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Archive for the ‘Coldfusion’ Category

On the Back Burner…

Posted by Will on November 16, 2007

Okay, so I broke my own rule. But instead of talking about why it has been two months since I have posted, I’ll just talk about whats on my mind.

Well, for starters, I no longer work with Westgate Resorts as of mid Sept. On a positive note, I am now working with www.AccessAthletics.com, which is a really cool MySpace like networking site, except for Athletes. And its a bonus to still be using ColdFusion.  In addition, classes out at UCF take up a majority of time in the day. But I have seen the Knights play football, and at 7-3, I’m lying if I say we aren’t good.

On a non-work related note, I have completed Dragon Ball Z: Budoki 3 for the second time, and have beaten Dawn of War in its entirety twice.

On a more personal note, I have begun dating a young woman (Meredith) who also goes to college (no pun intended), and its really nice to finally connect with another individual. And because this means so much to me, I am going to New York to meet her family, and friends.

Other than that, I am doing what I tell everyone else should do:

“Get Busy Livin’ Or Get Busy Dyin’”-Andy Dufresne

Posted in Code, Coldfusion, DBZ, Me, Mere, NCAA Football, Other Stuff, Programming, UCF, Vacation, Video Games | Leave a Comment »

Summer Classes are Over!

Posted by Will on August 3, 2007

Well, yesterday I took the final for my REL 3200 World Religions class. I have to admit, there were a few questions that may have tripped me up, but I’m confident that I will get an ‘A’.

EDIT: I passed the test with a low ‘A’. In total, I passed the class with a ‘A-’.  At least it was an ‘A’!

Since class is done, I’m going to be working more on programming for the next two weeks, so I’ll probably have a handful of things to share. On the 9th of August, I’ll be heading to West Virgina.

I’m going to visit my brother, sister, dad, step-mom, and step-sister(s). I’ll be back on the 16th, and I’ll move out of Saint Cloud the day after, on the 17th..The days keep coming…

I’m actually looking forward to this vacation. I haven’t been able to change my scenery for quite some time… :D YAY Sleep

In other news, The PDF editor that I have been working on has been giving me a problem lately, but I’m sure the bug will be ironed out soon enough.

Oh and the Minneapolis Bridge Tragedy happened. I can’t really comment on it much, just because I haven’t been following it closely… Its worth a read.

14 Days….

Posted in Bridge Collaspes, Code, Coldfusion, Programming, UCF | Leave a Comment »

Coldfusion 8 has arrived!!!

Posted by Will on July 30, 2007

new-coldfusion-icon.png

Yes, thats right. Coldfusion 8 has been officially released. Now, today the internet will probably be buzzing with information and people getting their feet wet with the technology. Adobe even had a nice press release for the public:

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software. ColdFusion 8, a powerful development tool for building dynamic Web sites and Internet applications, increases developer productivity, integrates with complex enterprise environments, and delivers rich and engaging experiences for users. Since May 2007, more than 14,000 developers have actively participated in the ColdFusion 8 public beta, praising the new capabilities in this latest version….

I figured I’d link a few worth while pages I was looking at this morning. Never can have too many bookmarks can you?

Of course, Adobe has no intentions of increasing its user base: $649 to upgrade, and a retail price tag of $1,299 for the full version of CF8 standard. CF8 Enterprise is no cheaper; $3,750 to upgrade, and $7,499 for the full version.

Its a shame that this intimidating price tag is still haunting the CF community. Unfortunately, it will scare off many potential new users, but thankfully I don’t think Coldfusion as a whole has anywhere to go but up!

I guess now this puts pressure on me to finish the PDF editor… At least we as developers don’t pay these prices.

:D Yay Coldfusion!

Posted in Code, Coldfusion, Programming | Leave a Comment »

Coldfusion 8: More Inside

Posted by Will on July 12, 2007

Coldfusion is a type of application server and software development language used for the development of computer software, as well a dynamic web sites. Development is underway for the eighth version of Coldfusion, which has been codenamed:”Scorpio” and it is scheduled to be release by the second half of 2007.

As expected, Coldfusion 8 has brought to the table many new capabilities, which look to take this mature programming language to the next level. Something that stood out specifically during my research was the new <cfpdfform> and <cfdocument> tags. These new features will enable integration with Adobe PDF forms, as well as dynamic image manipulation functions.

After playing around with the tags, I have to admit that the amount of customization available for pdfs is unbelievable. I figured for now I cover a few new functions that Coldfusion 8 offers, and in the days coming, I’ll get further into the more powerful items.

First off, one of the wonderful new functions offer is the IsPDFFile function. Guess what it does? Thats right! It checks your supposed pdf file, and tells you if it really is a PDF.

<cfif isPDFFile("myPDF.pdf")<
   <cfset output1 = "Yes, this file is a PDF" />
<cfelse>
   <cfset output1 = "No, this file is not a PDF" />
</cfif>

<cfif isPDFFile("myTXT.txt")>
   <cfset output2 = "Yes, this file is a PDF" />
<cfelse>
   <cfset output2 = "No, this file is not a PDF" />
</cfif>

<cfoutput>
   #output1#
   #output2#
</cfoutput>

Above you see two different checks here. One of them is checking a .pdf file, and the other is checking a .txt file. Now when this is run, the output is:

“Yes, this file is a PDF”.
“No, this file is not a PDF”.

