ColdFusion Scorpio

Scorpio is the code name for the next major release of ColdFusion from Adobe. This site will allow the product team to keep you informed on the project while we work towards release in 2007.

New things we might have in the new version:

• For engaging applications, we demonstrated a new image manipulation functionality providing both low and high level processing of images with the addition of over 50 functions to the CFML language.
  
• For server management and troubleshooting, we demonstrated the new Scorpio “server monitor” feature. This web application (which uses Adobe Flex 2, incidentally!) simplifies analyzing problems during development, helps identify performance bottlenecks on production servers, and allows administrators to monitor overall server health and be alerted if something goes wrong.
  
• For more advanced enterprise integration, we demonstrated the ability for ColdFusion applications to natively access .NET objects.

More details here http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Scorpio:FAQ

Links 2007.01.06

Simple AJAX File Upload
Click here to read the full article.

The SqlReader Object

Cutting your code time in half using a smart SQL frontend.

Click here to read the full article.

Working with the Web Browser Control in Visual Studio 2005 - IE7Clone.
Click here to read the full article.

ASP.NET Validation using Ajax
Click here to read the full article.

SOA Worst Practices
(actually applies to more than only SOA development)
Click here to read the full article.

AJAX: The Easy Way

It's been reported, however, that Internet Explorer 7 will support native XMLHttpRequests rather than requiring the developer to make ActiveX requests. This will make a Web developer's life a lot easier.

Click here to read the full article.

ColdFusion and AJAX
(actually, not about CF, but about AJAX)
Click here to read the full article.

Avoid SOA Pitfalls!
(worst practices again?)
Click here to read the full article.

Free e-book: Introducing Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 for Developers
(Hint: downloading the entire book did not work for me, but I was able to get each chapter as PDF)
Click here to read the full article.

Expression Web now shipping!

Expression Web is a professional design tool to create modern, standards-based web sites which deliver superior quality on the Web. Check out the free trial download today!

Click here to read the full article.

Nifty XML Notepad 2007 is out!
(No thanks, I use Altova products)
Click here to read the full article.

IBM Steps Up Development of Cool Tools for Ajax
Click here to read the full article.

.NET Tip: Creating a Collection of Your Objects
Click here to read the full article.

Who Owns RSS?
(Microsoft, of course)
Click here to read the full article.

Skype Founders to Debut New Web TV Service

The two have invested part of the US$2.6 billion they made from the sale of their VoIP company to eBay to develop the new service. Codenamed "the Venice Project," it employs peer-to-peer technology to serve users

Click here to read the full article.

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Links 2007.01.04

Age: write your custom Graphic library
Click to read the full article here.

CSS Variables
(.NET 2.0 cool stuff)
Click to read the full article here.

.NET Data Access Layer class
(everyone has his own Data Access Class. Here's another one.)
Click to read the full article here.

Sun Releases Java SE6 and No It's Not Open Source
(wtf. I thought it is.)
Click to read the full article here.

AJAX3D - The Open Platform For Rich 3D Web Applications
(doesn't work on my machine :) )
Click to read the full article here.

The Tribulations of Mixing Microsoft and Mac
(now this is a messed up configuration management on Microsoft side)
Click to read the full article here.

Event Properties in C#
Click to read the full article here.

Object Mapping
(really cool set of articles on things I really need: a code generator for mapping SQL tables into .NET classes)
Click to read the first part of the article.

Click to read the second part of the article.

SOWA - Building service oriented websites without direct use of AJAX
Click to read the full article here.

CreateXMLDB - Create an XML Database and Associated C# Class to Access it
Click to read the full article here.

ExcelQueryAnalyzer .Net 2.0
(application to execute SQL queries and display result same as SQL Query Analyzer, but agains Excel files. cool.)
Click to read the full article here.

How to take screenshot (thumbnail) of a web site with ASP.NET 2.0?
(by the way, check this out as an applied solution: http://www.snap.com)
Click to read the full article here.

Sending the contents of a webpage with images as a html mail
(when formating emails images have to be sent in a special format)
Click to read the full article here.

Links 2006.12.18

Output Caching in ASP.NET 2.0
Click here to view full article

AJAX-Based Website Snap.com to Accelerate Its Web 2.0 Search Engine
(I was impressed by the www.snap.com website and search style.)
Click here to view full article

With IE7, Microsoft Finally Catches Up to Competition
(Yeah right. Opera and Mozilla, had features that IE barelly introduced with this version 7. )
Click here to view full article

Google Opens Ajax Web Toolkit
Click here to view full article

News Wire: Google Rips Off Yahoo!
Click here to view full article

calc5.com—online calculator with symbolic calculations and graphs
(great)
Click here to view full article

HTML Pie Chart at TheGoogleCache
Click here to view full article

google’s own cornershop
(generate round corners by using a web JS provided by google)
Click here to view full article

GWT 1.3 Release Candidate is 100% Open Source
(GWT = Google Web Toolkit)
Click here to view full article

Business Model for Open Source
(it seems they kind of fail)
Click here to view full article

IBM partners with Yahoo!
Click here to view full article

2007: Where the Tech Jobs Are

The IT job market is “very attractive right now,” says Scot Melland, CEO of tech
job site Dice. “Much better than in past years.”

