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CF.Objective() in the Winter

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 01:53:00 -0500

Today is April 19th and here in Minnesota it's snowing as if it was winter. Several years ago CF.Objective() was right about this weekend. Be happy this year that CF.Objective() is next month and not this weekend. Of course there is no promise that next month will be any warmer. Let's hope for warmer weather and a little sunshine.

Then again this is Minnesota, bring warm clothes.

CFMAIL Attachments to Apple iPad and iPhone

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:57:00 -0500

A while back a bug was filed with Adobe's bug tracker about CFMAIL not setting headers correctly for attachments and thus causing them not to be seen or able to open on Apple 'iDevices'. I had responded that this should not be a bug because setting the CFMAILPARAM tag correctly should be enough and pointed them to my own blog post about properly sending CFMAIL. Well, I was wrong and I was right. My previous blog post had a slightly incorrect example of how to setup the CFMAILPARAM tag and thus was causing this issue. Sorry about that :(. The email headers were having the Content-type set to "multipart/related" instead of "multipart/mixed" and while I could open the attachment in every email client out there the attachments would not open on my iPhone or iPad. Granted that when I wrote that original blog post I didn't own an iDevice and never tested the code for those.

The good news is that after a little testing with trial and error I discovered the error of my code. Great news! Attachments sent from CFMAIL in ColdFusion 9.0.1 and ColdFusion 10 work perfectly. I'm presuming this will work on previous versions with the CFMAILPARAM tag.

The code: From my previous post I had this example. It all looks great. But one item causes an issue. Setting the contentID attribute in the CFMAILPARAM tag causes the email content-type to be set as "multipart/related". By simply omitting that setting emails now have content-type "multipart/mixed" set in the email header. A small but significant difference when it comes to open email attachments on the iPad and iPhone.


Old Code:



#textmessage(mailmessage)#
#mailmessage#


New and Correct Code:



#textmessage(mailmessage)#
#mailmessage#

The Moral: You can always learn something by going back and reviewing what you did in the past and taking notes.

ColdFusion 10 Install bug IIS 7.5

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:00:00 -0500

The other day I was installing a new ColdFusion 10 server on Windows 2008 Server for one of our clients at CFWebtools. This is a "Standard" license install so during the setup I chose to configure "All Sites for IIS" and thats when I ran into this error "Cannot configure IIS connector. Enable the required options ASP.NET, ISAPI Extensions and ISAPI Filter in IIS 7.5 under Windows Features and try again." After checking the IIS 7.5 features I found that those IIS feature were in fact installed. I tried several times and continued to get the same error.

I had to research this issue and didn't find anyone talking about this error, thus this blog post. I found what I needed in the Adobe ColdFusion 10 install documentation. (When all else fails read the instructions?) The IIS 7.5 feature CGI also need to be enabled. Well hey, it would be nice if the error message mentioned that one too!

It turns out there is already a bug report filed for this and Adobe claims it is fixed. However, the problem does persist because Adobe needs to change the actual file that you download. A "patch" after the fact is pointless when trying to fix an installation bug. And this bug is really just an "Error Message" that is incomplete. Enabling CGI in IIS 7.5 allows you to complete the installation.

I hope this short post saves someone time and hassle.

Installing ColdFusion 10 on OS X Mountain Lion

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:18:00 -0500

So Adobe is late to the party again. Months after Apple released OS X 10.8 Adobe announced it would take 3 to 5 more months to get a compatible version of ColdFusion 10 on OSX 10.8. Myself and others have been critical of Adobe on this point and still 3 months later no new word on this from Adobe. I'm sorry Adobe, but to many of us this isn't an acceptable timeline. Until now I have not had the ability to just experiment and see if I could get it working properly. I use my primary computer (an iMac) for work. I didn't have time to to Adobe's job.

Now I have a shinny new out of the box MacBook Pro that is fresh and clean and ready for experimentation. Little did it know it was doomed to be a lab rat.

