Ben Forta

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Getting Started With The New ColdFusion Builder

One of the most exciting enhancements in ColdFusion 9 is actually not a ColdFusion 9 feature at all. Rather, it’s the introduction of a dedicated ColdFusion IDE, ColdFusion Builder, available today as part of the ColdFusion 9 public beta. This new Eclipse based development environment has been built from the ground up with ColdFusion development in mind, and this post will help you get started quickly and easily.
ColdFusion Builder is a ColdFusion IDE built in Eclipse, the same platform which powers Flash Builder (and Flex Builder, previously). There are some important reasons for this:

  • ColdFusion Builder and Flash Builder are designed to work together, and can greatly simplify the development of ColdFusion powered Flash and Flex applications.
  • Eclipse is already popular with ColdFusion developers, thanks to community projects like CFEclipse.
  • Eclipse is a proven platform with extensive support for all sorts of development, and all Eclipse plug-ins can be used with ColdFusion Builder. So, if you need something that we did not provide, a third-party plug-in may do the trick.
  • Eclipse is supported on multiple platforms, including all of the platforms supported by ColdFusion itself.

ColdFusion Builder can be installed in two ways (using the same installer):

  • If you are unfamiliar with Eclipse, and are not already running an Eclipse installation (including Flex Builder and Flash Builder), then the ColdFusion Builder installer can install a complete Eclipse configuration for you, all ready to use.
  • If you do have an existing Eclipse installation (including Flex Builder and Flash Builder), then the ColdFusion Builder installer can add ColdFusion support to that existing Eclipse. This is the preferred configuration if you are using Flash Builder.

ColdFusion Builder is an IDE, it is not ColdFusion itself. To use ColdFusion Builder you’ll need access to a ColdFusion server (ideally ColdFusion 9). ColdFusion Builder can work with local or remote ColdFusion servers, but it is highly recommended that you use a local development server (ColdFusion Developer Edition is free, so no real downside, and lots of upside). You’ll also need to know the ColdFusion Administrator and RDS login information for some ColdFusion Builder functionality to work properly.
When you first start up ColdFusion Builder, you may see a splash screen (well, one of several) which you can close. You’ll then be presented with the IDE itself. Depending on what Eclipse plug-ins are installed, you may or may not be in “ColdFusion mode”. Let me explain.
As noted above, Eclipse can be used for all sorts of development, Java, HTML, CSS, MXML, PHP, and much more. As each type of development needs different screens and panels in an IDE, Eclipse supports the defining sets of configurations called “Perspectives”. A perspective is a specific screen setup, with windows and panels and toolbars all configured in a specific way. Switching perspectives is easy, and Eclipse can even auto-switch perspectives for you as you switch between projects and file types.
The Eclipse title bar should show you the perspective in use. In addition, there are buttons on the top right of the screen for switching between perspectives. If the title bar says “ColdFusion”, and if you see tabs at the bottom for Servers, TailView, and more, and if you see RDS tabs in the panel on the right, then you are in the ColdFusion perspective. If not, open the Window menu, and select Open Perspective, Other, and then ColdFusion. Perspective selections are saved automatically in your Eclipse workspace, and so the next time you open ColdFusion Builder, the right perspective should be open and ready to use.
Before you can do anything useful with ColdFusion Builder, you need to tell it about the ColdFusion Server you’ll be connecting to. You do this in the Servers tab at the bottom of the IDE. Here are the steps:

  1. Click on the Add Server button (the one with a server and a yellow + sign).
  2. Select ColdFusion as the server type.
  3. Enter a unique server name, this need not be the actual server name, it’s what shows up in the server list so you know which server you are referring to. If you are using a local server you may want to just set it to “localhost”.
  4. Enter the Host Name, this is the IP address or DNS name of your ColdFusion server, and it’ll be “localhost” for a local development server.
  5. Enter the Web Server Port, this is usually 8500 for development servers using the integrated HTTP server, or 80 for servers connected to external HTTP servers.
  6. Enter the Context Root and Application Server Name only if using ColdFusion deployed on a J2EE server.
  7. Enter the RDS User Name and RDS Password. If you did not specify an RDS username then the default will be “admin”.
  8. Click Next.
  9. Next, specify the Server Home (not the web root, this is the folder into which ColdFusion itself is installed, on Windows machines using a local development server this may be c:ColdFusion9).
  10. Enter the Document Root (this is the web root), on Windows machines using a local development server this may be c:ColdFusion9wwwroot.
  11. Click Finish.

