RIA CFML Flex Flash

Adobe Misses Flex Boat

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:51:00 -0700

It's my opinion that Adobe is making a mistake renaming Flex Builder to Flash Builder. Simply put, when it comes to business applications, businesses still don't want to buy a Flash solution. Adobe should catch this wave created by the Flex craze and call it just that, Flex.

Consume object or object property

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:03:00 -0700

Here it is in a nutshell. I have a controller cfc in my framework that directs execution instructions to the business model cfc's. But I'm wandering if I should pass whole objects, like a user object, and get values as needed from it's methods within the business model? Or should I just pass the object's properties to the business model classes as needed? Another way to put it is this(model/securityService.cfc):


instance.securityGateway.login(User.getUsername(),User.getUserpassword());

or

instance.securityGateway.login(User);

The business model gateway in this example would be something like(model/data/gateway/securityGateway.cfc):





...


or



..

Maybe because I'm not a seasoned OO veteran but I'm looking at this and trying to figure out the best course and can't decide which one to take. From the service cfc do I pass in the user object or it's properties (username & password)? For now I'm passing the object's properties if the gateway method only requires data and doesn't need to access any of the objects other methods like setters. If the gateway method here needed to use the object's methods instead of just it's properties, then I'd pass the entire object. So what do you think is best practice?

Quick comment about code comments

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:56:00 -0700

Do any other programmers out there have the same problem I do about coding comments? They actually get in my way and hender my efforts more than help anything. I'm not talking about being too lazy to comment your own code, I'm talking about reading other's code also. Frankly, in trying to figure out what someone left behind, I read the code. It always makes more sense than the comments and it's just faster. Instead of having to both read the comment and the code, I can just read the code and get on with it. It's my belief that comments were once useful when code was much harder to read. Things like ruf = af * int(irp) when you had to back up and find out what all the letters were for before going forward. But now you have something more like registeredUserFunds = accountFunds * int(interestRatePrime). This is mostly due to cheaper and more expansive memory allocation with better bit utilization, I think. But you can see where a comment for the later is unwarrented. Granted, there are still languages out there that could use some comments and arguably they should mature with the rest of the OO world. And there are still programmers who actually still use 2 or 3 letters for long parameter names, and they should grow up too. To sum it up, good programming and good coders should have no need for comments except around possibly main ideas and sections. An architect doesn't need blueprints to pretty much figure out how a building was built. He can size it up with a skilled eye. Personally, other than commenting main sections, I think commenting every other freaking line should go by way of the Dodo bird. Please stop overusing comments so I can read your damn code! Trust me, I know how to read without reading instructions.

Speed Test results

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 10:19:00 -0700

My speed test at home on Comcast Cable high speed:

Gabbly.com - Free chat on your site.

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 06:49:00 -0700

Google has a pretty cool chat application. I wish I thought of this myself. Place gabbly.com in front of any url address to see a chat text box in the upper right corner. Also has option to make it transparent and I think move it around. Chat with me here (when I'm available) at: http://gabbly.com/www.cfcdeveloper.com Or just go to http://www.gabbly.com One good use I found so far is to send the link to a web site client with the url of a page I want to talk about. Now if only the chat box would stay up for two people while surfing and the browser changes for both at the same time. Surf and chat simultaniously.

Top Secret Code

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 12:32:00 -0700

Lets have some fun. Can you figure out this secret coded message? *4 ^(& c1n 4*5&$# %6*2 (n# (&%, ^(& 26(&93n'% 61v# 1 )$(b9#m @*%6 %6# $#2%. Maybe this one is a little easier for you. 566822 822 777733366 31122834 56611666 5663 04344489722 96663. I just kinda sat here and thought this up. I wonder if it's hard to break? It's very easy to use.

CSS tips for input button

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 14:07:00 -0700

You can use input[type="submit"] {..} to specify certain input types to target in your CSS. Tested in the latest Firefox and IE. Remember to use cursor:pointer; cursor:hand; to cover a hand cursor over whatever input you want for targeting Firefox and IE.

