On the other hand, if I say nothing at all, then what? The potential for conflicting extensions becoming a common problem is definitely there in my opinion. I can't just sit back knowing this and say absolutely nothing about it.
This post alone possibly risks causing certain companies/people to become upset with me for speaking out about it. I sure hope it doesn't ruffle any feathers because my intentions are good, but I guess that's a chance I'm taking...
I doubt it is Tom's intention, and it certainly is not my intention to scare people into avoiding extensions. If you run into a problem, removing\renaming your User's Configuration should restore things normal. Worst case scenario, you'll have to reinstall.
Posted by ~Angela
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Monday, March 14, 2005
I'll be there, will you? - The 2nd Annual March Mingle
It's almost time for the 2nd Annual March Mingle to be held this Wednesday, March 16th at Dave N Busters in San Diego, California. There's no cost to attend, with free pool and finger foods. Just bring a few bucks for drinks.
There will be about 20 user groups represented this year from all over Southern California, who's focus range from web design, to Macromedia products, to operating systems, and programming languages. ColdFusion, .Net, PHP and general geeks alike (that's a compliment) will gather to eat, drink, shoot pool, socialize and network from 6:30pm to 10pm.
Oh, and you don't have to be a user group memeber to attend either. So even if you're not a user group member, you should come and shoot some pool, meet some people, and possibly win some very cool door prizes.
For the Dreamweaver users attending, Site-Drive Inc. (DWfaq.com) is donating a bundle of all DWfaq.com Dreamweaver extensions and Application Dynamics Inc. (Cartweaver.com) is donating a license of Cartweaver as door prizes.
There will even be some not-necessarily-just-for-geeks prizes, a very cool Cuetec Black Graphite Cue and a poker chip set courtesy of FiveStarBilliards.com. There will be more door prizes from Macromedia, The O'Reilly User Group Program, Sterling Ledet and Associates, and That Technical Bookstore too. With as many prizes as there are to be given away, there's a pretty good chance of winning something.
Posted by ~Angela
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Sunday, February 6, 2005
ColdFusion MX 7 officially released
It's official folks, ColdFusion MX 7 is now available. If you weren't part of the very large public beta and don't already know what it's all about, be sure to take a look at the new features CF MX 7 brings.
There's a lot of juicy new bits, including application.cfc files, rich forms, the ability to create PDFs and FlashPaper documents on the fly, and so much more...
I'm also pleased to report that Cartweaver 2 CF works in ColdFusion MX 7 as well.
Posted by ~Angela
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Saturday, February 5, 2005
SDCFUG Meeting
Sorry it's taken me so long to blog this folks... Wednesday night was the SDCFUG Meeting and I have to say it went really well once we got started. I had more than my usual projector problems and at the last minute had to borrow Dan's laptop because it had less trouble. (I had to look at the projection rather than my screen to see what I was doing.) Anyhow...
Having never seen CFEclipse until 2 hours prior to the meeting and only a vague idea of what its capabilities were, I think Rob and I managed to do a nice side-by-side comparison of CFEclipse and Dreamweaver. Both of us realize that the two products are complimentary and neither is intended to replace the other. To that end, our presentation was not a duel of any sort and very good natured and friendly.
As I understand it (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong), there is a limitation that prevents the usual switch back and forth abilities of Dreamweaver with CFEclipse. Hopefully that will be fixed in a future release of CFEclipse making the two programs even more complimentary.
I was quite impressed by Rob and all he's done (and the team that works on CFEclipse) with the program so far. There's a few features in it that I'd love to see in Dreamweaver, like "trigger text" which lets you assign keywords to snippets rather than a keyboard shortcut. Another nice feature that's similar to Site< Locate in Site that fires automatically was pretty cool. I loved that the tag attibutes that you use get removed from the list of available attributes.
I was surprised that all of the attendees have Dreamweaver and use it except for one who chose not to use it since he's mostly a .NET guy anyhow. Usually the CF groups I speak with don't even want to look at Dreamweaver let alone hear about it, so this is a nice change indeed.
I'm going to try to make it to future San Diego meetings, and look forward to the oppurtunity to speak there again in the future. It was nice meeting all of you!
HomeSite/CFStudio and CFEclipse, Dreamweaver definitely is not. Perhaps someday it will be, maybe not...all that remains to be seen. In the meantime, please if you want to see Dreamweaver add features that are part of your other favorite editors be sure to tell Macromedia.
