The solution for getting CFB to open an HTM file in the CF editor is not too hard, but since he was thrown off a bit by some things he saw (when I suggested simply that the answer was in Builder's Preferences>General>Editors>File Associations page), I offered the specific steps. I then decided to go ahead and blog it, since I don't find anyone else having done so (feel free to comment if someone did).

Note that this solution applies as well to CFBuilder 1.

About having CF process htm files (the server, not the editor)

It's one of those things that have either delighted or appalled people over the years.

I don't want to get into the discussion here, but it's a worthwhile one, so I will offer that in a follow-up entry-- yes, including how to do it if you want to, and yet also why some would say you should think twice (and how you might address their concerns.) Update: here's the link to that follow-up blog entry.

Hey, I'm just a consultant. I let you know your options, and trust that you're adults who can decide for yourselves. :-)

How to configure CFBuilder to edit HTM files with the CFML editor

So, assuming you do want to do edit HTM files with the CFML editor, here's how you do it, step by step (following this image):

• Go to Preferences>General>Editors>File Associations (the preferences menu is under CFB's "Window" menu on Windows, and under the "Adobe ColdFusion Builder" menu on Mac)
• Select "*.htm" in the upper "file types" pane
• In the *lower* pane ("Associated editors"), click "Add"
• Choose the "Internal editors" radio button
• Choose "Adobe CFML editor" and click "ok"
• On returning to the previous "File Associations" page, in that lower pane, now select that "Adobe CFML Editor" option which now appears, and click the "default" button (assuming you want it to be the default opener of htm files)

It's that simple. Note that these changes do not require a restart of CFB to take effect.

I'll add that if you don't make this the new default editor for htm files (the last step above), you can still find it listed as an option for editing an htm file, by right-clicking that file in the navigator and choosing "open with". The context-menu dialogue will now list "Adobe CFML Editor" as an option--indeed it will be first in the list, since that context menu lists editors in alpha order.

That's it. Let me know if the steps above may have helped you, or if you may some comments/corrections.

Some other points

Before concluding, the customer shared a couple of other related thoughts, when he thought this couldn't work and he was explaining why he might go with another editor. I addressed them as well, so I thought I'd share them here as well.

First, he didn't like that with CFBuilder you "have to create a file before hand", meaning when you create a new file, it asks you to give it a name and location within a project.

Actually, you don't HAVE to do that in CFB, at least for HTM files and some other extensions (though NOT cfm files). There's an option that many miss. Take a look at File>New>Other>Untitled Files. Since he would now have setup CFB to process htm files as CFM files, this could indeed work for him. I address that feature (and others) in my "Hidden Gems in CFBuilder" talks, both for CFB1 and for CFB2.

Second, he expressed concern about the price of CFB, noting that the alternative he was considering (Coda, for OS X, which does have CFML support) cost only $99. The implication was that CFB is more expensive.

I pointed out to him that (as many still don't know) there is in fact a free version of CFB. Yep, if you don't buy it within the 60-day trial, it then reverts to the free "Express" edition. That does remove some functionality, but plenty remains. More here, among other places . Just want to be clear on that. :-)

Here are the details.

First are the two talks:

• Pinpointing and Resolving ColdFusion Performance Issues (see the link for details on the topic)
• More Hidden Gems in CFBuilder and CFBuilder 2 (see the link for details on the topic)

(I had put in just the first talk originally, and then a few weeks ago a slot opened and they asked if I could do the other, which I was happy to offer, as an reprisal/update to my talk from the first release.)

Then for the Lightning Round (or what was originally referred to as the Pecha Kucha), my talk will be:

• Lies, damned lies, and CF request timeouts (in which I'll share in 5 minutes some information that even experienced developers admit having never known)

Finally, for the Birds of a Feather (no page on their site listing them yet), the session I will be leading will be:

• CF911: Share your CF server troubleshooting tips (come share some ideas, or learn from myself and others)

Sense a theme? Yep, other than the CFBuilder talk, the other sessions are all focused on the topic that is now most near and dear to my heart (and livelihood): CF Server Troubleshooting. It's what I do, and more important it's how I feel I can best help the most people.