You’ll now have a server listed in the Servers tab. You can click on the server to stop it, start it, access its Administrator, and more. These options are available via a toolbar and via right-click menu options.
Now that you have a server defined, the next step is to create a Project so that you may start development. Here are the steps:

  1. Select File, New, ColdFusion Project (or right-click in the Navigator panel on the left and select New, ColdFusion Project).
  2. Enter a unique Project Name (project names can have spaces in them).
  3. By default, Eclipse stores projects in a workspace folder, and these are typically not under the web root. For ColdFusion development, especially when working with a local development server, this is not optimal. So, uncheck the Use Default Location, and enter the path for your project in the Project Location field. The folder should be under the ColdFusion web root, and you may need to actually create a new folder.
  4. Then click Next.
  5. You’ll then be asked for the server to use with this project. Select the server you just defined in the Servers drop down list box.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Then click Finish.

You now have a ColdFusion project ready to use. You can open and close projects in the Navigator panel (obviously, a project must be open to be able to use it).
Now let’s create a quick application to make sure everything is working. Here are the steps:

  1. Open the new ColdFusion Project, if it is not already open.
  2. Make sure the project is selected (clicked on, otherwise you may create the file in another project).
  3. Create a new ColdFusion page by selecting File, New, CFM Page (or right-click in the Navigator panel on your project and select New, CFM Page).
  4. Enter a page Name, perhaps “index” (the .cfm extension is optional, and will be added automatically).
  5. Click Finish.
  6. The page will now be open for editing, enter some CFML code, perhaps the following:

    Hello, it is #DateFormat(Now())#
  7. Save the page.
  8. Below the editor window you’ll see browser tabs (the exact list of browsers present will vary based on your OS and the browsers installed). Click on any browser to run your code, and you’ll see the generated output.

Assuming you made it this far, congratulations, you are now using ColdFusion Builder.
We’ve packed lots of features into ColdFusion Builder, but here are some you should be aware of:

  • As you type code in the editor, notice that your code is automatically colored. If you are typing a tag and hit space and pause briefly, you’ll be presented with a pop-up of available attributes or values.
  • The editor also features lots of built-in intelligence. For example, if you are typing datasource=”” you’ll be presented with a list of available datasources, and when you type query=”” in a you’ll be presented with a list of queries already defined. You’ll discover lots of other shortcuts like this as you work.
  • On the left edge of the editor, you’ll see a – sign next to each tag. You can click this to collapse and expand blocks of code.
  • Above the editor window you’ll see a CFML toolbar. Mouse over each button to see what they do. The rightmost button serves two purposes, if a tag is selected it’ll display the attributes for that tag, and if not it’ll display a wizard to help you find the tag you want.
  • In the panel below the editor you’ll see a tab named TailView. This useful tab can show you changes in server log files as they occur. By default no log files will be listed, but at a minimum you’ll want to add application.log, server.log, and exception.log (you can add others, too). To add these click on the Add Log button (it has a picture of a document with a plus in a green circle) and select the log files to add. ColdFusion log files are in a folder named “logs” under the ColdFusion root.
  • The panel on the right of the editor contains the RDS Dataview tab. Use this to browse datasources, run data wizards, and more.
  • The same panel contains the Outline tab which shows you the outline of your code and lets you easily jump to specific code blocks by clicking on tags.
  • All panels can be moved, as can panel tabs (which can be moved from panel to panel, for example, I find that the Services Browser tab a better fit for the panel on the right than the panel at the bottom).
  • ColdFusion Builder includes an FTP plug-in that you can use to deploy projects via FTP.
  • Earlier I mentioned ColdFusion Builder extensions. These are distributed as ZIP files that can easily be installed into ColdFusion Builder (visit RIAForge to access a growing list of extensions, including Ray Camden’s invaluable QueryParam Scanner). To install extensions, simply download the ZIP file, then open the Window menu and select Preferences, ColdFusion, Extensions, click Install, and then follow the prompts.