Click here to view full article

What's Next in Linux Desktop Standardization?
Click here to view full article

Links 2006.12.16

Decoding Microsoft's New Document Formats

Microsoft has provided us with some new file formats. As an application programmer, you may have a need to read and write files of these formats. In this article, Jeff Cogswell describes the new formats and shows you where to find information for programming with them.

Click here to read the full article

Microsoft Unveils Expression Studio Design Tools Suite, 'Flash Killer'
(I know I mentioned this before, but this article has some more details and screenshots)
Click here to read the full article

.NET Framework 3.0 Buffet
(brief description of .NET 3.0 framework)
Click here to read the full article

Full-featured Editable GridView Control
(.NET, web grid with pagination, add/edit/delete...)
Click here to read the full article

.NET 3.0 WPF Tools && Examples
(again about .NET 3.0, his time with samples and tools)
Click here to read the full article

Complete Data Integration Through XQuery
(XQuery = "XQuery is the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standard XML query language, designed for both XML processing and data integration.")
Click here to read the full article

ADO.NET vNext Part 2: Using the Object Services Layer
Click here to read the full article

Getting Rid of the Back Button Problem
(ah.. this is something I looked for several times. glad I found it detailed here.)

A web browser's back button is essential for users to navigate across different web sites and web pages. However, for certain data sensitive web applications, using a web browser's back button can have unexpected and undesirable results. With poor planning, it could even crash a web site.

Click here to read the full article

.NET Tip: Comparing Strings Safely
Click here to read the full article

Managing Exceptions in .NET

Learn about the techniques and guidelines you can use to make your application stable and less prone to errors hande errors in a graceful manner, and avoid crashing.

Click here to read the full article

Links 2006.12.14

Sun Releases Java 6
Click here to read the full article

Eclipse Closes In on Visual Studio in EMEA Region
(Europe and others using more Eclipse than the .NET Studio)

A recent Evans Data Corp. survey shows Eclipse usage rising in the European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) region.

Click here to read the full article

eWEEK Labs Picks the Top Products of 2006
Click here to read the full article

Simplicity

A lot of software developers are seduced by the old ‘80/20’ rule. It seems to make a lot of sense: 80% of the people use 20% of the features. So you convince yourself that you only need to implement 20% of the features, and you can still sell 80% as many copies.

Click here to read the full article

News Wire: Developers Don’t Design?
(set of interesting links & articles)
Click here to read the full article

Using css to force Landscape Print in IE
Click here to read the full article

Convert System.Type to SqlDbType
Click here to read the full article

Easy Client Side TabStrip
(set of two articles about building a Tab control)
Click here to read the first article

Click here to read the second article

Embed image in Email
Click here to read the full article

Implementing AJAX in your Applications. How Simple it is ?
Click here to read the full article

Web 2.0 Re-Examined
(excelent article that compares web 1.0 and web 2.0 at server-side.... peformance & stuff)
Click here to read the full article

Links 2006.12.12

The Productivity Perks Behind Prototype's Popularity
(prototype - JavaScript Library to consider. )

Learn how to leverage the popular Prototype JavaScript framework to speed up your AJAX-based development. You'll see how to use JavaScript in an object-oriented way.

Click here to read the full article

Color Theory for Developers
Click here to read the full article

Essential ASP.NET 2.0, 2nd Edition: Chapter 4: State Management
(beginner level info on .NET framework)
Click here to read the full article

Excel Services Technical Overview
(shared workbook solutions)
Click here to read the full article

Cutting Edge: The Client Side of ASP.NET Pages
(explanatory article on .NET Client-Side generated code)
Click here to read the full article

Storing Binary Files Directly in the Database Using ASP.NET 2.0
Click here to read the full article

Security Hole in Microsoft Word Threatens Millions
Click here to read the full article

Chinese Monkey Trap?

The Americans complain we are getting their jobs. But look at the economics — A Nike Shoe in a US store is selling for $120 dollars. It is being bought by a Chinese factory at around $3 dollars. So for the $120 that the American consumer pays, $3 goes to the Chinese manufacturers, while the rest goes to American companies doing logistics, branding, distribution, and other services. If China can get rich by manufacturing the actual shoe for less than 5 percent of the total value chain, it is not fair to be begrudging us while you continue to take a bigger piece of the pie.

Click here to read the full article

Does Anyone Buy Software Anymore?
Click here to read the full article

Microsoft Releases MSDN Wiki
Click here to read the full article

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Links 2006.12.11

Managing Client Expectations: User Acceptance Documentation

How do I determine when a project is over, and how do I communicate this to my client?

Click here to read the full article

Are You (And Your Apps) Ready For Vista?
Click here to read the full article

ISO 19770 and Software Asset Management (SAM)
(some standards)
Click here to read the full article

Older IT Workers: A Survival Guide

If you`re old enough to remember the debut of Windows NT, you may face some challenges in the tech job market.