There's one last aspect of my involvement at the conference that I'll mention: they started a new sponsorship program this year called "Friends of cf.Objective()", and I'll be participating in that. No mention of it yet on their site, but there should be more news at the event.

So hope to see you there, or if you won't be there, I'll post if any of these are recorded, or if not then I would likely record them myself in the future.

It's a simple JVM tweak to cause it to use a fixed port:

-DDEBUGGER_SERVER_PORT=portNumber

You can add this either in the "Java & JVM" page of the CF Admin (if in Standard or Enterprise Server), or on the java.args line in the jvm.config file (for any form of CF).

You do need to restart CF for this to take effect.

A few warnings are in order

First, as always, be very careful when changing the jvm configuration. If you make any mistake, then it's possible CF won't be able to restart. (This is one strong reason to favor making changes in the jvm.config file, rather than the "Java & JVM" admin page. If CF can't start, you won't be able to get to the Admin to undo your changes. By knowing how and where to edit the file, you can undo any bad changes.)

Second, beware that you don't pick a port that's already in use, or again CF won't start. And beware that while it may be open now (if you test it), it may not be open later if something's running then that is not now. Along those lines, ....

If you're using multiple instances...

Third, beware especially if you're using the Multiserver form of CF deployment (multiple instances) where by default you have the multiple instances sharing one jvm.config. In that case, they all would inherit this setting, and whichever instance starts first would claim that designated port, and then the others will not be able to start (reporting an error like "FATAL ERROR in native method: JDWP No transports initialized" or "bind failed: Address already in use").

There are various resources that discuss dealing with how to cause each instance to have its own jvm.config (which is a little more challenging when you run CF as a Windows service). See any of these blog entries:

• Nate Williams
• Mark Kruger
• Jeff Houser
• Scott Stroz

Where is this port tweak documented?

I'm sure some may wonder, "where would I have learned of this DEBUGGER_SERVER_PORT tweak for the debugger port?" It's easy to have missed but it's discussed in several places:

• The CFBuilder docs page on using the debugger, also in the whole user guide in PDF form
• Mentioned also in the cf8 release notes (PDF) (the debugger was in fact enabled then, for use with the Adobe CF Eclipse extensions, and is something I've written about before: see older entries in my debugging category here). Sadly, while the CF8 docs do have a page on using the debugger, the page makes no mention of this port setting argument. Worse, I see now that we can no longer add comments to the help pages in that release, to point to the CF9 docs for more.

Want still more documentation on this and more about the debugger?

I also document it in my 25-page chapter on the CF Debugger in the ColdFusion 9 Web Application Construction Kit, Vol 2. Fortunately, that chapter is one of a few that are available online. If I may say so, it's about the only substantial documentation on the CF debugger, as I cover not only understanding and configuring it, but also troubleshooting like that above. (And the concepts apply just as well to CF8.)

Hope all that helps someone.

My chapter on the topic, in the newly released CF 9 Web Application Construction Kit, Volume 2 Application development is available free online. It's one of 3 chapters at the end of the book (out of 21 total) that were forced online due to pagecount restrictions.

While it's a bummer for those who buy the print book and may not notice these are missing (though it should be mentioned in the TOC), the good news is that it means anyone can read the chapter.

You'll find the 25-page chapter (chapter 45, "Using the Debugger") online in a PDF of all 3 chapters available at Ben's site. Note that since mine is the last chapter of the PDF, you will want to skip to page 71 within the document. The following link should open the PDF directly to that page (if not, just use the Acrobat feature to go to a page):

Read the PDF, starting at page 71

Finally, some may notice on the Amazon page offered above that only Ben Forta is listed as author for the book. Of course, there were multiple authors. Ben, Ray Camden, and I were contributors to all 3 volumes, while there were still other contributors for volumes 2 and 3. Ben says that this oversight will be addressed soon.