Thankfully, along with the many other new features, Coldfusion functions will now accept relative file paths. However, I believe that there may be instances where a relative path will not work, so you can use a full path if you want.

Taking this a step further, if you wanted contain a pdf file within a variable, Coldfusion introduces another function: isPDFObject.


<cfset fileName1 = "myPDF.pdf" />
<cfset fileName2 = "myTXT.txt" />

<cfif isPDFObject(fileName1)<
   <cfset output1 = "Yes, this file is a PDF" />
<cfelse>
   <cfset output1 = "No, this file is not a PDF" />
</cfif>

<cfif isPDFObject(fileName2)>
   <cfset output2 = "Yes, this file is a PDF" />
<cfelse>
   <cfset output2 = "No, this file is not a PDF" />
</cfif>

<cfoutput>
   #output1#
   #output2#
</cfoutput>

As last time, the output would generate the same response:
“Yes, this file is a PDF”.
“No, this file is not a PDF”.

Pretty easy when you think about. Now on to playing with the powerful <cfpdf> tag. I’ll post my research as soon as I’m done.

Posted in Code, Coldfusion, Me, Programming | Leave a Comment »

A glance at the day…

Posted by Will on July 12, 2007

Well it was just the same old regular day. I woke up as usual, drove to work, as usual.

Its weird, I always refer to my day as a monotonous cycle. Today would prove to be different.

When I was at work, everybody seemed pretty busy, it was a Wednesday, and their was a big meeting in the conference room, so I kinda was stuck in a hard situation. After attempting to resolve the issue, I gave up and moved on to another task I had waiting.

On a side note, I was looking into Coldfusion 8 some more today, which will hopefully build confidence in me to write about it in depth. So far, Abode claims applications will now require less code, and these applications are tuned for optimum performance.

Now taken directly from Adobe, Coldfusion 8 will offer:

  • Server monitoring to help identify server bottlenecks, allowing for tuning and improved performance.
  • Step through code debugging in a new Eclipse plug-in debugger.
  • Adobe Flex™ and Ajax features that let ColdFusion power personalized, multimedia-rich applications to enhance users’ experiences on the web.
  • High-quality, dynamically created on-demand multimedia presentations.
  • PDF document and form integration for a printable, portable way to intelligently capture and share information.
  • Image creation and manipulation with more than 50 new CFML tags and functions.
  • Native support for .NET objects to easily integrate ColdFusion applications with enterprise data and infrastructure services.
  • Significant application runtime and server performance improvements.

As I experience more of the technology, I’ll share my input on it. As for now, I can only say that I am rooting for its success.

Now by the time I had finished working on the second ticket of the day, I realize everyone has left. There was maybe 3-5 people on the web side of the building. It was lunch time… …which for me meant time for class.

So wrapped up what I was doing and got on the road for class, when I-4 suddenly was covered with cars, including a hearse!

Then all of sudden traffic did that whole, “EVERYBODY HIT YOUR BRAKES!” thing, and I had to swerve, (and I must point out that a pile of sandy, dirt-like granular substance made the truck drift into the lane for the East-West Express way…)

So after surviving the road trip across Orlando, I get to UCF and park my car exactly when it starts to rain. After going inside to get a classmate of mine from his dorm, we step outside to reveal the most rain I have ever seen falling at once during the afternoon. I walked through this rain, with my Laptop tucked into a pillowcase, which was in my waterproof bag, underneath my shirt.

Now at this point I must stop to explain something. You know how in movies, you see somebody standing on the sideway, and a car will drive by, splashing a wall of water on the unlucky fool…

Well you get the point by now don’t you?

So, sitting in class soaking wet, freezing from the A/C (which was better than the heat during the day…) was a difficult two hours. My laptop stayed dry though…Plus I got a 96% on my test, which is Awesome!

After class (the sun had literally dried everything.)I hung out with my classmate and his roommates for a bit, before heading home in terrible 4-17 Traffic.

So finally at home, I receive the best part about today that makes it all worth it. Last weekend I ordered Pink Floyd: The Wall (The 25th Anniversary DVD). Today it was in the mail. So I spent the evening, watching the wonderful cinematic interpretation of Pink Floyd: The Wall.

After watching that film, I took a hard long look at my day and said, “Wow, it was worth it.” And I like they way that sounds. I guess everything isn’t so monotonous after all.

Posted in Code, Coldfusion, DVD, Me, Music, Other Stuff, Programming | 1 Comment »

My first post…

Posted by Will on July 10, 2007

Well, geez what can I say? After almost two years of swearing up and down against it, I now officially have a blog.

I guess it is for the best…

Anyway, this blog is not only going to cover personal ideas, moments, happenings, etc… No, this blog is the start of my active involvement in the Programming Community as well. For a while now, I have been trying to learn as much as I can, and I now I want to learn more.

Let the Blogging begin……

Posted in Code, Coldfusion, Me, Programming | 1 Comment »