Raymond Camden's Blog Rss

ColdFusion Builder Has Arrived!

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Posted in | Posted on 03-21-2010 | 4,033 views

Something tells me this may be a bit early, so if you don't see it quite yet, give it a few minutes. It looks like Adobe's newest product, ColdFusion Builder, has officially arrived. I'm seeing it highlighted here along with ColdFusion. You can download the trial here (note, that link will probably require you to register/sign in first).

And now for the million dollar question - the cost. If you go here you can now buy ColdFusion Builder for US 299. That high? I don't think so. I think that price is awesome, but it gets even better. You also get a copy of Flash Builder 4 as well. That is an amazing combo and and an amazing price. I've been using CFBuilder daily for a few months now and I can easily say it's worth that price. It has been a great boon to my development. It certainly had some ... rough spots (grin) during it's development. Those of you who suffered with performance issues in the last beta can attest to that. Trust me when I say that more recent builds have been significantly better. Please update to the latest trial and get it a shot.

I'm also proud to say that I'll be part of the CFBuilder tour that is starting this week. I'll be flying to East Lansing, MI on Tuesday to give a presentation. In preparation for this trip I've discovered even more cool things that I had missed in my earlier testing. I'm pretty darn excited and can't wait to share that with others.

I've mentioned this before, but I'll also be presenting on CFBuilder at Scotch on the Rocks in a few weeks - specifically on extension development.

So - what do people think? Be honest? Are you excited about this? If not, what is holding you back? What are you looking forward to and what worries you? Are there parts of CFBuilder that you specifically want to see more blog entries from me on?

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Syed said on 03-21-2010 at 11:23 PM #
I was just reading this on facebook. Talk about coincidence.
David McGuigan said on 03-21-2010 at 11:28 PM #
Just downloaded the trial, and it's WORKING!!!

A bunch of the huge bugs and issues I had with the pre-release(s) seem to be totally fixed!!!

OMG EXCITING AGAIN!!!
David McGuigan said on 03-21-2010 at 11:31 PM #
What the what? It's literally 4-5 times faster for me than the pre-release was?!?!!!! Even opening files directly after launch is fast!
Raymond Camden said on 03-21-2010 at 11:33 PM #
As I said, _significant_ performance updates since the last public beta. :)
David McGuigan said on 03-21-2010 at 11:42 PM #
Literally cannot create a new ColdFusion file from the files panel, or move one to a new location. Wow. Out of curiosity, what is the purpose of the files panel?
Raymond Camden said on 03-21-2010 at 11:45 PM #
Files panel lets you work out of projects, so I believe it is _expected_ that you can't create stuff there. You should be working in projects for that.
SuperAlly said on 03-22-2010 at 12:14 AM #
Can't wait to give it another try... The last trial download I had was REALLY painful for me on a very fast machine...

Ray, swing by the Toronto CFBuilder tour stop... It's only a 'few' hours out of your way if you're hitting up Michigan :)
Kris Korsmo said on 03-22-2010 at 2:33 AM #
Downloading now! I've even been mostly happy with the latest beta, but can't wait to see how it's gotten better! And does the fact that they're pairing it with Flash Builder CS4 imply that CS5 will be coming out sometime time soon? I've been saving my pennies for CS5 Master Collection.
Juerg Anderegg said on 03-22-2010 at 5:51 AM #
Just upgraded my installation (Beta3; Eclipse Plugin; Mac OS/X). I did a clear uninstall before and also restartet eclipse with the -clean switch as described. Unforunately; CFBuilder isn't working anymore. No color highlights; no tag completion; nothing) I cannot enter any serial number or select trial mode; the 3 menu items beyond "Help" ("Adobe ColdFusion Builder Registration", "Adobe ColdFusion Builder Deativation" and "Adobe ColdFusion Builder Updates") are all greyed out. Any ideas where to enter serial number / trial mode?
Raymond Camden said on 03-22-2010 at 6:17 AM #
@SuperAlly: I wish - I haven't been up there since CFNORTH back in 02 (I think that was the year).