The good news is that there are in fact various command-line switches for launching Eclipse, and these apply just as well to the cfbuilder.exe and FlashBuilder.exe (for instance, some have needed to use the -clean switch to resolve some problems).

In this case of specifying the desired perspective, we want to use the -perspective argument. The trick, though, is knowing the right value to provide. It's *not* the perspective name. Rather, it's the perspectiveid, and that's not so easy to determine. I'll explain below how I found them, but to cut to the chase, here they are.

Some key CFB and FB perspectiveids

• ColdFusion: com.adobe.ide.coldfusion.perspective.CFML
• ColdFusion Debugging: com.adobe.ide.coldfusion.ui.debugPerspective
• Flash: com.adobe.flexbuilder.editors.mxml.ui.perspectives.development
• Flash Debugging: com.adobe.flexbuilder.debug.ui.perspectives.debug
• Flash Profiling: com.adobe.flash.profiler.ui.ProfilingPerspective
• Java: org.eclipse.jdt.ui.JavaPerspective
• Team Synchronizing: org.eclipse.team.ui.TeamSynchronizingPerspective

Still other perspectiveids

Of course, there are many other perspectives built into Eclipse and added by various tools, and you may want to open one of them (such as those related to SVN, CVS, etc.) Fortunately, at least one person has organized a list of them (though he lists none that are specific to Adobe products). For some of these, you will naturally have to have installed their respective tools/features them for them to open.

Using the Argument

So to wrap things up, the command like to open CFBuilder with the Flash perspective is:

I don't have CFB installed as a plugin on FB, but I do have FB and confirmed that at least the FB values I offered above work for that. I assume the CFB perspectiveids I offered would work in FB as well (again, assuming of course that you have installed CFB as a plug-in to FB.)

How I found the CFB and FB perspectiveids

This was a fun but challenging question. I did quite a bit of searching to find the answer. I followed some leads that were dead-ends (some said they were listed in plugins.xml, but I did not find that to be the case) so I finally just searched the FB and CFB installation directories directly for references to phrase "perpectiveid". In my case, I found them in a few files, but then the only one that had values like those above (I tested org.eclipse.jdt.ui.JavaPerspective, knowing it worked) was here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe ColdFusion Builder\configuration\org.eclipse.core.runtime\

specifically in a file called .mainData.n (where n is a number that will vary per your local configuration). Of course, the path prior to \Adobe may vary on your own system.

In FB, it was in:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Flash Builder 4\configuration\org.eclipse.core.runtime\.mainData.n (again, where n is a number that will vary per your local configuration)

These are both binary files, but opening them I was able to search for perpectiveid and found the various references documented above.

Hope it helps someone. If there are any other facets of this that people should understand, feel free to comment.

A little background on the question

While his entry expands on the oft-shared Adobe graphic comparing features among it and the existing CFML editors, there are some more features that may not have been t important enough to be listed on that graphic, but are sometimes a source of concern/contention for some as they consider CFB. Here are a few of them.

Most of these are things I also have been pointing out (among several dozen) in my "Hidden Gems in CFBuilder" talk that I've presented over the past year and will offer again at CFUnited.

Some more points to consider

1. CFB offers something not in DW, HS, etc: its "local history" feature (per its Eclipse heritage) can be likened to a poor man's version control (though of course it offers full integration with "real" version control, which is preferable).
2. While CFB (and Eclipse CFEclipse) are designed around use of "projects", CFB doesn't *require* use of them. It offers (via its Aptana-inherited features) the ability to work with files directly, and unique compared to Eclipse/CFEclipse, you can even open a file from the file system (like Windows Explorer) and it will open as a new tab, not a whole new workbench.
3. DW and HS have features to "open include files" by right-clicking on CFINCLUDE, and some miss that in CFB. But it can do that sort of file open, and it's even more powerful. It's just not available on the context menu. Instead, one should hold the ctrl (or mac) key and hover their mouse over any kind of file link, and it will offer to open it. That can be a CFINCLUDE or a CFINVOKE/cfobject/createobject of a CFC, and more. It can even be on the name of a method used in code (script or tag) and it will open that method in the given CFC. It also works on a href and other html tags that refer to files. Very powerful.
4. Some people lament that DW could do a "split window", showing part of a file in one window and another part in another, editing them simultaneously. Again, though it's not a right-click feature in CFB/Eclipse, it's there. You use Window>New Editor, which creates another tab with the same file, which you can then move to be above/below/side-by-side within another editor/tab.
5. Some lament a lack of word wrap in CFB. It's there. See Window>Preferences>HTML>Editors (don't expand that) then its Advanced tab.
6. Some complain that CFB doesn't do code completion (closing tags). It does, but it's not enabled by default. See Preferences>ColdFusion>Editor Profiles>Editor>Typing, and note the options to close (as in DW) either when closing the opening tag, or at the start of typing the opening of the closing tag.