I’ve only touched the ColdFusion Builder surface here, but as you can see, this new tool can already simplify your ColdFusion development, and we’re just getting started. ColdFusion Builder can be used with earlier versions of ColdFusion, but it ideally used with ColdFusion 9.
Both ColdFusion 9 and ColdFusion Builder are now available as part of our public beta.

63 responses to “Getting Started With The New ColdFusion Builder”

  1. Aegis Avatar
    Aegis

    wow, were there only a few places in the builder beta?? chock full already 🙁

    Reply
  2. Edward Beckett Avatar
    Edward Beckett

    This is great … I really love working in eclipse environments … and I love what Mark Drew’s done with CFEclipse … But CF developers really need the strength of Adobe in the IDE’s development and support …
    This … is great 🙂

    Reply
  3. Jason Rushton Avatar
    Jason Rushton

    I’m excited to try CF Builder, but I’m going to very much miss Homesite
    Trying to get my long ingrained keybindings to work in Eclipse looks like it’s going to be a real nightmare

    Reply
  4. Hemant Khandelwal Avatar
    Hemant Khandelwal

    You can use preferences to create custom editor profiles and use it. If someone can do it to provide Homesite keybindings etc, others can also use it by importing the same.

    Reply
  5. Bjorn Jensen Avatar
    Bjorn Jensen

    I just tried out the beta of the builder, and I’m still not going to switch from Homesite to an eclipse based editor.
    The two major showstoppers for me were:
    Projects.
    Unable to create a new blank file without having a project. I don’t want projects, stop trying to feed me your idea of a development environment.
    Performance.
    The editor is incredibly slow on my system, it can take seconds from I type until it shows. I think it’s because of all the new fancy things, such as introspecting, code collapsing and whatnot. Even if I were able to disable it, then what would the point of this editor be.
    I’ve also set the Code Assist to display after 0 MS, but it takes seconds for this to appear.
    This is on a AMD Athlon X2 4400+ with 2 gb ram. I’m also running 2 screens in pivot mode, and perhaps this is causing the performance issues, but seeing as I don’t have trouble in other applications, I’m not about to change that setup.
    Now, I may be wrong on these points and may have something set incorrectly, in which case I’ll be happy to be enlightened.

    Reply
  6. Praveen Gupta Avatar
    Praveen Gupta

    Hi Bjorn,
    Can you please tell which configuration you have installed Bolt? Is it standalone or plugin? If plugin, which elipse version? and also which OS you have installed it on?

    Reply
  7. Bjorn Jensen Avatar
    Bjorn Jensen

    I installed it as standalone on XP service pack 2.

    Reply
  8. Juerg Anderegg Avatar
    Juerg Anderegg

    Any expierience running ColdFusion Builder side by side with cfeclipse? The installation pops up with a warning that cfeclipse is installed…

    Reply
  9. Mike Henke Avatar
    Mike Henke

    Bjorn Jensen, Eclipse has some conventions over configuration such as you mentioning projects. This is an Eclipse principle, not Adobe. A project is essentially a folder with files and other folders, so you can create a project anywhere. Not sure what your complaint about creating projects is.

    Reply
  10. Eric Belair Avatar
    Eric Belair

    What’s the best installation configuration to use the new ColdFusion Builder along side Flash Builder 4? I currently use Dreamweaver, Flex Builder 3, and Eclipse with CFEclipse plug-in all separately. Does it make sense to install the standalone versions of both CF Builder and FB4? Or install FB4, and add CF Builder plug-in to it? Or install a standalone Eclipse and add both the CF Builder and FB4 plug-ins to it? What is suggested?

