Co.ldFusion - ColdFusion - Pablo Varando's ColdFusion Blog - EasyCFM.COM

Looking for ColdFusion Developers....

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:37:00 -0500

I am looking for ColdFusion developers to work on a project I am working on. I need someone with 8+ years experience and who understands OO concepts. If you're interested; send me an email to : webmaster@easycfm.com.

I've been busy working on the new EasyCFM... In the 8+ years the site has been up; it's been a repository of tutorials and online forums; that's great but we need to bring in some new features and things to bring it into the new era... with that being said; new things are coming... soon! Stay tuned! (I don't want to spoil the surprises) :)

And yes, the developers I am looking for above are for the new changes.... so let me hear from you if you're interested!

~P

Tracking user clicks.... one way....

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 03:18:00 -0500

A few days ago a user on Easy asked a question about tracking users click through your site, like a breadcrumbs.... now naturally my suggestion was to insert a value to the database and then (based on the user's IP address) return back the data for display. This is still my favorite solution as it is quick and painless; the user however asked me to provide a solution that did not involve the database... so here goes nothing.... (disclaimer, use the database it's better and allows you to get data long term, but for a short timespan type thing this might help you... so I thought I'd post it.


Put this in your application.cfm or application.cfc 
(onRequestStart).

As mentioned before, the database is the best route; but this is one route you could go.

Free ColdFusion 9 Enterprise Hosting!!!

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:41:00 -0500

I wanted to post a little message letting everyone know that Free ColdFusionHosting.Com (Formerly CFM-Resources.Com) now supports ColdFusion 9 for your account. I upgraded it last night to provide you with the latest and greatest features. More features are in the works as we speak, the control panel is getting an overhaul so you can create your own datasources and more.... things are about to get "fun" again..... So what do you get for free?

The hosting accounts come with the following specs:

Free ColdFusion Hosting Account Details

Adobe ColdFusion MX 9 (Enterprise)
Windows 2003 Enterprise
500 MB of space
10GB of Bandwidth
1 - MS SQL Database (MSSQL 2005)
Unlimited - MS Access Database
FTP Access
Access to all ColdFusion Tags and Functions
Debug on server is turned on to all public calls
Forum Support (post and discussion issues with others via our forums).
Note: If you would prefer to develop locally, always remember that Adobe does provide a FREE development version of ColdFusion MX 9, you can download it here

* Note that tags and functions might be removed if account is found to be abusing the service; removal will come without notice.

Considering a new sweepstakes.... Hack Day type thing....

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:58:00 -0500

So I am thinking of doing something on easycfm.com that would bring out some development and creativity, but I am looking for some suggestionsand ideas from the community. If MacGyver could use a paperclip for multiple uses... what would you define your personal tool, tag, inhouse tool, framework, anything to be to achieve the same thing? One thing to do many things with. I'm looking for some suggestions and ideas on a good hack day that we can run to show the world that ColdFusion is not only scalable, but also re-usable. The final idea here is to develop something that we can all use to demonstrate the power of ColdFusion (and maybe with other technologies?) Anyway, just an idea.. anu suggestions? ideas? Let me hear it... I'd love to hear your thoughts! I am willing to give out a nice prize to the winner (cash? something electronic? your thoughts on this also).. I just have been hearing a lot lately that ColdFusion is not as scalable or powerful as other languages (and though I know this is said a lot and has been said for years, I'd like to prove everyone wrong with a single or multiple examples that we can demonstrate the true power of ColdFusion). So c'mon, let's hear your thoughts... don't be shy, any suggestions is better then none... so speak up! We all love ColdFuion and would love to see it grow even more then it has in the last decade and I believe if we all pull together we can do it.... so let's hear it! Pablo

Server changes on EasyCFM.COM.....

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:25:00 -0500

Tonight I went through and made some changes on the server. We were having some issues with the setup and so I reconstructed the server from the ground up... If you run into any issues, please let me know so I can correct it!

Simply drop me an email and let me know!

More new changes coming soon; please stay tuned!

EasyCFM.COM - Get paid for your tutorial submissions!