   I will note, however, that I've found that HTML tags won't close (though they should by default). That problem is that the feature expects that there's an opening/closing HTML tag wrapping the page content. We often skip that in CFML, or may be working with a file that's included/called from another. At least this explains when it doesn't work.

7. CFB has support for EXT/JS 3.0 (see the CFBuilder help/documentation section on "Import Ajax libraries")
8. CFB can build AIR apps. See "Developing AIR applications" in the CFBuilder help/documentation.
9. CFB has built-in support for doing a file compare. Select the files in the navigator and right-click and choose "Compare with".

10. Some complain that they can't "edit a file on a server via FTP", meaning open it remotely, edit it, and save it on the server. While may will argue that you shouldn't do that (but should edit and test locally then deploy remotely), I'll note that you can in fact do that, if you use the Files (not the Navigator) window to open a remote connection.
11. Don't miss the available Services Browser, which allows you to browse (within the editor) any CFCs *or* web services, seeing their methods, arguments, and more. I've blogged more about this to walk you through the oft-missed web services feature, which I'll note is similar to what's in DW.
12. Don't overlook creating a Server connection. Sometimes people complain that some of the asserted "powerful and unique features" of CFB just "don't work" for them. For them, I'll note that you really HAVE to create a Server connection for your projects. That's an optional step when creating a new project, but if you overlook it, many things just won't work. It's this server connection (and the related RDS connection) which allow the IDE to talk to the server to get info on the CFCs on your server, the DBs and their tables/columns, etc., not to mention the features for starting/stopping the server, connecting to its admin, etc. I point to several blog entries that discuss that point about the need for defining servers in my Hidden Gems talk.
13. For all its features, some complain of performance problems. As Adam noted in his entry, many have been fixed first in the final release and then in the recent updater. Beyond that, though, the CFB docs do have still more addressing this specifically. See the section "Optimizing ColdFusion Builder Performance".
14. Finally, it should be repeated that because CFB is based on Eclipse, there is a whole world of Eclipse extensions that can and do add still more functionality, generally for free.
15. Indeed, there is more to CFB in the way of features of Eclipse itself, as well as the Aptana plug-in that's included with it. So it would behoove one to look into those more. I point to some resources for exploring those more in my Hidden Gems talk.

Lots more tips, tricks, and traps

Indeed, that Hidden Gems talk (whose content is available online as both a PDF and a recording) offers still more about some of the features I list above (including doc or blog links), and it offers still more in the way of tips, tricks, and traps in working with CFB.

It's not really meant to address the "why buy CFB" question, but instead tries to help those who've used it (or tried) to be more aware of what's possible. It's addressed to both those new to Eclipse-based editors and also to those who've been using them already.

This is indeed a challenge for any resource trying to speak about CFB (whether a blog entry or the CFB docs). How much should be presumed? It's that challenge which leads, I think, to the state of things where some feel that their concerns are not addressed.

Lost cause for some?