    Reply
  11. Bjorn Jensen Avatar
    Bjorn Jensen

    Mike, I’m aware this is an Eclipse convention. I found this out when I tried cfeclipse, and it was also the main reason I ditched it back then.
    By all means, include a project functionality, even Homesite has it. But don’t try to force us to work that way. I have other ways I prefer to work instead and I resent the whole Project way of working.
    To make sure it’s not just me who’s crazy, I’ve talked with the other developers in the house. All of them have tried cfeclipse at some point, which in regards to CFB is the same on the projects. Only 1 person thinks it’s an ok way to work (and he uses cfeclipse on a daily basis) but the rest use homesite and don’t like the projects.
    This means that this single "feature" is making sure we stay with Homesite as the company choosen IDE for CF development, and I have to say that it really disappoints me because I was looking forward to a new IDE, an "upgrade" to Homesite.
    But I guess it won’t be this time around 🙂

    Reply
  12. Vijay Avatar
    Vijay

    As a student, I am interested in coldfusion to do some projects ..
    Coldfusion Rocksz….

    Reply
  13. Mike Henke Avatar
    Mike Henke

    Bjorn, Does the File View, solve your issue? It shows desktop, local drives, network drives, desktop, ftp connections, etc. I still would like to understand your resentment with projects. All creating a project does, is add a project file for some eclipse settings. You could do this @ your webroot.

    Reply
  14. Mike Henke Avatar
    Mike Henke

    Bjorn, for performance try http://tinyurl.com/lqf3d3

    Reply
  15. Mike Henke Avatar
    Mike Henke

    I was wrong about File view for creating files/folders without creating a project. The only current option is the "RDS file view". Hopefully this helps Bjorn.

    Reply
  16. Derek Avatar
    Derek

    Can’t the "Open Tag Wizard" be implemented on Right Click like HS & DW?
    I also do not like the forced project thing. And we can’t use RDS here where I work, so that stinks for me.
    Color coding seems extremely limited. Can’t set a background color. For comments I did black text on yellow bkg.
    See these samples
    DW Best http://www.whousescoldfusion.com/color_coding_DW.jpg
    HS OK http://www.whousescoldfusion.com/color_coding_HS.jpg
    Crap http://www.whousescoldfusion.com/color_coding_CFB.jpg
    If someone can tell me how to get it like DW, that would help. But I couldn’t figure it out.
    Can’t we just release HS or CFS as open source already.
    Derek

    Reply
  17. Bjorn Jensen Avatar
    Bjorn Jensen

    Mike, with File View I’m assuming you mean one of the tabs inside the editor that takes up x % of screen real estate ?
    The first thing I did was to close everything so I only had the code view visible. That’s how my homesite is set up and again how my personal preference is.
    No, I don’t want to use the in-editor file viewer, as I’d have limited view of the files and would have to scroll up and down bigtime when dealing with files on multiple servers. It also seems I can’t give it a direct path to a file, such as \serverfolderfile.cfm but are dependent on a file being accessible from the network branch.
    I have 2 screens, one is homesite and the other is the number of explorer windows I have open (not Internet Explorer). I’m perfectly capable of multitasking 🙂
    Like I just stated, then I work on multiple servers. So do the other developers here. If we set up the webroot as our project we’d be sharing the project file, and perhaps this would cause trouble ?
    But the thing that bugs me the very most is that I can’t simply press ctrl+n and get a clean slate to write on. I have to select a project and seemingly a location for the file. Maybe I’m writing a file I’ll be saving on a production server for whatever reason, and I’m not interested in having a project on the live server.
    But really, all I want in an editor is a notepad with colors, Code Assist (In Homesite it’s Tag/Function Insight), keyboard shortcuts (combined with snippets), tabs and introspecting. Everything else is (for me) useless fluff that I must be able to remove/disable.
    But, enough of me ranting on. It’s good to see that Adobe at least knows it’s time to get a new IDE out on the street, but it’s a shame it was based on eclipse.
    And yes, I understand a lot of people use cfeclipse today and are happy, and they will be happy with CFB as well 🙂

    Reply
  18. Mike Henke Avatar
    Mike Henke

    Bjorn,
    I’ld like you to email me @ henke dot mike at gmail dot com so we can continue this or maybe on house of fusion mailing list.
    All the .project file is a little xml. Create one and take a look. It shouldn’t cause trouble for you and other developers using the same one. We do it currently. Someone created it and others import it.