My Latest Web Site Creation

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 04:44:00 -0700

Pure Aloe Beauty Created for my wife as she wants to get into the cosmetic beauty skin care business. The thing to note for my developer peers is what I used to create it, CF Shopkart 4.5. The free open source version is 4.5 and is no longer supported, but is available as a community project. The guy who created it is working on another completely new re-write of the code and is calling his new version CF ShopkartSE, now available as a beta with some features not yet finished. The free 4.5 version though is very much finished and extremely easy to manipulate and recode yourself, take a look at my wife's Pure Aloe Beauty site compared to his out-of-the-box default look. It is all ColdFusion based but could use a lot of code rewrite to take advantage of MX capabilities like CFC's, MVC, and other OOP patterns etc.. So if you need an excellent ColdFusion e-commerce starter kit with barebone parts you can put together, this is a golden find. In regards to features, in my opinion CF Shopkart 4.5 ranks right up there with oscommerce.

DIY My Next PC Build

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 12:56:00 -0700

I generally build my own PCs from scratch. I may be looking here soon to upgrade from my present system, a P4 2.4GHz backed by 512MB mem, sitting on a Asus P4PE BP and running a Radeon 9000(??). So whats next? Core 2 Duo! Oh yea. Here's the components I would like to piece together: Case: Antec TX-640B w/400w PS
MOB: Asus P5N SLI
CPU: Core 2 Duo E6420 Conroe 2.13GHz
Mem: Corsair 2x1GB PC-6400
GPU: XFX GeForce 7600GT
And keeping my old HDD and DVDR, I'm looking at about $600. Not bad eh? Might even flip for a 19" flat LCD to replace my current 21" old school (or run dual mons).

Technology Food for Thought

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 06:03:00 -0700

Unmanned vehicles, cars that drive themselves. Good idea but I think our roads are the biggest obstacle. As we grow, technology is getting ahead of our ability to use it. If we began building roads in the past with the thought that they would need to be built a certain way for future technology, technology today would be easy to develop and cheaper to initiate. Have you seen the new "Tree" cell towers. Cell towers built to resemble trees, kind of. To me they look like a ball of tangled Christmas lights on a stick. But that's not my point. I think technology is beautiful itself and shouldn't be hidden. In a thousand years from now are we just going to have a fake planet altogether. Like a bunch of "Tree" cell towers but no real trees. If we can find another way to clean the air, control the climate, and produce oxygen then I say get rid of the trees. They're a breading ground for termites and other destructive substances like allergens. What would be so bad about a planet without nature, especially if the inhabitants never knew it any other way. Sure, I would miss it, but my great grandchildren's children wouldn't. Eye tracking technology, cameras that follow the eye and control the mouse on the screen sounds really cool. Maybe they could make a blink equal a mouse click; right, left, both (middle). But there is a limitation.. Cross-eyed backwoods rednecks. Oh right, what would they be doing around a computer any ways. MP3's are taking over the radio waves and putting radio DJ's out of work. Now we have stations poping up that play a random of MP3 songs over the Internet. You don't have to have a "radio" in the old fashion sense to hear music in your house or soon in the car. You use a web station to tune in to your favorites and just listen. Of couse your eyes aren't always on the monitor to view the ads that todays web stations are depending on for income. I see a time from now that either your going to hear automated ads randomly inserted or you'll have to start paying just like satelite radio.