@Juerg: I wish I could help, but I've only ever run CFB as a standalone. I noticed the CFBuilder labs forums are gone. I do not see where they are in the 'main' forums area. I'll ask around.
Jochen said on 03-22-2010 at 6:44 AM #
You say "You also get a copy of Flash Builder 4 as well". Where do I find the Flash Builder 4?
Raymond Camden said on 03-22-2010 at 6:45 AM #
@Jochem: When you purchase CFB, it comes with it. For now, you can download FB as a trial.
Jason Fisher said on 03-22-2010 at 6:58 AM #
Yes, very excited. Those last few betas were just painful for me, so I'm psyched that this build seems to have seriously improved in those areas.
Matt W said on 03-22-2010 at 7:27 AM #
Starting from Adobe.com, there is a link under the News that mentions FB, CFB, etc. Click that and you get major "Flash Platform" graphics and info. Scrolling, scrolling, ah, under Flash Platform Blog CFB is mentioned again... Scrolling, one bullet point about CFB, then a link for "Get ColdFusion Builder" that doesn't work... FAIL.

Luckily us in the know CF people have Raymond's blog to get us there.
Raymond Camden said on 03-22-2010 at 8:11 AM #
I may love Adobe's products, but their web site has never really worked well for me. Maybe you have to be a designer. ;)
Paul Dynan said on 03-22-2010 at 8:20 AM #
I finally starting using at the end of beta, and I'm loving about 90% of CFB. The problem is coming from Studio and then DreamWeaver, I have some work habits that are hard to break. The things I could really use from CFB to make a switch really work:

1) Add Code Assist for CF functions.
2) Add keyboard shortcuts for snippets (and have them wrap properly).
3) Allow keyboard shortcuts for other things like html code.

All in all, I think it's going to hurt Adobe a little not having things be more transition-friendly from DW, as I think a lot of folks like me switched to it by necessity after CF Studio ended development. At least in that case, DW practically had CFS built-in.

I really do look forward to switching. The code-checking alone pays for itself.
Chris Pfeffer said on 03-22-2010 at 8:26 AM #
I think I will see you Tuesday!
Raymond Camden said on 03-22-2010 at 8:32 AM #
@Paul: Actually, there is code assist! If you aren't seeing it, let me know, but it is there.

There is keyboard support for snippets too! You have to use trigger text.

There are other shortcuts too, like for cfdump. Not sure if there are any for HTML though.

To be honest, I hate keyboard shortcuts because I never remember them - but there are some.
Chung Lee said on 03-22-2010 at 8:36 AM #
Will it be better than the "free" CFEclipse? I mean, is it worth $299 when we can use CFEclipse free? I'm just curious.
Raymond Camden said on 03-22-2010 at 8:40 AM #
Chung: This is my biased view. I have not used CFEclipse since I switched to CFB about 6 months or so ago. To me, CFB is better. I've heard that CFE has had some movement lately, updates, etc. So I can't say I've compared the two. There IS a competitive chart that I'll be showing in my presentation. Obviously it shows CFB in the lead.

Frankly, 299 is cheap for what you get. I use it every day, 8-10 hours a day. It makes me productive and lets me get my job done.
Paul Dynan said on 03-22-2010 at 9:14 AM #
There's code assit for tags, but in beta, there wasn't anything for functions. I'd love it if they had added it.

I played w/ the snippets, but I missed the way in DW you could assign a kyboard shortcut (it really speeds up adding all of those cfqueryparams). I also made one using wrapping, but when I 2x clicked on it w/ the code selected, it just deleted it.

The shortcuts for html are missing, and I know I'm probably just being lazy, but I'd like a little love for the ctrl + b break (I didn't appreciate how many breaks I really use until I had to type them all).

These are all minor issues, and again, it's a really powerful platform. It is what is giving my pause on spending the $300, in hopes of seeing them added in a first patch or added as an extension.

These are r
Chad said on 03-22-2010 at 11:06 AM #
Does it not give you a tag list as you start typing <CFQ ? I like to see a list of what tags begin with CFQ, like CFQuery etc.

It gives attribute hints once you have CFQuery typed. They dont pop up very fast, but they are there. Dreamweaver seems way faster on the code hints.

Maybe it is a setting?
Raymond Camden said on 03-22-2010 at 11:09 AM #
When I type <cfq, I do get a list. And yes - the delay is a setting.

Settings/ColdFusion/Editor Profiles/Editor/Code Assist: Delay Before Showing Code Assist(in milliseconds):
Chris Giminez said on 03-22-2010 at 11:45 AM #
I'm still trying to figure out how to use it well. So far I find myself jumping back to dreamweaver to get things done faster.
Raymond Camden said on 03-22-2010 at 11:49 AM #
It takes time to get used to a new IDE, however, I'd recommend NOT jumping to DW. If you do that, you won't learn. ;)
Chad said on 03-22-2010 at 11:57 AM #
I had to restart it to get the code complete to work.