    Reply
  19. Derek Avatar
    Derek

    "it’s a shame it was based on eclipse." I concur

    Reply
  20. Clint Avatar
    Clint

    Maybe I missed something but installing Coldfusion Builder into Eclipse with CFEclipse already installed gives a warning that Coldfusion Builder is not compatible with CFEclipse. Am I supposed to uninstall CFEclipse or go through anyways? What’s "incompatible"? Maybe Coldfusion Builder is a rehash of CFEclipse??

    Reply
  21. Travis Avatar
    Travis

    I think Adobe is missing the mark here.
    CF is synonymous with easy, intuitive and RDE. Eclipse and ORM are none of these. So far CF9 "enhancements" and CFbuilder are something I’d expect see from Microsoft’s obscure paradigm. Adobe has done nothing but cram Macromedia products into pre-existing frameworks and technologies since it acquired them. The more I think about it the more disgusted I am at the lack of innovation Adobe has presented to its pre-existing Macromedia customer base. I’m very disappointed in the direction Adobe is taking CF and their IDEs. 🙁
    Adobe,
    Rather than making Dreamweaver more powerful, you would rather take a clunky open source IDE and slap the Adobe logo on it. People use Eclipse/add ons because it’s FREE and open source, not because it’s easy to use. This doesn’t come from someone unfamiliar with the IDE. I’m very familiar with the environment thanks to Flexbuilder and CFEclipse and I think you are totally messing this up.

    Reply
  22. Bjorn Jensen Avatar
    Bjorn Jensen

    Mike, I appreciate that you’re trying to help me. But unless you can tell me how to turn projects entirely off, I’d say save yourself, because I’m lost already.
    And Travis is spot on.

    Reply
  23. Ram Kulkarni Avatar
    Ram Kulkarni

    Derek,
    The code snippet you posted did not get colorized properly in CF Builder because of a bug in CF Builder (if you embed HTML tags within cfif ,then conditions do not get colorized). we have fixed this in our internal build.
    And in CF Builder you can select different editor profiles (including Dreamweaver) from Preferences->ColdFusion->Editor Profiles.

    Reply
  24. Derek Avatar
    Derek

    Ram,
    What exactly does the editor profile do for me? change shortcuts, colors etc?
    When will the next build be released?

    Reply
  25. Ram Kulkarni Avatar
    Ram Kulkarni

    Derek,
    Yes, Editor profile lets you change colors, key bindings, code assist preferences etc. We have preset some of the settings for each editor profile. And you can create custom profiles too.
    We are aware that not all color settings of DW are available in CF Builder currently and we are working to improve it.

    Reply
  26. Travis Avatar
    Travis

    Ram,
    Just so I understand what you’re saying here… Changing the colors and key bindings makes Eclipse as easy and versatile as Dreamweaver. Gotcha. You missed my point entirely. Why pay for a free IDE? Why keep twisting stuff to do what you’ve already got. You could have added these features into Dreamweaver, which is a thousand times more stable easier to use than any overpriced glorified Eclipse add on. I’m telling you, competing with Eclipse with Eclipse that costs money isn’t going to make me rush right out and get this product, especially when you already have a superior product (which Adobe better not stop supporting!). I dare not speak for everyone but I know most of us are smarter than that… Eclipse swaps from data to design horribly and it appears Adobe has done little to improve on that. Personally I’d like to see this product renamed as CFCBuilder and placed for free in cflib.org for download.
    To be fair, I’ve been playing with this all day (which is why I’m increasingly bitter). I can’t tell if it isn’t working due to beta problems or it’s just Eclipse being Eclipse. Either is possible. You get what you pay for, Eclipse is free…

    Reply
  27. Clint Avatar
    Clint

    Wow, Trav is on the war path sounds like. Isn’t a tool only as good as the user? Considering I do Flex projects too, CFBuilder Eclipse addon is an excellent idea and I look forward to futur enhancements. Eclipse is where it’s at and where Adobe should be as well.
    Any ways, what about the install warning I mentioned earlier. No takers?