Web 2.0

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 06:44:00 -0700

Recently I found this example of a Web 2.0 site: Netvibes.com Here are my thoughts:
Netvibes.org is pretty cool, but in a techie portal only way. I would be more interested in seeing this applied in a more artistic static manner, which is what site owners will really want. Or maybe I'm still missing the point. Allowing the visitor to be able to "program" your site to their taste is too much for the average user. They need structured limits so they don't get lost and drown in a sea of options and information overload. People are busy, they don't have time to come to a site and start customizing it and stuff. They want to browse-find-buy, period. It's like going to Wal Mart or Publix, are you going to stop and rearrange the layout before shopping? Just set it up so I can browse easily in a pleasent clean atmosphere that I can get in, get it, and get out. Whats wrong with Web 1.0? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Adobe Beta Testing

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 04:46:00 -0700

I just signed up for Adobe's beta testing programming. A guy at work is a beta tester and he recommended I signed up, seeing how we're big time users of Adobe products, and we both have a blog (possible reviews!). I'm waiting now to see if I get choosen. It would be nice to post product reviews before they hit the market, fresh content.

Google Themes

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 04:27:00 -0700

If you don't like the plain look of Google you can now select from several different themes that display a background image that changes with the time of day or with the weather. It's available with a Google personal account. My favorite is the Tea House theme.

Better Speech Recognition Technology

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 05:24:00 -0700

In the Wall Street Journal this morning I was reading that Speech (or Voice) Recognition software is using far better technology than ever before. Bill Gates and Ford executives talked about how Microsoft's Sync software would allow you to control the radio or phone by voice commands. And Vista, the new version of Windows, has some fairly advanced voice-recognition software built into it. Even Google and Yahoo are both expected to introduce voice-based search for mobile-phone users soon in which you say what you are searching for and hear the selections spoken back to you. IBM is talking about software that could monitor a meeting of 5 and then provide an accurate transcript afterwards. They already have software to do translations from Arabic to English, possibly useful to the government. In reading this I was thinking if and how I would use Voice Recognition software to do my work. For one, I don't want to hear everyone in the office talking to their computers. Its bad enough they talk to each other. And two, I'm a programmer. My work has to be precisely typed and uses non-English "words" in many different ways. How do you speak this to your computer:

private function viewPublicationDetails():void
{
	WindowManager.remove(this);
	var view:Publications = new Publications();
	view.pubDate = dateValue;
	view.pubId = this.publicationList.selectedItem.pubId;
	view.pubTitle = this.publicationList.selectedItem.pubTitle;
	WindowManager.add(view, this, false);
	//return view;
	//Alert.show("And now I show you the Publication for " + dateValue + ".");
}

Of course, there are very useful applications such as tools for the hearing impaired and the blind. Every technology has its place I guess. Even I could use it when I want to write out these articles for my blog. Though I'm not sure if that would be a good thing. At the moment I just have a hard enough time spelling correctly. I just wonder if humans are getting stupidly dependant on computers. The Internet can find anything I don't know and I have spell check for anything I type. Who needs education? Especially when I can sleep through class without missing a single word.

A regular expression lesson.