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 08:36:00 -0500

EasyCFM.COM has changed the way ColdFusion authors get compensated for their work, in the past we would hold contests and sweepstakes and if your tutorial won you would get a prize! We understand that as rewarding and exciting as this is; most people love to get paid for their work (even when they are helping others) no matter what!

With this in mind, we have created a new system to compensate authors posting their work on our site. Every tutorial you post will pay you out real money (based on a few different criterias):

Length of your tutorial - By length we mean how many words exist in the tutorial, how much explanation do you put into it, do you really drive the user to understand your topic, etc. We're looking for the best authors out there, that can provide good explanations of how to do things with ColdFusion, so get creative, explain it in full detail and get paid more money!
Quality of your work - We provide bonuses (after-the fact) to the most successful tutorials posted on the site. (and you can get more then one for a single tutorial... so you can continue to make money even after the tutorial has been on the site for a long time!) The bonus structure is based on feedback from our community, popularity of your tutorial, visitor ratings & feedback, etc). We will track it and then add money to your account instantly for providing high quality work!

So start making some money today, upload your fresh tutorial content and together we'll make EasyCFM.COM bigger and better; but more importantly; get some cash in your pocket!

New EasyCFM.COM Changes....!!! (Check it out!)

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:48:00 -0500

New, bigger and better things are coming on EasyCFM.COM.... here's a taste of what we've done so far!

I wanted to announce some changes done recently to EasyCFM.COM. These changes were done at the requests of our community using Firefox (mostly) and to go back to our original style designs. (People said they missed the "reddish" colors).

Here is a list of items that were recently changed.

Forum was modified to display color scheme in firefox. Previously it would not keep the same look at Internet Explorer. This was due to a bug in the original forum software. I went through and modified all the code to correct the issue.
Corrected the layout of all the pages throughout the site to ensure that the intended design was consistent throughout all browsers.
Modified the site logo to keep a constant link to our twitter account (Tweet!!).
Changed the site-wide stylesheet design and color schemes to the original colors, bye bye blue! Woo Hoo!
Modified the menu for the site (top area) to be CFMENU driven to take advantage of newer better built-in ColdFusion technology. Look for new areas to be developed on the site; so we can continue to add to the menu!

If you have any additional suggestions or would like to see anything else added/modified.... please let me know! After all it's all about our community! You make this site the success it is, we never forget that!

More great things to come!

CFUnited - EasyCFM Discount (Save $100 when attending CFUnited)

Fri, 22 May 2009 15:26:00 -0500

EasyCFM is a proud Sponsor of CFUnited

CFUnited is a 4 day conference featuring the latest in ColdFusion, Flex and AIR content. Sessions span the full spectrum of skills used by Web professionals looking to deliver cutting-edge experiences to their customers quickly and efficiently. Come join us in Lansdowne, VA from August 12th - 15th 2009, along with a full day of Pre Conference classes on August 11th 2009. Visit http://www.cfunited.com for more details.

EasyCFM is offering a $100 discount to CFUnited when you register with promo code EFM100.
*promo code expires June 5, 2009

http://cfunited.com

New Tutorial Series (User Interface Tools With ColdFusion) - CFMENU

Wed, 20 May 2009 20:12:00 -0500

I wanted to post a quick post that I will be working on a set of tutorials that deal with user interfaces (design, usability, etc) that can all be achieved with ColdFusion. the first tutorial will deal with CFMENU. That tutorial can be seen here: ColdFusion User Interfaces - Series (CFMENU).

I will be also working on some additional tutorials to demonstrate the ease of use to deploy some powerful sites.... more to come on that... Chek out the tutorial and let me know what you think!

EasyCFM... Thinking back... Did mention the tutorial sweepstakes?

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:46:00 -0500

I was just thinking about how far EasyCFM.COM has come since I launched it in 2002 (after leaving CFM-Resources) and how many people have gotten help or bettered themselves through it and it really does blow my mind away...