Click here to read the full article

Microsoft Unveils Expression Studio Design Tools Suite, 'Flash Killer'
(competition for Macromedia Flash?)
Click here to read the full article

Outsourcing: India Moving Up, Philippines Moving In

Evidence of that sharp growth is on display early in the evening in the lobby of the RCBC Plaza building in Makati City, as groups of prosperous-looking young men and women, Starbucks coffees and McDonald's bags in hand, head to work at more than a dozen call centers serving the United States, just as everyone else is heading home.

Click here to read the full article

To Outsource, or Not to Outsource
Click here to read the full article

Rendering an IHTMLElement to an Image File Using GDI+
Click here to read the full article

Recursively create thumbnails from PDF files
Click here to read the full article

God, cat and dog

There are four parts: main program, god, and the TLO:s cat and dog. Imagine that the TLO:s are parts of your program, probably doing something big and untamed.
Using a debugger to step through the code is the easiest way to understand how it works. Main program creates god. God creates cat and dog.

Click here to read the full article

Paint.JS
(Good old MS Paint, but built with JavaScript)
Click here to read the full article

Manage ASP.NET Session variables using the Facade design pattern
Click here to read the full article

A Helpful Database Library
(.NET & ADO Database connection and SQL execution library. Error handling, etc..)
Click here to read the full article

AJAX Frameworks tested and reviewed:
- Putting AJAX Frameworks to the Test
Click here to read the full article
- An Open Source AJAX Comparison Matrix
Click here to read the full article

Links 2006.12.07

The Future of AJAX is. . .XML?
(associate JavaScript functionality with XML structure)
Click here to read the full article

Generate an Image with a Random Number
Click here to read the full article

Session Diagram "A Way For Better Controlling Your Session"
(stuff about sessions, structures)
Click here to read the full article

Event Calendar

Calendar Control of ASP.NET 2.0 can be extended to cater one of most frequent
requirement of tracking events, project milestones, history, schedule etc

Click here to read the full article

ASP.NET AJAX under the hood secrets
(One of the best AJAX articles I saw. Advanced.)
Click here to read the full article

How to Backup an SQL Server Database in a Shared Network Location
Click here to read the full article

Build Custom Code Generators in C#
Click here to read the full article

What ADO.NET Teaches Us about Custom Objects

Why do so many .NET programmers prefer to write custom objects instead of using
ADO.NET objects?

Click here to read the full article

A Navigation System Comes Easily
(XML-data-driven navigation system in just a few simple steps)
Click here to read the full article

ASP.NET Tip: Creating Paging for a Repeater Control
Click here to read the full article

Developing XSLT-based Applications in ASP.NET 2.0
(XSL Templates)
Click here to read the full article

Google Answers Reaches End of the Line
(hmm.. why?)
Click here to read the full article

Ubuntu Linux Is an Ideal Windows Replacement
(I agree. Downloaded it, installed it, love it)
Click here to read the full article

ASP.NET Graphs: Raise the Bar
(simple web charting wiht .NET)
Click here to read the full article

Drawing Inspiration: Collaborative Whiteboard Tools -Part 1
(I enjoyed the tool presented here.)
Click here to read the full article

News Wire: Liquid vs. Fixed
(set of links on AJAX frameworks, CSS, IE and other web news)
Click here to read the full article

Managing Client Expectations: User Acceptance Documentation
Click here to read the full article

Links 2006.12.02

FormatString - smart string formatting
(sring formatting in C++ and .NET framework)
Click here to read the full article!

MySQL Security Overview
(basic security information on MySQL)
Click here to read the full article!

Web Applications Performance Rules
(great advices on .NET web applications performance)
Click here to read the full article!

A Laptop for Those Who Can Least Afford It
Click here to read the full article!

How many Microsofties does it take to implement the Off menu?
(ouch. Joel, Joel...)

Moishe Lettvin, who spent a year working on the menu I criticized yesterday: “So that nets us a conservative estimate of 24 people involved in this feature.”

Click here to read the full article!

ATLAS "To Do List" sample (Microsoft Ajax implementation)
Click here to read the full article!

Improving the design pattern of web applications with AJAX
(good article, with samples, on AJAX simple implementation)
Click here to read the full article!

Drawing lines in Mozilla based browsers and the Internet Explorer
(cool, I need to try this one: draw lines with JS and CSS)
Click here to read the full article!

When and How to Use Dispose and Finalize in C#
Click here to read the full article!

ASP.NET: Post Data Programmatically with "Webscraping"
Click here to read the full article!

Ubuntu Creator Urges Abandonment of OpenSuse
(Ubuntu - I love this Linux distribution. Its creator generated some fuzz recently.)
Click here to read the full article!

Study: Sitting Up Straight Hurts Your Back
(huh? funny: I remember several friends of mine desperately trying to stay straight)
Click here to read the full article!

French Parliament: Au Revoir Windows, Bonjour Linux
Click here to read the full article!

CFCs for the common developer
(CFCs explained - ColdFusion related...)
Click here to read the full article!

Developers Must Play by Vista's Rules
Click here to read the full article!

Study: Developer Use of Visual Basic Plummets
(VB: for how long? Do we still need it? Why?)
Click here to read the full article!