    Reply
  28. Derek Avatar
    Derek

    "Eclipse is where it’s at"
    That’s a matter of opinion.

    Reply
  29. Misha Avatar
    Misha

    What about Copy/Past files? seems there are no way to right click on file -> EDIT -> COPY/PASTE

    Reply
  30. Jake Munson Avatar
    Jake Munson

    Bjorn and others,
    Reading your complaints about ColdFusion Builder, it sounds to me like you are fighting against it. If you want to continue to use Homesite/Dreamweaver, feel free. But if you want to use this new IDE, you should try to use it as it was intended to be used. Let me give an example:
    Say you have been driving a Ford Focus for 15 years. It’s getting more and more expensive to maintain, so you decide to buy a new car. The first thing you do when you buy the new car is strip out all the new features to make it more like your old Ford. Then you complain because the new car doesn’t work right. Does that make sense? To me it doesn’t. If you wanted a new car, you should try to use the features it comes with. The keyword here is /try/. You can try them for a while to see if you like them.
    I have been using Eclipse for about 4 years now (not only for ColdFusion), and yes there is a steep learning curve at first. But once you get past that, you’ll find a LOT to like. Give it a try for a month (without fighting it), and then see if you still want to go back. If you do, fine. But remember, Adobe has announced that they will NOT support Homesite with code updates for future versions of CF (if I remember correctly).

    Reply
  31. Travis Avatar
    Travis

    "Wow, Trav is on the war path sounds like…"
    Perhaps, but I have Adobe’s best interests at heart, honestly. Macromedia isn’t an option any more and Adobe’s last attempt at a web IDE was GoLive… Do you really want that kind of half baked effort? I don’t, but it looks as if that’s what we’re getting. We need new and BETTER ways of taking new technologies and making them work for us quickly. We DON’T need recycled freeware with a new shiny price tag. A CF IDE should be as quick and easy as CF, in the rapid development environment spirit. Eclipse and RDE aren’t exactly a match made in heaven, even when you’re familiar with the environment. Adobe has lost focus of what CF really is and now selling us recycled freeware with "Coldfusion" branding on it. I’m not excited about this.

    Reply
  32. Mike Henke Avatar
    Mike Henke

    @Bjorn – If you don’t like to create projects, try the Remote System Explorer from http://www.eclipse.org/dsdp/tm/

    Reply
  33. Michael Sprague Avatar
    Michael Sprague

    Ben’s article says, "ColdFusion Builder includes an FTP plug-in that you can use to deploy projects via http://FTP." Can anyone point me to this feature? All I see is the standard FTP folders in the File View. I don’t see any mention of FTP in the Project view.
    I’ve been using Eclipse for a long time now, and I will never understand why it is always assumed that the development is local. Our development server has many datasources, including several that are secure and not available directly from my desktop. Almost all of my development is "remote".