Posted by ~Angela
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Tuesday, February 1, 2005
Tomorrow Night - San Diego ColdFusion User Group Meeting
If you're in the Southern California area, I'll be speaking at tomorrow night's San Diego CF User Group meeting. I'll be talking about using Dreamweaver as a ColdFusion developer and Rob Rohan will be speaking about CFEclipse.
Don't be shy; be sure to say hello if you attend. Attendees usually go out afterwards, so plan for a nice evening out with fellow geeks!
More info: http://www.sdcfug.org/
Posted by ~Angela
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Sunday, November 21, 2004
Dan just thinks he's done...
We've been working on Cartweaver ASP for what seemed like an eternity, and now it is finally available. Dan posted on his blog that he's finally done. Ha, he's too funny. There will be customers to support, add-ons to create and who knows what else... The way I see it, we're never "done". <grin />
Writing a single toolbar to manage multiple Cartweaver server models was no easy task let me tell you. (It's ok if you give me a blank stare, nearly everyone else does when I start talking about coding extensions.) I laid the groundwork for multiple versions from day one, but there were things that I couldn't have accounted for that needed adjusting when the time came to actually support multiple server models.
As it turned out, the ASP version required several more fields in its Setup, so that brought along a whole new interface for the Setup that is similar to the Preferences dialog in Dreamweaver. Then "feature creep" set in and I started adding other new features to the extension. Before we knew it I'd added context help icons for nearly every field in each dialog that pop up a little window that tells you what the field is for and its valid values.
I added a bunch more little features here and there that most people would take for granted. I won't bore you with all of them, but one of them is that if you make a mistake in a certain field, the error message tells you which field, then switches to the right category for you and puts focus in that field so you can make the correction right away.
If you read my post yesterday you know all about DWfaq CCR. Cartweaver ASP uses DWfaq CCR's syntax for conditional regions already because Dan has been using CCR nearly 2 years now. So it was decided among the Cartweaver Team that it would be cool if Cartweaver ASP could render the tabbed regions like you see when using <cfif> in ColdFusion.
So we decided to go ahead and add an ultra-lite version of the CCR translator, of DWfaq's CCR for Cartweaver since I already had the work done. Cartweaver ASP customers will see "CWASP: If" in the tab, but if DWfaq's CCR is installed the If statement itself renders in the tab.
You're still reading this? Wow, that's great...thank you. Anyway, I don't want to bore you so I'll quit while I'm ahead. <wink />
I'm sure I'll end up babbling about Cartweaver here again soon. Thanks for listening...
Posted by ~Angela
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Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Tuesday Morning's Session at MAX
I just finished my first presenation of Dreamweaver Killer Tips at Macromedia MAX 2004. Aside from a few typos in my slides (the slides should be updated on Macromedia's site in the coming week) and a projection glitch, I think it went over pretty well. Whenever I give a tips session, I make it my goal to teach the audience at least two things they didn't know before they came to my session. From the show of hands it looks like I accomplished my goal.
Unfortunately a problem with the projector got me started about 5 minutes late. It was cutting off the first 300 pixels of my screen so I had to adjust. Instead of doing the Power Point full screen as a slide show, I had to open Power Point and click through the slides along the left. Things weren't as large this way unfortunately but at least it was all showing.
My presentation is available online at Macromedia's site for conference attendees. I noticed a few typos in the slides, and will get those fixed and over to Macromedia so they can upload the changes. The typos weren't anything too major. I'll list them here so that those who don't want to download again (or wait for Macromedia to upload the changes).
On the slide "How to Create collapsing Borders" it should say:
table.tabulardata, tabular.tabulardata td, tabular.tabulardata th{
border: 1px solid #000000;
border-collapse: collapse;
}
There was a funky character encoding going on in the "Resources: Extensions for Dreamweaver" slide that changed a line continuation character into something that looked like an E with a ^ above it. The URL should be:
http://www.macromedia.com/exchange/dreamweaver/
Two silly mistakes of which I'm sorry. Hopefully if you were there you learned at least 2 things and that made up for the typos and projector glitches. Thanks to everyone for their patience with the pojection issue.
Feel free to leave any comments or questions here on my blog or shoot me an email (at the address on the last slide). I'm always my worst critic, and know I'll do better the next 3 times. :-)
Thanks!
