While you can find the details (and optional RSVP info) on the meetup event page, I'll repeat the description to save you having to go there:

If you run a production CF server, you've likely hit a situation where the server seems to hang up. Do you know why it's happened? How to troubleshoot it? It may not be CF's fault at all, though it tends to get the blame. In this presentation, I'll point out a few tools (some free, some commercial, some built-in and some third-party) which you ought to know about when the stuff hits the fan. With the right tools and just a little understanding, you can be a CF troubleshooting superhero.

I'll be presenting in the noon (US Eastern Time) slot, this coming Thursday, Feb 18.

Of course, some of the concepts will apply as well to those using Railo, BlueDragon, etc. This is an expansion of an article of the same name that I did in the latest issue of the FusionAuthority Quarterly Update. (BTW, the magazine has converted to an online-only (though still subscription-based) format.)

Happy to help

I'll add also that if you ever find yourself in need of assistance, and have exhausted your review of the many resources on my site and elsewhere (or don't have time), I am available for direct, remote, short-term assistance. More at carehart.org/consulting/. I love helping solve problems and can generally do it very quickly.

That said, the talk is definitely NOT a sales pitch for my services. Like most of my site, the information in the talk is provided freely to those who like to "do it themselves".

"CF911: ColdFusion Tools for When the Stuff Hits the Fan", with Charlie Arehart

Thursday, Feb 18, 12pm US ET (GMT-5)

Meeting description, details, optional RSVP

"FarCry CMS 6.0", with Geoff Bowers

Thursday, Feb 18, 6pm US ET (GMT-5)

Meeting description, details, optional RSVP

Please join us in the meeting room, experts.acrobat.com/cfmeetup, on the day at the time above. Use the "enter as guest" option offering your name (don't try to log in).

Wondering what time this is in your time zone?

Can't access the meetup.com site? You can still join the meeting

The CF Meetup announcements are offered via the commercial third-party hosted site, meetup.com. Since that's been marked by some organizations as a "social networking" site, it may be blocked at your workplace. If you can't see the descriptions (and other details) or use the RSVP mechanism, no worries. There are either of two solutions to get around this.

First, you can just show up on the day at the time above at experts.acrobat.com/cfmeetup. Use the "enter as guest" option and offer your name (as even meetup.com members must do), and you're in. No fuss.

Second, if you'd like to be notified of CF Meetup events and/or see the descriptions, there are a few ways you can (or you can tell others how they can) do these. I discuss them in another blog entry.

All meetings are recorded

All CF Meetup meetings are recorded, and the URLs are posted after the meeting at recordings page and also at my UGTV site.

Wish we had meetings at different times?

I've had some recent complaints from people not liking the time of the meetings, which are either noon or 6pm US ET, depending on the availability of speakers. To be clear, I would be happy to hold a meetup at another time. If you're in a distant timezone and are willing to speak, I'll be happy to hold a meeting at an hour outside our norm. Speaking of which...

Call for speakers

We're always open to and indeed looking for more speakers. The topics can be new stuff, old stuff, beginner stuff, or advanced stuff. It can be a repeat of something you've given before, or it can be your first presentation ever. In a group with over 1900 members, there's an audience for every topic, and none is ever too small (plus, still more watch the recordings).

If you may be interested in speaking or know someone who is (or you may want to suggest someone you think I should ask), check out speak.coldfusionmeetup.com, which is a past blog entry where I answer common questions, or have them get in touch with me.

"CF911: Stack Tracing CFML Requests to Solve Problems"

Regardless of what CFML server monitoring tool(s) you have, or even if none, did you know that you can use a feature called "stack traces" to be able to pinpoint the exact line of code that a CFML request is running at any time? Did you know how to use that information to troubleshoot performance/stability problems? Do you know how to obtain that information either manually or automatically (such as during a crash while you're not watching)? Do you know how to obtain that information in any of the CFML Server Monitors (FusionReactor, SeeFusion, the CF8/9 Enterprise Server Monitor), or with free command line tools? And how to do this for any CFML engine (CF, Railo, BlueDragon, etc.)? Do you know how to interpret the information once you get it?