Unfortunately Apple like Microsoft has been dumbing down their operating systems to match the masses of users. I fear we're losing the education battle, but that is another topic. One of the changes Apple made was to remove Web Sharing from the Sharing section of System Preferences. This is now an OS X Server feature. If you upgraded from OS X Lion you still have this option in Sharing. Apache is still included and if you know what you are doing you can still use Apache. You can use a command line to start and stop Apache or if you want a section in System Preferences to start and stop Apache you can install this http://clickontyler.com/blog/2012/02/web-sharing-mountain-lion/. [More]

Encryption and Decryption in ColdFusion

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 20:47:00 -0500

A while back I was testing the Encrypt and Decrypt functions of ColdFusion 10 (during the Beta program) and I was running into issues of it failing. I kept getting this error for some of the encryption types "There has been an error while trying to encrypt or decrypt your input string: The input and output encodings are not same.". Upon submitting a bug report we figured out that I did not have the "Java Cryptography Extension" installed on my computer. Doh! After installing that all the encryption and decryption code worked just fine.

One nice side note is that during my testing of these functions I wrote a little CFM script that lets you test all the different encryption and decryption types available to ColdFusion. I believe these are all ColdFusion 9 and up, but I may be wrong. It's been a while and I don't remember. So the point of this blog post is two fold; one, you need the "Java Cryptography Extension" installed and two, the code below provides a very decent example of how to code the encryption and decryption functions in ColdFusion.

So I hereby set this code free into the wind!









	Encrypt Me



	Data to Encrypt:

	Encryption Key:

	Method:

	 Select the encoding:
    

	



       if(len(trim(form.data) ) and len( trim(form.encryptType) ) ) {

       try {
		if (form.encryptType eq "CFMX_COMPAT") {
			theKey = Form.key;
		} else {
			// For all other encryption techniques, generate a secret key.
			theKey = generateSecretKey(Form.encryptType);
		}

		encrypted = encrypt(form.data,theKey,form.encryptType,form.myEncoding);

		decrypted = decrypt(encrypted,theKey,form.encryptType,form.myEncoding);

		writeOutput("

CODE:

");
		writeOutput("encrypted = encrypt(form.data,theKey,form.encryptType,form.myEncoding);
");
		writeOutput("encrypted = encrypt('#form.data#','#theKey#','#form.encryptType#','#form.myEncoding#');

");
		writeOutput("decrypted = decrypt(encrypted,theKey,form.encryptType,form.myEncoding);
");
		writeOutput("decrypted = decrypt('#encrypted#','#theKey#','#form.encryptType#','#form.myEncoding#');");


	}
	catch(any e) {
		writeOutput("generateSecretKey('" & Form.encryptType & "') = " & theKey );
		writeDump(e);abort;
	}

	writeOutput("
#form.data# encrypted with #form.encryptType# is: #encrypted#

and now to decrypt it again: #decrypted#");


	}

ColdFusion 10 on OS X Mountain Lion, Eventually

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 14:15:00 -0500

Adobe just announced on September 22, 2012 that they are FINALLY going to support ColdFusion server on OSX again.

The support for ColdFusion 10 on Windows 8 and OSX Mountain Lion is coming. We will be releasing new installers to support these new platforms. While it is not possible to point out the release date for these installers at this time, the installers will be made available in the next 3-5 months time. - Adobe ColdFusion Blog

Seriously?!? In the next 3 to 5 months? You expect me and other OS X users to wait for 3 to 5 months to upgrade our OS to Mountain Lion? That is purely UNACCEPTABLE! Adobe you are trailing the pack again. Something they've gotten used to unless it's their pretty boy flagship product PhotoShop. Back on July 25th Apple released OSX Mountain Lion 10.8. I asked then if Adobe would actually support ColdFusion 10 on Mountain Lion. All I heard was crickets. Remember that Adobe threw in the towel on supporting ColdFusion 9 on OSX Lion 10.7.

By Rakshith - 1:45 PM on November 7, 2011 With our current focus on ColdFusion Zeus, we will not be fixing these issues at this point. We will not be working towards supporting ColdFusion 9.0.1 on Lion. However, ColdFusion Zeus will be supported on OSX Lion.