Posted by ~Angela
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Tuesday, July 6, 2004
My Macromedia MAX 2004 Session Schedule
I'll be presenting Dreamweaver Killer Tips at this year's Macromedia MAX conference being held in New Orleans from November 1-4.
It's best to register early for MAX because you have to choose your schedule in advance and sessions do fill up quickly. Last year I gave the session only three times, and it was full for all but the final presentation (but I think it was not quite filled because it was last session in its track of the last day). So this year, they're having me do the session four times!
I won't be giving the exact same presentation, though a few tips are too cool that I will have to include them even though I did them last year. Not all tips are in the book either, so Killer Tips fanatics can walk away with something new too.
What kind of tips do you want to see? Let me know by leaving a comment. Hurry though, I have deadlines to meet that are coming up really really fast. (Macromedia doesn't mess around; they have all sorts of deadlines for presenters months in advance of the conference. It's very well organized.)
I mean it; let me know what kind of tips you want...ColdFusion, CSS, WorkFlow, etc. ? Click the link* to leave a comment already...c'mon, you know you want to... Do it frenchy!
- If you don't see an Add Comments link, you're reading this from an RSS feed. Here's the URL for commenting on this post:
http://www.dwmommy.com/addcomment.asp?id=503
Posted by ~Angela
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Wednesday, May 19, 2004
My First Breeze Live Presentation
Yesterday's presentation was my first time presenting using Breeze Live. It seemed the presentation was well received despite that I wasn't as collected in my thoughts as I usually am. Had the hours prior to the session not been so hectic, I'd have been more "together". Although friends present said they couldn't tell anything was wrong, it still affected me to a small degree.
To do a Breeze Live presentation, it is recommended that you have a second computer set up in the meeting as a guest. This computer is used to see what your audience sees so that you can account for delays.
So I turn on my desktop and the mouse is busted. I run out to Circuit City to pick up a new one. I get back, restart, and my keyboard doesn't work! I have a required login, so I can't even get logged in. I try everything, finally resorting to an old keyboard from another computer (that won't start either and can't connect to the internet). Luckily, it worked!
Now it is nearing time for me to join the meeting. I have to be hardwired (as oposed to my wireless connection) during the presentation. I switch over and my entire internet connection dies on the network. I'm frantic by now, thinking I'm not going to make it. With some sound advice and calming words from Dan, I rebooted the router and after a couple of minutes the internet came back up. Phew!
Once I'm in the meeting, I am looking around for the special Presenter controls and I'm not finding them. I buzzed the moderator and didn't get a reply. I'm in the room only as a guest, uh oh. I try to send a message to her, and accidentally send it to the whole meeting...D'oh! Amy called me, and got me hooked up just in time.
I didn't have my usual couple of minutes to collect my thoughts and get in presenter mode, but it went fine. After a few minutes, I was alright.
It's tricky doing Breeze Live, and next time it will be much easier. There is so much to pay attention to. You have to watch the other monitor to be sure it is updating for the audience. You need to remember to click a few buttons (wish it were just one) to share the screen. You have to remember to then switch back to slides. All the while you are supposed to try and ignore the chat window that's whizzing past you. Then your other computer goes to screensaver and you have to wake it up so you can make sure what the audience is seeing is the same thing you're talking about.
As overwhelming as it was, I loved it. I know I could give the same presentation again much better, and hope to have the opportunity to do so. Even if I do a different one, now I know what to expect with Breeze Live and it will go much smoother next time.
Thanks to all who attended for being there, especially the Cartweaver customers who joined us. It was nice to see so many familiar names present. The thanks and grattitude was overwhelming. Thanks again to those who sent private chats and email. You're all so very kind!
Of course, thanks to Dan for helping me out -- both with the internet connection and fielding questions during the presentation.
If any of you have any feedback, I'd be happy to hear it as it really helps me to do better in the future. I'm really looking forward to doing this again.
Posted by ~Angela
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Monday, May 17, 2004
Dreamweaver MX 2004 Killer Tips with ColdFusion
I'll be giving a live online presentation tomorrow, Tuesday May 18th at 4pm Pacific, for Macromedia's Community Week. Here's the official description:
Dreamweaver MX 2004 Killer Tips with ColdFusion
Discover little-known features and pick up some tips-n-tricks for Dreamweaver MX 2004 specifically geared towards ColdFusion users. This presentation covers concepts that range from basic to advanced.