    Reply
  34. David McGuigan Avatar
    David McGuigan

    Travis, I feel your pain man.
    The day Adobe bought Macromedia we held a mock funeral at work and I gave the eulogy. Macromedia was SUCH a company. At the time I hated Adobe.
    But I think they’ve come a long way and the new Adobe ( remember they’ve got a lot of Macromedia in them now ) is putting up a really good effort. I’m especially happy with the renewed focus on Flash technology, which alongside ColdFusion I see as Adobe’s greatest assets. It’s still unbelievable to me that the leaps and bounds best server side technology in the world and the far and away best client technology in the world are cooked up in the same kitchen.
    Although I totally agree that it was a VERY bad decision to base the ColdFusion IDE off of Eclipse ( I mean, you OWN Dreamweaver! The best web and AJAX IDE on the market?!??! I still can’t believe that Adobe hasn’t explored combining DW, Flash, Fireworks, and CF-specific DW-style enhancements into a single king-of-all IDEs tool ), that decision in itself is not a death sentence.
    At the same time, I feel like ColdFusion Builder, where it is now, is nowhere near ready to be used in a production environment. That said, let’s keep in mind that it’s just now dropping into public beta. There’s a lot of time between now and the launch date. In theory, a lot or most of the issues could be worked out by then. One thing you can do to help though is airing your likes and dislikes in the proper forum. I know a LOT of developers have aired your exact sentiment on projects being evil ( I think they’re pointless also ).
    I’m looking forward to seeing CFBuilder progress, and am going to choose to be patient and try to help steer it along instead of bashing it as a practice (although that would probably be more fun).
    On a side note, ORM is actually a pretty simple technology to use once you get familiar with it ( which shouldn’t take nearly as long to get used to as Eclipse ) and I think that ColdFusion 9 is shaping up to be a blockbuster release that I can’t wait to be able to use in production.

    Reply
  35. Ram Kulkarni Avatar
    Ram Kulkarni

    "Why pay for a free IDE? Why keep twisting stuff to do what you’ve already got"
    Travis,
    If Eclipse (free IDE) already had features that we implemented for CF Builder for CFML editing then we would not have created CF Builder.

    Reply
  36. Travis Avatar
    Travis

    David,
    I was actually excited about the purchase of Macromedia by Adobe, it seemed like a good fit at the time. I realize this isn’t the proper forum. I also realize that in the proper forum these concerns of mine and others are falling on deaf ears. For whatever reason Adobe has chosen Eclipse to build their IDEs. It is behavior I’d expect from a start up company with limited resources. This is why it seems Adobe is giving the Macromedia products minimal effort. Soon Acrobat will be the only "in house" client application and everything else will be some crap rewrite of crap IDE. As you said, Adobe already owns a far superior IDE. There are a number of ways this could have been done in DW and I’m sure Adobe’s think tank has thought of them. Why they choose to add these features to Eclipse instead is beyond me.
    Ram,
    You’re still missing my point, and probably the other anti-Eclipse points others are voicing in this and other forums. What CFBuilder is in spirit is great, I’m not arguing that. I was excited to hear Adobe was making an IDE just for CF. But what it will be in practice will fall short due to the poor decision to use Eclipse as your delivery vehicle. Eclipse sucks, man. It’s only TRUE appeal is that it’s a FREE alternative to DW, that’s why people use it (although being open source draws it’s own crowd as well). Eclipse/add ons are NOT in any stretch of the imagination superior to anything you’ve already got. If this weren’t based on Eclipse you’d get A LOT less kicking and screaming from the public and you’d have a far better product.

    Reply
  37. Mike Henke Avatar
    Mike Henke

    @Misha – to copy and paste files, select the file in the navigator view and ctrl-c, then select the folder you want to paste and ctrl-v.

    Reply
  38. Misha Avatar
    Misha

    @Mike – It doesnt work for me….. ctrl-c/v

    Reply
  39. Travis Avatar
    Travis

    Misha,
    I haven’t been able to douplicate that issue, ctrl-c/v work as well as right click copy/paste as well as drag and drop.
    It may be best to discuss broken issues on the CF Builder Forum: http://forums.adobe.com/community/labs/coldfusionbuilder

    Reply
  40. Misha Avatar
    Misha

    Travis,
    I mean it doesnt work in File navigation panel.
    I do not have Copy/Paste in menu and ctrl-c/v doesnt work.
    Installed as Stand alone.