I am always in awe of how good this community is to each other. Being part of other communities (c#, flash, photoshop, etc) I can say that the ColdFusion community always impresses me with their willingness to help other developers and how far they go to ensure people get it. It really has come a long way..... here's an example:

Back in the day; I remember starting out the first tutorial sweepstakes and giving away a couple hundred bucks to to the winner... this time around I am giving three prizes for the winning tutorial submissions...

Winner - $1,000.00 in cash
Second Place - $750.00 in cash
Third Place - $500.00 in cash

How awesome is that... I mean I know its not about the money (at least not to me) but it shows me that the site has matured and that it's come a long way since back in '02.

Anyways... just thinking outloud :)

What is the best way to show categories (and their children, and their children and those children)

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 04:41:00 -0500

Today I ran by a forum post on EasyCFM.COM (see it here) that asked for help in displaying categories. This can be tricky; especially if you have many parent/child relationships. So I thought I would post a blog entry talking about the best way I have found to do this... Here goes nothing.. First you need to create the database for it... so lets make a table and cll it "categories". In that table you will need to have the following items:

categoryID int identity (autonumber).
category   nvarchar(50) (string/text)
parentcategoryID int (number)

Then in that database; we will put in a few records (Let's do (3) layers).

CategoryID    Category             ParentCategoryID
1             Automotive           0
2             Real Estate          0
3             Used                 1
4             New                  1
5             For Sale             2
6             For Rent             2
7             Homes                5
8             Apartments           5
9             Homes                6
10            Apartments           6

Now notice that you have two records that are "master" records... Or top level which have a parentID of "0". This means that these are the ones that will show up in bold and are special :) Now inside of that we created a (3) level one as follows, the other one has only two levels:

Real Estate
   > For Sale
       > Homes
       > Apartments
   For Rent
       > Homes
       > Apartments

Now to show them on a page all the way down, can be tricky if you code it; since it will require you to loop through the ones with a "0" and then do another query and loop through it and then do it again and again... so how do you accommodate for as many levels as you may need.. (imagine one has 40 levels deep).... This is wehre custom tags really do come in handy... You can do a custom tag that will call itself over and over and over until it doesnt need to anymore... So how do you ask? Well, let's show you... First lets create a custom tag and let's call the file "categories.cfm"; on this page lets put this code:








  select categoryID, category
  from   categories
  where ParentCategoryID = #val(attributes.ParentCategoryID)#




  #category#

That's pretty much it... now on the main page (where you want the parent categories to always show up) let's call the custom tag with a ParentCategoryID of "0" (again, remember this is the master records). How easy was that? Now this baby can go 1, 2, 10, 40, 60, 100 levels deep and you don't have to do anyhing else... Sweeet.. If you want to only force it to go "2" levels down... you can do this:



  #category#

That will only run one time when you call the parent caegories... then the parent's grandchildren will not be show; because when you call that tag again for the third time.. the ParentCategoryID will be higher then zero... make sense? Let me know your thoughts.... -P

Image Processing under ColdFusion 5.... A little blast from the past...

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:28:00 -0500

Today I ran by a post on the EasyCFM.COM forums; where the individual is still using ColdFusion 5 and is trying to get the image width/height values of a given image. I know that CF 5 is a bit outdated; but I'm feeling a bit nostalgic and so I am gonna install CF 5 on a local box and see if I can get something going for him... I wanted to post a little something mentioning this as I will be posting a follow up shortly with a solution... wish me luck :) hehe Back in a bit... :-)

Free ColdFusion Hosting....

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:28:00 -0500

I have given a firm release date for the new Free ColdFusion Hosting; A lot of people have been waiting for this site to launch; and the date I will be openning the doors is January 1st, 2009.

This will allow you to have the following with your account:

25MB of space
ColdFusion MX 8 - Enterprise
(1) MS Access Database
(1) MS SQL 2005 Database
Access to CFFILE, CFDIRECTORY and other tags
Your own domain name [i.e. http://www.mysite.com]
Your own subdomain [i.e. http://mysite.freecoldfusionhosting.com]
FTP Access
and much more...

Stay tuned to this blog for future updates and notices on the service... I wanted to start the new year with a bang; Free ColdFusion Hosting will give it just that... A bang!

more to come!