You must register (it's free!) for this presentation as participation is limited. (You will need to scroll to the bottom of the table Tuesday May 18th.)
Posted by ~Angela
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Thursday, February 12, 2004
SCCFUG Winter Conference
I really should have blogged about this sooner, I know... I'm going to make an effort to post speaking engagments well in advance, really! :-)
Yesterday I gave a Productivity Tips for Dreamweaver MX 2004 session at the SCCFUG Winter Conference in Costa Mesa, CA. Some of the tips were from our book, but some where not. This was the first time I've ever spoken to a purely ColdFusion crowd and it looks like it won't be the last either. I truly enjoyed the experience.
All in all, I think the session was well received. A quick poll of the audience showed me that most people learned at least 2 things about Dreamweaver that they didn't know. Many learned 3 and I didn't poll for 4. I am guessing that there would have been around half or more though. I even caught a gal bouncing in her chair in excitement over learning something. I love that kind of reaction!
I spent a good amount of time answering questions even after my session in the lobby and at the bar afterwards. (Thanks to the folks from Blue World for sponsoring drinks! I was teased for my O'Douls but I enjoyed it just the same as the real stuff.) Oh yeah, questions...
Unfortunately there were several complaints about Dreamweaver corrupting code. Almost all complaints came from Dreamweaver MX users. There were only one or two that had problems with Dreamweaver MX 2004. Macromedia really seems to care about code trust and have put a lot into DW MX 2004, but it still has the occasional hiccup it seems. In a few cases, I was able to offer workarounds. In most however, all I could suggest was to try the trial version of 2004 and see if it still happens. If there is a problem in 2004 I couldn't solve the best I could say was to report it to Macromedia and send them test files if possible.
At the end of my session, I had 7 prizes to give away. I'm known for my typlexia. This time I decided to ask the audience to look at their copies of the session in the handbook and point out my typos for a prize. I gave away 3 copies of Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 Killer Tips, 3 copies of Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 Magic, and one license to Cartweaver 2 CF.
I wish the event lasted longer. For me, these types of events are like going to summer camp. I work from a home office and have little contact with adults. The opportunity to hang out with fellow geeks is a very welcome one. I really enjoyed meeting everyone and the opportunity to see a few folks again that I'd already met elsewhere.
Posted by ~Angela
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Saturday, January 17, 2004
Cartweaver 2.4.3
Back in late October, we launched Cartweaver 2. It has been an incredible few months since. Cartweaver is selling in record numbers, and I couldn't be more excited about it. This version is such a gigantic improvement over Cartweaver 1, and that's no marketing hype either.
If you haven't heard of Cartweaver yet, it is a ColdFusion shopping cart and adminstration area built specifically to be compatible with Dreamweaver MX and Dreamweaver MX 2004. The biggest changes in this version are the improved database, choice of 3 different ways to display products, a complete PDF user's manual that's nearly 100 pages, and the Cartweaver 2 extension suite.
My role in all of this is primarily extension development. My other work includes CSS, help documentation, the Cartweaver site and first level support on the Cartweaver newsgroup.
Back in May of 2003, Dan, Lawrence and I met in San Francisco and began working together on Cartweaver 2. (Lawrence had already begun, but Dan and I joined in at that time.) Over the next few months we worked daily and we're all very proud of the outcome.
I can't explain just how proud I am of the Cartweaver 2 extension suite especially. I've put my heart and soul into building these extensions, from creating the icons pixel by pixel in Fireworks to writing the HTML and JavaScript in Dreamweaver. I even built a couple of translators which required me to use HomeSite because Dreamweaver would try and translate my code and corrupt it. All in all it has been a great learning experience for me. I've become a much better programer because of my work on Cartweaver 2.
I would be remiss to not thank Massimo Foti and Danilo Celic for giving me permission to use a few of their functions, saving me the time to build my own. I must also thank Tom Muck for pushing me in the right direction on more than one occasion, helping me get over the code writer's block. Last but not least, a special thanks goes to Dan for inspiring some damn cool array code and showing me the way. Thanks guys!
Anyhow, enough rambling from me. If you have any questions or comments about Cartweaver 2 and/or my work on the project I'd be happy to hear from you.
Posted by ~Angela
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Sunday, October 26, 2003
It's Dan's Birthday!
