ColdFusion 8, CFEclipse and CFDUMP

The ColdFusion 8 syntax file included with CFEclipse 1.3.1.6 for some reason does not have the updated syntax for ColdFusion 8′s CFDUMP tag. What this means is that if you want to use one of the new attributes for the CFDUMP tag (such as outputting to a file), Eclipse will mark the CFDUMP tag with an error because it does not recognize the attributes for the CFDUMP tag that are new in ColdFusion 8.

I couldn’t find an updated syntax file that contains the correct syntax definition for the ColdFusion 8 CFDUMP tag, so I modified the syntax file myself. If you want the new CFDUMP attributes to be recognized, you can download the modified file and replace the existing file (I recommend renaming the original file in case you want to restore it later).

Starting with your Eclipse (or Flex Builder) directory, the ColdFusion 8 syntax file is located as follows:

eclipse -> plugins -> org.cfeclipse.cfml_1.3.1.6 -> dictionary -> cf8.xml

Rename cf8.xml to something like cf8_orig.xml and then replace it with the modified cf8.xml file. Once you restart Eclipse (or Flex Builder) CFEclipse will no longer display an error when you use CFDUMP attributes that are new to ColdFusion 8.

Resources:

• CF8 Syntax File with Updated CFDUMP Tag Syntax

Enhanced Panel Skin for Flex

FBPanelBgSkin is a free component (licensed under the MIT License) for Adobe Flex 3 that adds additional styles to a Flex Panel, TitleWindow or Alert.

The additional styles that become available when the FBPanelBgSkin component is used include an inner shadow for the content area, a gradient background for the content area, a tiled image background for the content area, a tiled image border, and the ability to independently adjust the transparency of a background image and the transparency of the content area.

Here is a screen shot showing the component in use for a simple Panel and a simple TitleWindow:

Setting Up Subversion for Flex on Leopard

Up until fairly recently I’ve used Windows as my development platform, but OS X won me over and now I’m in the Apple camp. My past experience with Unix is limited, so when I wanted to add Subversion to my Mac as a version control system for Flex I discovered that I was going to have to do a bit of research.

When I started digging around for information about installing Subversion on a Macintosh I found that Apple had thoughtfully integrated Subversion into the base installation of Leopard (there’s no need to install the developer tools). With the Subversion installation already loaded the next question became “What do I need to do to use it?”

After spending some time with Google, I discovered a document by a developer at Sonza that describes how to configure Subversion on Leopard. The article goes into greater detail than is required if all you want is a simple Subversion set up, so I’ve extracted the relevant steps and included information on installing Subclipse for Eclipse. If you are interested in a more robust Subversion installation, I suggest that you take a look at the original document.

If you’re ready to get started, open up a Terminal window and follow along.

Flex Image Cropping Component

ImageCropper is a free component (licensed under the MIT License) for Adobe Flex that allows an image to be cropped by adjusting the position and dimensions of a cropping rectangle that overlays the image.

ColdFusion 8 on Ubuntu with LAMP

I have an old PC and I wanted to use the box as a development server for a Flex project. The PC did not have Windows installed and I didn’t want to buy a new Windows license since the license would have cost more than the PC was worth, so I decided to look into setting up the PC with Linux.

After doing some research it seemed that the Ubuntu Linux-based OS would be the easiest to get going. Not having much experience in Unix it took a bit of work to get everything functioning properly, so just to make sure I did not forget anything if I had to do it again I documented the process.

The steps I followed are listed below, so if you ever have the urge to put an old PC back to work but didn’t know where to start, perhaps the following will help. Note that I’m not a Unix expert so I’m not able to answer technical questions if something doesn’t work for you the way it worked for me.