Free! - Coldfusion MX 7, Learning the new features
What’s new in ColdFusion MX 7
Finally a real “developer” version is released of ColdFusion. The release of MX a few years ago was more a performance update by making it a Java based server instead of the “full of memory leaks” C++ version.
With the capabilities of Java, the ColdFusion team managed to create some very helpful features, such as reporting capabilities, FlashPaper 2/PDF creation, Rich Forms, new Charting engine, improved search engine (Verity), Dreamweaver MX 2004 server management integration, Gateways, Administrator API and lots and lots of other features.
So let’s start with one of the, in my eyes, best productivity enhancements, Rich Forms.
Rich Forms
With the ColdFusion Rich Forms you can easily create complex forms, generated in plain HTML, Xforms (XML) or Flash forms. Let’s take a look at an example of a Rich Form in Flash format.
<cfform name="foo" action="process.cfm" method="post" format="flash" skin="haloBlue" width="390" timeout="10" preloader="true">
<cfformgroup type="tabnavigator">
<cfformgroup type="page" label="Message Inbox">
| User Level: | Any |
|---|---|
| Product: | ColdFusion MX |
| Number Of Pages: | 6 |
ColdFusion MX 7, Learning the new features
What’s new in ColdFusion MX 7
Finally a real "developer" version is released of ColdFusion. The release of MX a few years ago was more a performance update by making it a Java based server instead of the "full of memory leaks" C++ version.
With the capabilities of Java, the ColdFusion team managed to create some very helpful features, such as reporting capabilities, FlashPaper 2/PDF creation, Rich Forms, new Charting engine, improved search engine (Verity), Dreamweaver MX 2004 server management integration, Gateways, Administrator API and lots and lots of other features.
So let’s start with one of the, in my eyes, best productivity enhancements, Rich Forms.
Rich Forms
With the ColdFusion Rich Forms you can easily create complex forms, generated in plain HTML, Xforms (XML) or Flash forms. Let’s take a look at an example of a Rich Form in Flash format.
<cfform name="foo" action="process.cfm" method="post" format="flash" skin="haloBlue" width="390" timeout="10" preloader="true">
<cfformgroup type="tabnavigator">
<cfformgroup type="page" label="Message Inbox">
</cfformgroup>
<cfformgroup type="page" label="Account settings" height="200">
</cfformgroup>
<cfformgroup type="page" label="Other options">
</cfformgroup>
</cfformgroup>
</cfform>
This piece of code will generate a flash form with a blue Halo themed skin, and will have a preloader when the form is requested. The form will contain a tabbed navigator with 3 tabs, namely, "Message Inbox", "Account settings" and "Other options". You can also create this sort of form with XML forms. Skin you XML form with one of the XSL files shipped with CFMX 7. Or make a copy of one them ("[ColdFusion root]/CFIDE/scripts/xsl/"), copy and rename a file .xsl file ("e.g. myStyle.xsl"), modify the colors and etc and fill in the filename of your sheet in the SKIN parameter. Viola your own look and feel XML form. This is something you need to play with to really learn what it can do.
Below is a screenshot of the completed flash form that I started with in the code above.
Flash Forms and ActionScript 2.0
When building a Flash form, you can use ActionScript 2.0, in a sort of Flex way. Only in ColdFusion there are a few restricted ActionScript keywords. Be sure to check the CFMX 7 documents for more details about using ActionScript
Michael van Leest
I'm a Coldfusion an Flex developer
Certified Macromedia Coldfusion MX 7 developer
Certified Macromedia Coldfusion MX developer
Certified BrainBench Coldfusion MX developer
Certified Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 developer
Certified Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 developer
If you have any questions or problems with Coldfusion/Dreamweaver/Flex... Mail me and I'll see what I can do for you.
Take a look at my blog:
http://www.wantonline.com/blog
And take a look at the Coldfusion Flex Community:
http://www.cfflex.com
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