Tue, 16 May 2006 13:43:00 -0700

So I'm looking at this text file that has 80,000+ lines of log entries repeating with something like: "Error","jrpp-48","04/30/06","09:53:08","SixBits","Element CONTENTDATE is undefined in STOBJECT. The specific sequence of files included or processed is: D:\Sixbits_Spectra\site\reportobject.cfm, line: 17 " coldfusion.runtime.UndefinedElementException: Element CONTENTDATE is undefined in STOBJECT. at coldfusion.runtime.DotResolver.resolveSplitNameInMap(DotResolver.java:98) at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage._resolve(CfJspPage.java:1011) at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage._resolveAndAutoscalarize(CfJspPage.java:1123) at cfarticle2emeta2ecfm375519496.runPage(D:\Sixbits_Spectra\site\includes\article.meta.cfm:17) at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage.invoke(CfJspPage.java:152) at coldfusion.tagext.lang.IncludeTag.doStartTag(IncludeTag.java:349) at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage._emptyTag(CfJspPage.java:1915) at cfSixbitsForm2ecfm106390729.runPage(D:\Sixbits_Spectra\customtags\SixbitsForm.cfm:13) at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage.invoke(CfJspPage.java:152) at coldfusion.filter.CFVariablesScopeFilter.invoke(CFVariablesScopeFilter.java:63) at coldfusion.tagext.lang.ModuleTag.doStartTag(ModuleTag.java:255) at cfreportobject2ecfm535651810.runPage(D:\Sixbits_Spectra\site\reportobject.cfm:4) at coldfusion.runtime.CfJspPage.invoke(CfJspPage.java:152) at coldfusion.tagext.lang.IncludeTag.doStartTag(IncludeTag.java:349) at coldfusion.filter.CfincludeFilter.invoke(CfincludeFilter.java:65) at coldfusion.filter.ApplicationFilter.invoke(ApplicationFilter.java:209) at coldfusion.filter.RequestMonitorFilter.invoke(RequestMonitorFilter.java:51) at coldfusion.filter.PathFilter.invoke(PathFilter.java:86) at coldfusion.filter.ExceptionFilter.invoke(ExceptionFilter.java:69) at coldfusion.filter.ClientScopePersistenceFilter.invoke(ClientScopePersistenceFilter.java:28) at coldfusion.filter.BrowserFilter.invoke(BrowserFilter.java:38) at coldfusion.filter.GlobalsFilter.invoke(GlobalsFilter.java:38) at coldfusion.filter.DatasourceFilter.invoke(DatasourceFilter.java:22) at coldfusion.filter.RequestThrottleFilter.invoke(RequestThrottleFilter.java:115) at coldfusion.CfmServlet.service(CfmServlet.java:107) at coldfusion.bootstrap.BootstrapServlet.service(BootstrapServlet.java:78) at jrun.servlet.ServletInvoker.invoke(ServletInvoker.java:91) at jrun.servlet.JRunInvokerChain.invokeNext(JRunInvokerChain.java:42) at jrun.servlet.JRunRequestDispatcher.invoke(JRunRequestDispatcher.java:257) at jrun.servlet.ServletEngineService.dispatch(ServletEngineService.java:541) at jrun.servlet.jrpp.JRunProxyService.invokeRunnable(JRunProxyService.java:204) at jrunx.scheduler.ThreadPool$ThreadThrottle.invokeRunnable(ThreadPool.java:426) at jrunx.scheduler.WorkerThread.run(WorkerThread.java:66) and what I want to do is open this in Excel using a comma delimited list and quote text qualifier. It's garbage if you open as is. I had two options. One, open the text file and edit by hand deleting lines I didn't want, which would have taken till Christmas. Or two, find a way to edit the text file using regular expressions. I choose the later and figured a few expressions you might find useful one day. Fist of all, word, notepad, and wordpad have only a simple form of find and replace not powerful enough for this job. With a search on Google I found the perfect weapon; "Actual Search & Replace". I'm not going to go into how to use it or how to use regular expressions. Only that I found a useful tool to share and a few expressions. I wanted to get this huge file down to just a list of the lines useful for Excel. The one with the qoutes and commas, not the rest. Here's the expressions I used: To take out the bulk, all of the lines beginning with the tab and "at" down to the last line before a line with qoutes. Reads (tab-"at"-space-"c"-anything-first "6" encountered-followed by "6)").

\tat\sc.*?66\)

Use delete instead of Replace. And what's left over are some stragglers and empty lines. Lets get rid of the empty lines. Reads (a new line at the end of a line-anything-the first occurance at the beginning of a line of a qoute).

(\n)$.*?^(\")

Replace with $1$2 (new line and a qoute). And finally get rid of all empty lines left over. Basically I wanted to do a "delete all except for" expression. Reads (at the beginning of lines-not having with a qoute-anything-first occurance-end of line-not having a qoute).

^[^\"].*?$[^\"]

Use delete instead of Replace. BTW, under Options in the software I only had "." Matches Line Separators Too checked. Well, that's it. Don't sue me if I'm wrong or incorrect or could have done it easier "this way" instead or if I mispelled something.