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Steve Bryant

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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)

How To Create ColdFusion Tables

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)

DataMgr 2.1 Alpha

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)

Reusable (and Maintainable) Presentation Code

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)

tag.cfc 0.1: Write Your Own Code Generator

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)