Most sites have similar issues related to the site layout. I have seen many
solutions that solve some challenges related to layout, but fail to handle
others elegantly. I have found that using layout components elegantly solves
all of the layout problems I have faced.
What Do I Want?
Here are my goals for handling layouts. I want to:
Make edits to the layout in one place Easily switch layouts (per page,
section, etc.) Switch to non-HTML formats (PDF, Word, etc.) Use any
ColdFusion tags (like cfflush) Do without mappings and relative paths Add
HTML to the
See all of the layout in one file Avoid passing all page
calls through one file (like index.cfm) Here is a quick example of switching
to non-HTML formats: HTML: www.bryantwebconsulting.com/cfcs/ PDF:
www.bryantwebconsulting.com/cfcs/?format=PDF Word:
www.bryantwebconsulting.com/cfcs/?format=Word Excel:
www.... (
more)
Steve Bryant's ColdFusion Blog
I've written in the past about using DataMgr to make sure that the tables and
columns you need exist. I have been asked a few times this week about making
sure that those newly created tables are automatically loaded with data.
If you don't know how to have DataMgr create the tables and columns you need,
you can watch the "Synchronize Database Structure" presentation now.
To review, in order to have DataMgr create tables and columns in DataMgr,
pass XML to the loadXML() method of DataMgr (you can view the CFC doc for
syntax).
For example, the follow... (more)
Steve Bryant's CFDJ Blog
I realize that DataMgr 2.0 hasn't been out long, but I thought of a few
features that I wanted near the end of the 2.0 development cycle. Since they
required a fair bit of extra effort, I thought it best to hold them over for
a "2.1" release.
Although I have been given some good ideas for future versions of DataMgr,
the 2.1 version will probably be the last major release for at least a few
months - I have some other projects that I want to give some attention.
DataMgr 2.1 is still in alpha, so the feature set may change (unstable
features may be removed),... (more)
Everyone knows that you should reuse your code so that you don't have to
repeatedly write the same functionality. You put widgets in custom tags and
encapsulate logic in CFCs. Even so, your application's user interface may
frequently end up changing. Sometimes the changes are so substantial that it
hardly seems worth the effort to try to reuse code at all. Your efforts to
reuse code and separate business logic from presentation aren't worthwhile
unless you can write your presentation code so that it will be easy to change
to fit changes to your clients' needs or other business re... (more)
Back when I had some free time, I started working on my own code generator,
partly because other code generators create code slightly different from my
preferences and partly for the challenge.
I have since gotten too busy to finish it, but I went ahead and finished the
kernel component of the system - the one that actually generates the code. To
download the component go to www.bryantwebconsulting.com/cfcs.
One advantage of ColdFusion being a tag-based language is that generating
code for ColdFusion largely means writing tags.
The best way that I can think to show how tag.cfc wor... (more)
Steve Bryant is the founder and CEO of Bryant Web Consulting LLC (www.bryantwebconsulting.com) and teaches ColdFusion at Breakaway Interactive (www.breakawayinteractive.com). He got his BA in philosophy at Oklahoma State University. Steve, one of the top ColdFusion developers in the country, still has no idea how that led to a career in Web development. Steve blogs at steve.coldfusionjournal.com as one of CFDJ's published bloggers.
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