    Reply
  41. Travis Avatar
    Travis

    Ah, right you are. I’m noticing the same thing. I can’t drag/drop files to projects either. There are sync options that aren’t available, which is fine because i don’t want to sync my computer with my web server. I think something may not be configured right? Best be asked on the afore mentioned forums I think. GL.

    Reply
  42. Jake Munson Avatar
    Jake Munson

    @Travis, "Eclipse sucks, man. It’s only TRUE appeal is that it’s a FREE alternative to DW, that’s why people use it…"
    This is not true in my case. I have access to Homesite, Dreamweaver, and CFEclipse, but I chose CFEclipse. I LIKE it b

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  43. Travis Avatar
    Travis

    Jake, You’re correct I tried to speak for everyone which I’ve made an effort to avoid. Thank you for acknoledgeing that and it isn’t correct, yes it is my opinion. I don’t speak for everyone but I know several devs that are pretty P/Oed about this move to Eclipse.
    Thanks again.

    Reply
  44. Jake Munson Avatar
    Jake Munson

    I heard somewhere that the CF community is split pretty evenly three ways. 1/3 use Dreamweaver, 1/3 use CFEclipse, and 1/3 use something else (Homesite, CF Studio, text editor, etc.) So Adobe could NOT make everyone happy with this new IDE. If they built it on Dreamweaver, 2/3 of the community would be upset. If they chose Homesite, 2/3 of the community would be upset. But since the decision was made a long time ago to focus on Eclipse for other Adobe dev tools, I think this move makes sense.

    Reply
  45. Steve Caldwell Avatar
    Steve Caldwell

    Ok, so I’m a little confused about my fate as a Dreamweaver user here. I haven’t found any cut and dry answers to this, unless I’m missing something, but is Adobe planning to phase out tag support for Dreamweaver with future versions of CF? I have Web Premium CS4 and spend 8 hours a day in Dreamweaver, utilizing Spry and the other comforts that are paid for with Dreamweaver. I mean there’s nothing better than tabbing between my cfc’s, css files, and layout templates.
    Should I start getting accustomed to using this builder full-time?

    Reply
  46. Derek Avatar
    Derek

    How does one setup up the servers in such a way that I can use host names and still have access to the RDS stuff?
    I use hostnames like http://xyz/ http://abc/ to get to my dev sites locally. I don’t use localhost/site1 etc.
    I know I can add them all separately, but since I don’t have CF setup on each host, will that portion not be usable? Or should I just add the CFIDE as a virtual path in IIS?
    I am starting to warm up to it a bit. I like that fact that you can do application. or request. and it will bring up everything u have in those scopes respectively. saves some typing and human error.

    Reply
  47. Dario Berardi Avatar
    Dario Berardi

    Ben, I’ve followed your instructions and I was able to get it working with CF9 using the internal webserver. Thanks!
    I’ve tried also to use it with CF8 that is using IIS and for which all my templates are under a directory that is in C:sites.
    I could not find a way to configure Eclipse (It’s my first time using eclipse…). I feel I made a mistake in the SERVER configuration (which is the DOCUMENT ROOT? inetpub? ) and/or when creating a new project. When I open the index.cfm file eclipse says that the template is not under the DOCUMENT ROOT and that I should/could link a folder under document …

    Reply
  48. Kiran Sakhare Avatar
    Kiran Sakhare

    CFB only preview the files under docroot. Change the docRoot of your server to C:Sites.

    Reply
  49. ferrisnox Avatar
    ferrisnox

    How in the world do I change the code editors background color? I cannot read code on a white background all day. In Dreamweaver its easy to just make it a light shade of blue or green to save my eyes… but it seems really difficult in here. Anyone figure it out or have a tutorial?
    Thanks

    Reply
  50. Bash Avatar
    Bash

    What if you have a remote dev server with multiple sites (site roots)? Do you have to set up the same server multiple times? I still haven’t gotten the preview and/or run to work (I have a feeling it is because my dev server is remote).
    Just an FYI, I’m in the "hate eclipse" camp. I tried switching to CFeclipse several times and kept going back to Dreamweaver’s code view.

    Reply

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