I will probably stick to my dreamweaver since it comes with Creative Suite.
Paul Dynan said on 03-22-2010 at 1:10 PM #
Yes, it does tag complete. But unlike DW, when I start typing Date, it does not offer me DateFomat, Add, Diff, etc, and attribute help.

I'm assuming this may be added on later, or maybe already is in final release.
Raymond Camden said on 03-22-2010 at 1:13 PM #
Odd - I can type date and see the various date functions.
Juerg Anderegg said on 03-22-2010 at 1:45 PM #
Licensing question: I currently own Flex Builder 3 Professional.Upgrade to Flash Builder 4 Premium is US$ 299. Flash Builder 4 Premium includes a License for ColdFusion Builder. So if somebody owns Flex Builder 3; best option would be to upgrade to FB4 Premium not to buy ColdFusion Builder (which is also $299.- but includes "only" the Standard Edition of FB4). Or is there any difference between the Editions of CFBuilder?
Paul Dynan said on 03-22-2010 at 1:46 PM #
Maybe it made it into final then, which is good news. I just tried on b3, and it didn't give me anything. I'll have to give the trial a try.

Thanks for checking that.
Raymond Camden said on 03-22-2010 at 1:48 PM #
@Juerg: Your best bet is to ask your salesperson, sorry. I can say that there is only one version of CFB. And it's called the KICK ASS version. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
Bill Knight said on 03-22-2010 at 6:41 PM #
Though CFB is way better than the "free" CFEclipse, I do not feel that it is worth $299. Sure it comes with FlashBuilder, but I do not intend to use it, therefore it is meaningless to me.
Chuck Savage said on 03-23-2010 at 10:41 AM #
Here's the link to the purchase site, hope it works for you: https://store4.adobe.com/cfusion/store/index.cfm?&...

I found that following the email I just received, if you click any of the America's links other than the one on the left, you get sent to pages that either don't work or don't have the software.

Also, 299 is the upgrade price. The full version is 699.
Kevin Benore said on 03-24-2010 at 4:55 PM #
I really like CFEclipse, especially all of the new features that have been added as of late (code insight improvements, code formatting). So, I would really like to see something a bit more quantifiable when comparing CFEclipse to CFB. I don't use Flash/Flex so I am not sure $299 for a bundled product is worth it for me. But I get the point of them trying to push both products to the development community.

@Ray, that chart you were mentioning that compares the two ... will you make it "public" after your presentation. I would love to see how the latest releases of both CFEclipse and CFB stack up.

@Ray As a side note, I know you are not beholden to any one open source movement, but just curious why you chose to move to CFB from CFEclipse given your propensity for many open source initiatives (including some awesome products of your own). Was it simply a choice because it was a new CF product that Adobe was supporting or did you find CFEclipse lacking in some areas that CFB fulfilled? Just curious, especially since I know you have used both.
Raymond Camden said on 03-25-2010 at 7:06 AM #
@Kevin: The chart may be found here: http://www.coldfusionjedi.com/index.cfm/2010/3/22/...

@Kevin 2: I like open source, but at the end of the day, I use what works best. For me, CFB works best. I've heard CFE has gotten some nice new features lately, but as far as I know, CFB is the best thing out now for CF developers.
Kevin Benore said on 03-25-2010 at 8:41 AM #
@Ray - thanks for the chart and explanation. Was just curious on the big differences. The chart really helps visually see what is missing (and what is not) from CFEclipse. Thanks!!
Martin Gara said on 04-11-2010 at 7:12 PM #
Ray - I've been using (CF)Eclipse for a quite a while now with the free release of Aptana Studio which gives you code context highlighting for a lot of different file formats that I use in my applications (css js xml) in particular css code assist/insight and also FTP/SFTP support. Including a comparsion of CFEclipse with Aptana (free release) might be a fairer comparsion.
Danny said on 04-14-2010 at 11:40 AM #
The only thing making me use CFE instead of CFB is <ctrl>+enter not inserting a <br />. If I could map that command to those keys it would be perfect.
Papichulo said on 04-14-2010 at 2:36 PM #
I'm with Martin Aptana plus CFeclipse. I use my laptop half the day, and my desktop the rest. Some days I'm at a different location where I use my linux machine. I wish the license was tied to the developer and not a few machines. Anybody have $900 so I can write some code ($299 x 3 machines)? I do have a question, does anyone know how I can get coldfusion 9 help files & code assist in cfeclipse? Adobe only has coldfusion 8 extensions.
Jo-Anne Head said on 04-16-2010 at 1:14 PM #
Does CFBuilder support Japanese? Dreamweaver CS4 does, CrimsonEditor does not - does anyone know?

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