Finally, when I first asked about whether someone had put together such an entry, I got some feedback (surprisingly staunch) that it seemed pointless to bother trying to "preach to the unconverted", and that if they didn't get it, it was their loss. As I wrote in reply:

I appreciate that sentiment, but I do believe there are some in that "hater" crowd who are just misinformed, and don't really appreciate all that it adds for them. More than a few (still!) accuse it of being just a rip off of CFEclipse. Of course, you and I (and many here) know that's a gross simplification--and not true, anyway.

But as long as they think that, or more important as long as they don't fully understand what it can do for them, they will continue to resist.

No doubt, there are some for whom no amount of persuasion will cause them to "get up off their wallet", as my wife would say. We can't do much for them, but I do want to "fight that good fight" for those who can be reached.

Tell people about Adam's entry whenever you can

So I hope that Adam's entry, and any others that may exist (and perhaps this one and my talk) will help with that.

But also I hope people will bookmark Adam's entry and point it out whenever you see people complain (on lists/forums/in twitter) about "why should I buy/have to pay for CFB"? I think the conversation is an important one to have.

First a local (longer) in-person then an online worldwide presentation

First, I'll be offering it first in-person at the Atlanta ColdFusion User Group (ACFUG) on the evening of Wednesday Nov 4. The meeting description and details are offered on the ACFUG site. Since food and drink are served, you're asked to please RSVP. This talk will not be recorded, as trying to record an in-person user group talk presents lots of challenges.

Second, I'll be offering it on the ColdFusion Meetup (the online ColdFusion user group I run which meets weekly) on the evening of Thursday Nov 5. You can find details and optionally RSVP on the CFMeetup event page. This talk, like all CFMeetup talks, will be recorded.

What the talk is and IS NOT

I want to clarify some things about the talk.

First, the talk is NOT a general introduction to CF Builder. It's a tips and tricks talk, sharing lots of things that people seem to miss (or struggle with) about the IDE.

By the same token, there are also a lot topics that I simply won't have time to cover, so please don't hold it against me if I don't address some favored topic. :-)

Also, please note even these two talks above won't be identical. In the ACFUG talk I've been given both hour-long slots, while on the CFMeetup I'll have just the normal one hour. As such, in the ACFUG talk I'll have much more time and be able to cover more than on the meetup. I've also been asked to take a little of that extra time at the outset to do a quick intro to the editor. So if you're in or near Atlanta, you'll want to attend that talk rather than await the online one.

Finally, both talks will be a bit different from the one I gave at CFinNC. I've added some tips while also condensing some others for time (even in the longer ACFUG talk).

So many gems that I need to create a half-day class

Indeed, as happened with my "Hidden Gems in CF 8" talk a couple years ago, I've gathered so many tips that really a user group talk doesn't offer enough time to do much more than just list them, quickly demo only some of them, and point to resources to learn more for each.

For those who might like to have a more leisurely presentation, with time to follow along and try things (while raising any concerns), as well as time to see demos of most of the gems and for me to discuss more of them at length, I do plan to create a half-day class which I will announce soon.

(I never did get around to that for the CF8 gems, but I may still offer that class even now, as some people are only now moving to it or are skipping it on the way to CF9.)

I mentioned last week that I was starting my "Hidden Gems in CF9" series of blog entries, and I'll eventually do a class based on that. In the meantime, I will also soon start sharing some of these CFBuilder hidden gems here as well.

So if you're coming to CFinNC, please look me up and say hello. And if you're not yet planning to attend but live within a few hours driving distance (I'll be driving the 5 hours from Atlanta), you should definitely consider it. There will ba a lot of great speakers and content, as well as community and festivities, all for free.

Help spread the word, online or by grabbing a flyer to put up at your workplace. It's not too late!

This is another in a series of tips I want to start share for those working with CFBuilder. While oriented mostly to those who had not used (or stuck with) CFEclipse before, this one may surprise even folks who had used it.

How to browse web services in CFBuilder

Just as with the older Adobe Eclipse extensions for CF8, the ability to browse web services in CFBuilder is in the same Services Browser interface that one can use to look at CFCs.