ColdFusion 9.0.1 never fully worked on OSX Lion. Adobe first ignored the issue, then blamed us for having installed it wrong, then finally when myself and another blogger forced the issue and proved publicly where the problem was located they relented and admitted there was a problem. Adobe then released a "patch" but never asked those of us that found the problem to test the patch. Thus the patch was only a partial patch and failed. Then Adobe issued the statement above, not as a main entry on their blog but buried DEEP in the comments section in this blog post. Why would Adobe make that announcement like that? To hide the fact from the rest of the world that Adobe just doesn't care about developing for the Mac?

So officially we have not had a fully supported version of ColdFusion (any version) since July 20, 2011. Yes, ColdFusion 10 was released this past May, but seriously almost NO ONE is using it yet. So from Mid may until Mid July of 2012 Adobe can technically claim they supported OSX. That's pretty lame. Apple offeres developers the opportunity to have early access tot he next OS so developers can have their software ready to go on day one of the new OSX. Why is Adobe not doing this? I have no clue! Maybe Adobe should fire the developer team and bring development back to the United States and hire better developers. Again, I don't know. But I do know I am getting tired of Adobe trailing the pack and providing half baked solutions for OSX. Get a clue Adobe, OSX is on the rise! Especially among your customer base.

ColdFusion Job Opening: CF Webtools

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 14:53:00 -0500

CF Webtools just posted a job opening.

CF Webtools is looking for bright, talented, and motivated developers with high skill sets in ColdFusion, .NET and Mobile development (including IOS and Droid).

Adobe ColdFusion 10 Hotfix Installer

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 15:42:00 -0500

With the release of ColdFusion 10 came one new feature WE ALL have been asking Adobe to implement. This feature is the Hotfix installer and notifications. This is in the ColdFusion 10 Administrator under "Server Update" at the bottom of the left hand navigation menu. Yesterday I saw Adobe had released an update to ColdFusion 10. So today I decided to test the new Hotfix Installer. After launching my ColdFusion 10 Administrator I immediately saw in the upper right-hand corner and alert notifying me there was an update ready to download and install. So how does the installer work? During the alpha and beta testing with Adobe I never had a chance to test this feature. None of the alpha or beta updates were released in a way that could use the hot fix installer. So today is the first test I've ever done of Hotfix Installer.

[More]

OS X Mountain Lion Launches Today

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 00:50:00 -0500

According to an article on Mac Rumors Apple is releasing OS X Mountain Lion today! I don't see it in the App Store yet. I bring this up because of Adobe and their complete inability to bring current software to the latest OS X version. Will ColdFusion 10 run on Mountain Lion? Why would I expect it to? Adobe could not be bothered to get ColdFusion 9 working correctly on OS X Lion. Most of the work I do is for client on ColdFusion 9 and even ColdFusion 8. Thus upgrading my OS to take advantage of new features and software is always held back by Adobe. Will we have to wait for ColdFusion 11 as Adobe told us to wait for ColdFusion 10 if we wanted to run on OS X Lion. How about ColdFusion Builder? Will this run on OS X Mountain Lion? This OS version has been in the works for a while and was announced many months ago. Yet Adobe is silent about their products. The Roaring Apps website is doing a great job in getting user reports on what works with Lion and Mountain Lion. Not many Adobe products showing up as working. Either I give up my Mac or I give up Adobe. Sorry Adobe, you're losing! Adobe we are waiting for you to do something, anything correctly.

uCertify ACE ColdFusion Exam PrepKit

Sat, 26 May 2012 14:43:00 -0500

First, I have to apologize to the fine people at uCertify, they sent me this offer to take the full ACE ColdFusion 9 practice test FOR FREE if I wrote a review. So far I have been remiss in even downloading and starting on the Prep Kit. Sorry UCertify, today I did download the full Prep Kit. Thank you for your patience and polite reminders.

I have received an offer (Back in December of 2011 - my bad for taking so long to get started on this) from uCertify to review their PrepKit and I have accepted that challenge and now I am reviewing Adobe 9A0-127 ColdFusion 9 PrepKit from uCertify. Initially it looks MASSIVE! There are study guides, practice tests additional study materials , progress trackers and more! This looks like everything needed to complete and "ace" the ACE test. As soon as I am done with the full review I will post it for you all. (Let that be soon!)

