ColdFusion on Ulitzer

Think about the last time you bought a car. Did you walk around the vehicle, look under the hood and sit in the driver's seat to get a feel for it? You probably took it for a test-drive before making the final decision. If you're a developer producing the next "killer app," it's only reasonable for your customers to want to test-drive your application as well. Have you ever wanted to demo your application but thought... It's too difficult to put together a general-purpose demo. Even if you did publish a "live" demo site, it would be open to wrong-headed visitors entering offensive data, corrupting the demo for others. If you don't allow data entry, you limit the effectiveness of the demo. You could allow users to download your application (in some protected time-limited format), but they would need to install it and all the prerequisite programs (CFML server, databa... (more)

Spectra's XML Flashes

Macromedia and Allaire have merged. This is an ideal marriage. Allaire's server-side technology and Macromedia's client-side strengths are complementary, and the synergies between these two organizations will produce a strong alliance. In this scenario the whole is greater than its sum. I've familiarized myself with both technologies until the learning curve has started to slow. If you're a Spectra developer, this article may enhance your knowledge of the Model View Control Pattern and the new way Spectra stores the Site Layout Model (SLM). If you're a Flash developer this may be a chance to be exposed to the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) object and how some of its methods can be used to deserialize the XML data into Flash's generic object. Spectra was released in late 1999. Since then it has been recognized as a leader in commerce, content, and customer managem... (more)

Putting Oracle SQL to Work in Your ColdFusion Applications

SQL is the bread-and-butter language of relational databases. Although the language has been standardized (SQL-92 and SQL:99), virtually no vendor's implementation strictly conforms to the standards. Most database products use their own syntax (in joins, for example) and, more important, implement several language extensions. For the developer it's necessary to know about product-specific extensions in order to leverage the database optimally. This is true whatever the nature of the application - Web or client/server. In addition, for the Web programmer knowledge of these extensions can help shift a lot of the processing load off the Web/application server to the database where it belongs (see Ben Forta's comments on this in "Take Your Database Out of Retirement," CFDJ, Vol. 1, issue 3). In this article we present some features of Oracle SQL that we've found useful... (more)

Building a Drag-and-Drop Shopping Cart with AJAX

Keeping up with the latest Web technologies is tough nowadays. Every week it seems new sites are launched that push the envelope further and further in terms of what can be accomplished using just a Web browser. The rise of AJAX over the past several months has taken over the development world and breathed new life into the Web. Although these techniques have been possible for many years now, the maturity of Web standards like XHTML and CSS now make it a viable alternative that will be viewable by all but the oldest browsers. It's also been possible to accomplish many of the same things using Flex or Flash, but the development cycle with those applications is typically more involved and the overhead often not justified. We're going to harness the power of the Scipt.aculo.us JavaScript library to provide our interaction. As their Web site states, this library "provide... (more)

What Is AJAX?

(October 7, 2005) - AJAX isn't a technology, or a language, and there's no recipe to implement it; it's just a combination of various components to achieve something you otherwise couldn't: asynchronous http requests. However, since early 2005, when Google and Flickr popularized the concept, its use has grown rapidly. The name AJAX is short for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. It uses the JavaScript XMLHttpRequest function to create a tunnel from the client's browser to the server and transmit information back and forth without having to refresh the page. The data travels in XML format because it transmits complex data types over clear text. AJAX uses XHTML for the data presentation of the view layer, DOM, short for Document Object Model, which dynamically manipulates the presentation, XML for data exchange, and XMLHttpRequest as the exchange engine that ties every... (more)

The Next Programming Models, RIAs and Composite Applications

I’ve been around software for 20 years now. Looking back, I have mixed feelings about the progress we’ve made. The end results have been amazing but the process of building software hasn’t fundamentally changed since the 80s. In fact, I see us make some of the same mistakes over and over again. One of the common anti-patterns is over-relying on tools and frameworks instead of inventing new programming models. Layers of abstraction are fundamental to software. Some layers are defined through programming models, e.g., machine language, assembly language, 3GLs, JSP. Others are defined through a combination of tools and frameworks, e.g., MFC and Visual Studio on top of C++. There is a limit to how high we can raise a level of abstraction through tools and frameworks alone. At some point, a new programming model is the best way forward. Here are some examples: CASE tools ... (more)