It's easy to miss, even if you do know about the Services Browser (Window>Show View>Services Browser). Look in the top right corner of that view, and there's a pair of icons which when you mouse over them allow you to switch between "Show Web Services" and "Show CFCs on RDS Server". Nifty.

So just as in DW, you can then add the WSDL URL for any web service, either by clicking the red circled plus sign in the top left of the view, or by right-clicking on whitespace in the view and choosing "add wsdl".

It will then retrieve the web service description information and display in a friendly tree view all its services, their methods, and those methods arguments and datatypes, etc. (see the screenshot above).

This really can make it so much easier to work with web services, especially ones you don't know or are having trouble with.

But wait, there's more. Call now and receive .... (sorry) ...

Seriously, though, this is nice if you didn't know about it. The tool can even build code for you to call the web service. As with Dreamweaver, you can right-click on a method and have the editor build for you your choice of either CFINVOKE or creatobject code to call the web service and that method. It will even populate a placeholder for the required arguments for you. Talk about service with a smile. :-)

(As a bonus, I'll note that there are also several other tools, free and commercial, some web-based and some downloadable, that can also be used to browse web services. More on that in another entry I've now posted.)

One gotcha, for now: stuck on "contacting server", and easy workaround

I've opened a bug report for the problem of the "hanging" web service feature. If you'd like to vote for it, you can find it as bug id 79321.

More to come, here and in my daylong CFUnited class, "Getting Started with CFBuilder"

If you're looking for more such CFBuilder tips, keep an eye here. More than that, if you'd like to spend a day getting immersed in an introduction to CFBuilder from the perspective of one coming from other editors, that will be the focus of my daylong class being held on-site the day before CFUnited, August 11. It's one of several such daylong classes being organized by (and available for purchase separately from) CFUnited.

More on the class in my previous blog entry or at the class detail page.

In Brief:

It's safe now to have CFBuilder set as the default program for all CFM and CFC files. Opening a file from outside the editor (when you already have CFBuilder open) will NOT open an entirely new copy of CFBuilder (as it did with CFEclipse). It will just open a new tab in the editor already open, as you'd expect. (This applies only to the standalone edition of CFBuilder, not the plug-in version.)

Explanation:

Folks used to Dreamweaver, HomeSite, CF Studio (and indeed most editors) would have expected instead that it would just open a new tab for the new file. That behavior was annoying enough for some (due to their dominant workflow) to keep them from sticking with CFEclipse (or other Eclipse-based editors).

Thankfully, that problem has been (quietly) solved by the CFBuilder team. I've not seen too many make much of this, but it's one of those little things that can make a big difference. To be clear, this is only in the Standalone edition that they've built, which packages an Eclipse base and the plug-in on top of that. Obviously that allowed them to solve this problem in a way that other base eclipse implementations do not.

Not about using Eclipse's File Explorer view

Now, I realize that some readers will be aghast that someone would care about this. Why aren't you using projects? Or why not at least use the available File (or File Explorer) view, if you don't want to use the project-based Navigator?

But that's not the point. We're not talking about an alternative to projects, nor about opening the files from within Eclipse/CFBuilder at all. We're talking specifically about opening files from outside the editor. It may not be a workflow you'd ever use, but there were plenty who did use it, for whatever reason. Just nice to see this solved for them.

Thanks, Adobe

In fact, if you haven't noticed, Adobe even offers during the installation of CFBuilder (standalone) to have it mark the operating system to default to opening CFM and CFC files using CFBuilder. That's a nod to this feature now working as expected.

So thanks, Adobe, for solving it. And to those who have held this as a knock against Eclipse-based editors, it's just one more reason to reconsider the move to ColdFusion Builder.

More to come, here and in my daylong CFUnited class, "Getting Started with CFBuilder"

If you're looking for more such tips, keep an eye here. More than that, if you'd like to spend a day getting immersed in an introduction to CFBuilder from the perspective of one coming from other editors, come to my daylong class being held on-site the day before CFUnited, August 11. It's one of several such daylong classes being organized by (and available for purchase separately from) CFUnited.

More on the class in my previous blog entry or at the class detail page.