ColdFusion 10 Installation Notes

Sat, 19 May 2012 16:23:00 -0500

Now that ColdFusion 10 is officially released I wanted to update my previous blog post about ColdFusion 10 Installation. I completely uninstalled the beta versions and went to installing the official release. There were a couple changes that I noticed from the first public beta to the final release. One nice change was that requiring an insanely secure password for the Developer Edition has gone away. I do hope that with a serial number the strong password is still required.

The only other new installation item I saw was the new option for Enable Secure Profile. This installation option like you instantly choose between a local developer installation and a production installation. When you enable secure profile you are automatically disabling a few things by default, these are RDS, debugging, directory browsing and you have the option to limit ColdFusion Administrator access to one or more IP addresses. This is a really nice feature for someone that has to install production servers a regular basis. I hope this leads to more secure ColdFusion installations everywhere.

[More]

Get Your ColdFusion Downloads While They Last

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:01:00 -0500

Due to the Verity license expiring Adobe will quit offering some of the older versions of ColdFusion after May 31st, 2012. This Adobe ColdFusion Blog post covers the details including a new 9.0.2 version without Verity. Download what you think you'll need (or all of the versions) while you can.

ColdFusion 10 Released Today

Tue, 15 May 2012 19:20:00 -0500

Can you believe it? Adobe just release ColdFusion 10! I remember working with this fledgling "Cold Fusion" (was it version 2 or 3 back then?) server stuff back around 1997! Totally amazing that 15 years later ColdFusion 10 is here and getting stronger. And to think I had "Professors" in college at the time that were asking me "Why would anyone want to connect a database to a webpage and actually interact with it?" Now we know why!

Congratulations to the ColdFusion Developer Team for their great work on this release. ColdFusion 10 marks in my opinion a third new era or generation for ColdFusion as it moves onto the Tomcat platform. Initially ColdFusion was C++ code then in migrated to Java with JRUN so those were the first two generations. Now we move onto the Tomcat Java Servlet. This is great news!

What is 'Today' - It's after midnight on May15th when I got the notice from Adobe about the release.

ColdFusion Builder 2 Update 1 Beta (Twister) Installation

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 13:47:00 -0500

I just had the most wonderful experience with ColdFusion Builder 2 Update 1 Beta (officially 2.0.1 according to the About window). Recently I have been testing the new public beta on both my Mac and on Windows 7. I do 99% of my development work from my Mac and I need this for work no questions asked. One of the caveats with this new update is that is will not install along side ColdFusion Builder 2. It's an update after all so that makes sense. But you can have ColdFusion Builder 2 installed as a Standalone install and then install this update as a plugin to Eclipse on the same machine. This is how I did my initial testing and dutifully filed my bug reports. However, I wasn't going to replace ColdFusion Builder 2 with this beta just yet. I need to get paid! I can't afford down time.

Today (a lazy hanged over Saturday) I decided that I was ready to make the switch. I uninstalled the plugin version of the update, then uninstalled my trusty ColdFusion Builder 2. The installation notes I have claims that ColdFusion Builder 2 Update 1 can (and really should) use your existing workspace and it should keep your plugins installed from your previous ColdFusion Builder 2.

I am elated to report that this worked as advertised! Upon launching ColdFusion Builder 2.0.1 Beta I saw my previously opened files still opened. All my custom arrangement of tabs, windows etc still where I left them and my Subversive plugin was still there, in tact and still have my two dozen plus SVN Repository entries!

So from now on all my coding is going to be in Twister! Maybe this will grant me an excuse for my twisted codes! I do expect to run into issues, there are already known issues that the documentation points out and there are a few bugs. But then again this is still BETA ( Buggy Erratic Temperamental Application).

Many thanks to the Adobe ColdFusion Developer Team!

ColdFusion Builder Team Blog (http://blogs.adobe.com/cfbuilder/)
ColdFusion Team Blog (http://blogs.coldfusion.com/)

Free ColdFusion 10 Beta Hosting

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:52:00 -0500

I just noticed that Hostek.com is offering free ColdFusion 10 Beta hosting. This is a limited offer! But you get to use ColdFusion 10 Beta on a public server. Details: http://hostek.com/hosting/coldfusion/coldfusion10-hosting.asp