AJAX Sponsor Webcasts Are Now Available at AJAXWorld Website

Live Webcasts of four sponsor sessions from the New York "Real-World AJAX" event are now available at the conference Website. These Webcasts which are now available online are Sahil Malik's (telerik) "How to Take Desktop Applications to the Web" session, Christophe Coenraets' (Adobe) "Extending AJAX with Adobe Flex" session, Jouk Pleiter's (Backbase) "AJAX Best Practices" session, and Kevin Hakman's (TIBCO) "The Four Quantum States of AJAX" session. The 12-hour event with its entire 11 sessions is also available as an on-demand product, in an easy to navigate DVD for all delegates of "Real-World AJAX" and "AJAXWorld Conference & Expo." The first Real-World AJAX event took place on Monday, March 13, 2006 in New York City featuring 15 speakers in 11 sessions, including the world’s most renowned AJAX experts. Seminar attendees also got a chance to hear from leading... (more)

AJAXWorld University Announces AJAX Developer Bootcamp

MONTVALE, NJ -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 05/24/06 -- SYS-CON Events (www.events.sys-con.com) announced today that the first international "AJAXWorld(TM) Conference & Expo" (www.ajaxworldexpo.com), taking place on October 3-4, 2006, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, California, will offer AJAXWorld University - Developer Bootcamp program. The AJAX Developer Bootcamp will take place on Monday, October 2, 2006, one day before the conference opens. Early bird registration for the AJAX Developer Bootcamp opened today at the AJAXWorld Conference Website: https://www3.sys-con.com/oct06/registernew.cfm AJAXWorld University's AJAX Developer Bootcamp is an intensive, one-day, hands-on training program that will teach Web developers and designers how to build high-quality AJAX applications from beginning to end. Available as part of or separately from the AJAXWorld Conference & Ex... (more)

SYS-CON Media Readers Cast More Than 4,000 Votes In First Week Of Voting

This year it looks certain that a new participation record will be set, as more than 4,000 votes have already been recorded in just the first seven days of voting, and more than 50,000 SYS-CON Media readers are estimated to cast their votes in this year's Readers' Choice Awards. The winners of this years awards will be announced in November at Web Services Edge 2005 West - International Web Services Conference & Expo in San Francisco. The list of companies heading the various polls reads like a "Who's Who" of the most active and enterprising players in the i-technology space - including all the industry's top software and hardware vendors, services providers, and technical publishers. Highlights after just one week's voting include: 2005 JDJ Readers' Choice Awards: There are 26 categories in this year's JDJ awards. In the coveted "Best Java Application Server" categor... (more)

SYS-CON Media Readers' Choice Awards Polls Will Close on December 31, 2005

  SYS-CON Media (www.sys-con.com), the world's leading i-technology media company, announced that its 2005 Readers' Choice Awards polls will close on December 31, 2005. So far more than 16,000 readers cast their votes to select the best  software products and services of the year for Java, Linux, Web Services, XML, Microsoft .NET, ColdFusion and Macromedia MX. Best Java Products of 2005: http://java.sys-con.com/general/readerschoice.htm Best Linux Products of 2005: http://linux.sys-con.com/general/readerschoice.htm Best Web Services Products of 2005: http://webservices.sys-con.com/general/readerschoice.htm Best .NET Products of 2005: http://dotnet.sys-con.com/general/readerschoice.htm Best Macromedia MX and ColdFusion Products of 2005: http://mxdj.sys-con.com/general/readerschoice.htm SYS-CON's Readers' Choice Awards program is considered to be the most prestigious awar... (more)

SYS-CON Media Opens Its Eighth Annual "Readers' Choice Awards" Polls

SYS-CON Media (www.sys-con.com), the world's leading i-technology media company, announced that its 2005 Readers' Choice Awards polls opened today, February 1, 2005, and will remain open for six months, until July 31, 2005. More than 50,000 readers are expected to cast their votes to select the best  software products and services of the year for Java, Linux, Web Services, XML, Microsoft .NET, ColdFusion and Macromedia MX. Best Java Products of 2005: http://sys-con.com/java/readerschoice2004 Best Linux Products of 2005: http://www.sys-con.com/Linux/readerschoice2004 Best Web Services Products of 2005: http://www.sys-con.com/webservices/readerschoice2004 Best .NET Products of 2005: http://www.sys-con.com/dotnet/readerschoice2004 Best Macromedia MX and ColdFusion Products of 2005: http://www.sys-con.co... (more)