Happy 28th birthday Dan! :-) Be sure to call your parents and thank them ;-)
Posted by ~Angela
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Sunday, August 24, 2003
Studio MX 2004
Macromedia has announced Studio MX 2004. Naturally I'm most excited about Dreamweaver MX 2004. :-)
Posted by ~Angela
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Monday, June 2, 2003
Mini Cart
Since I teased Kevin earlier about using CFStudio to do his session, he's decided to do this one using Dreamweaver MX. :-) He's doing just fine, but only because he's handcoding everything! ;-) I'm going to have to talk to him a bit and show him the light...
Posted by ~Angela
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Monday, June 2, 2003
Relationships...
Arman Danesh is giving us the rundown on relational databases. Consistency, Control, and Manageability are the three reasons he's given for creating relations. We'll be getting the fundamentals, and it looks like we'll begin putting some of that to use.
Posted by ~Angela
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Monday, June 2, 2003
Exploring the Basics
Ed Apostol is speaking about CFML basics with a handout provided and a downloadable PDF. I'm not sharing the link either, so neener neener to you for not being here. ;-)
Posted by ~Angela
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Monday, June 2, 2003
ColdFusion Bootcamp
I've decided that whenever I'm not speaking at one of my sessions, I'll most likely be at ColdFusion bootcamp. Kevin Schmidt is doing the first session as I type this message. He's going to start us from the very beginning, installing ColdFusion. He'll show us around CF Administrator too. I'm getting the feeling that we're all being assimilated without our knowledge. ;-)
Posted by ~Angela
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Monday, May 19, 2003
San Francisco
Had a great time working on some top secret stuff in San Francisco from the 14th thru 18th. (Try not to draw too many conclusions about why we were there.<wink />)There are some pictures in the gallery if you're interested.
While there, we visited Macromedia twice. Billy Ray took us for a long walk up many hills to have sushi. Well worth every step to get there. Billy also took us on a tour of Macromedia, which is spread out over 3 buildings. Our first visit was Thursday and there were hardly anyone left. Apparantly they all went to go see Matrix 2. Didn't anyone tell them we were coming? Oh, the nerve. :-) So we returned on Friday and met many of the Macromedians we exchange email with or see on the newsgroup, including John Dowdell, George Fox, Heather Hollander, Chris Valliquet, Donald Booth, Jeff VonWard, and Scott Unterberg. (Please excuse any mispellings!) It is always nice to put names and faces together.
Only bad thing about the trip was that my laptop died on Saturday night so I didn't get much done after that happened. Luckily Dell will be here by tomorrow (hopefully) to fix it. Meanwhile, I'm stuck on my desktop...
Posted by ~Angela
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Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Dreamweaver MX Killer Tips!
The moment I've been waiting for since July has finally come and I barely know what to say... Dreamweaver MX Killer Tips by Joseph Lowery and yours truly is now available!
Today is my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad, I hope I made you proud :-)
Posted by ~Angela
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Sunday, December 8, 2002
CFWACK Sample PDF
I was doing my usual look through of the MM DesDev feed at DWfaq and found a link to an article by Ben Forta which contains links to PDFs of chapters 2,5, and 6 of The Macromedia ColdFusion MX Web Application Construction Kit (a.k.a. CFWACK). Sorry folks, you'll have to buy the book to read the chapter I wrote (chapter 7). For those of you who find holding this 5 1/2 pound book tiresome (who wouldn't!?), I thought you might like to grab these PDFs. For those of you who haven't bought the book yet and were thinking about it, these chapters should convince you. :-)
Posted by ~Angela
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Friday, August 23, 2002
CFMXWACK
Flipping through the book now and it looks fantastic! I like the new layout for this edition. Gotta read my chapter first of course – #7 Introducing Macromedia Dreamweaver MX in case you are curious.
Posted by ~Angela
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Friday, August 23, 2002
It's here!
Woo hoo!!! I just got my copy of the Macromedia ColdFusion MX Web Application Construction Kit. Tomorrow my top should arrive (see today's earlier post) and it will be fun to see if they actually match in color as well in real life as they do in the pictures.
Posted by ~Angela
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Friday, August 23, 2002
New top
I just bought a really cute Guess top online. This is the first time I've purchased clothing online ever and I hope it fits me! You know, the top reminds me of something but I just can't seem to place my finger on it...
Posted by ~Angela
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