In this session, veteran CF troubleshooter Charlie Arehart will help remove the mystery from using stack traces. It really is amazingly simple with the right tools, and it can be incredibly useful to solve otherwise thorny problems, once you understand how to interpret the information.

Of course, I'm thrilled to be heading back to Minneapolis. I spoke there previously in 2008 and 2007 but couldn't attend in 2009. It'll be great to see all the fine folks who run and attend this unique conference.

BTW, I just saw also that CFUnited announced another round of topics accepted today and I see a topic whose title if very similar, "How to Read a Stack Trace", by the inimitable Daryl Banttari. It's hard to tell from his brief description how similar these will be, but Daryl is awesome so I'm sure I'll learn much from his. (I was literally just about to offer mine as another CFUnited submission but now won't of course. :-) Hopefully another of my submissions will be accepted, so I can keep my streak of having spoken at every CFUnited since they started.)

Anyway, the good news is that whichever conference you go to, this important (and often misunderstood) topic will be covered! :-)

A real live use-case, from scratch

What's interesting is that it will be an installation from scratch, in a "cinema verite" approach where we will assume nothing and if we trip over things, we'll talk about them. We'll talk about what I hope to gain by using Mura, and why it seems a good fit.

Ee'll proceed each step of the way with me as the new user (I have never used Mura), the Mura guys as my trusty guides, and of course with people able to ask questions all along the way and hopefully learning for themselves as we go.

Though I've not yet used Mara (or any CMS), I've been a big fan for a couple of years, observing it from the outside. Indeed, I blogged about how very impressed I was with their site in my May 2008 entry "A CFML-based product that really gets how to win customers, and what we can learn from it". And then I've watched as a couple of the ColdFusion Meetup episodes recently had covered Mura.

Though I've never really considered a CMS for my site, as I saw all that was possible with Mura and how it allowed for integration of existing CFML, I started to wonder if it may make sense to consider it for my site.

Going about enabling a CMS for a hodgepodge site

My site really hosts a few things and therefore offers different challenges in considering enabling a CMS. And this is what we'll cover over the next few weeks.

Some parts are static while others are dynamic (database driven). Some are just long static lists (my articles and presentations). Similarly, the CF411 site (which redirects to a page on my site) is an even larger list.

Each has just grown over time and naturally I'd love to make them both database-driven and to have some sort of paging, categorized presentation, searching, and such, and Mura can provide that. It can also allow me to let others contribute (especially to the CF411 site), which is a natural fit for a CMS.

Of course, I could also enable such db-driven paging and user contribution by hand. Idneed I had done that already for another part of my site, my UGTV repository of links to hundreds of recorded CF presentations. I knew when I started that it would not only grow substantially and that it would require entry of data by others.

So besides wanting to add more dynamic (and user-contributable) features for the other "static" parts of the site, it would also be interesting to see if/how I might keep or change this existing CF-driven part of the site. FWIW, the CF-driven part does not use any framework, either, since it was really a smallish app.

Another thing I've long wanted to add with all these sections (articles, presentations, UGTV, and CF411) is the concept of a "Landing page", where each item could have a page with more detail about it as well as features like rating, commenting, recommended related items, and such.

Again, I could do that for the UGTV site since it was already DB-driven, but since I'd have to make the other three sections be DB-driven and I'd have to code that, I just started to wonder if a CMS may be the way to go.

Mura to the rescue, and a case study is born

I thought to ask the Mura guys about things, and they felt on the surface that it woudl be a good fit. They asked me to present a list of the things I'd be interested in adding (as well as preserving), and on reviewing it, they not only felt it would work fine, but that it would make a great case study for the Mura show. They knew me from the past CFMeetups and they sensed that I would welcome the chance to do all this live on a Connect session. I said I would, absolutely, as I was sure many would benefit from seeing such a raw, live presentation. As they thought it over, they decided to propose a few weeks (whether they happen consecutively is to be determined), and I was open to that, as well.

Indeed, I expressed how I preferred (with the extra time) that we really do do it from scratch, so that people see really everything entailed. And of course we'd introduce how we got to this point (what you've read above), how they think it can all be done, and then (once we do the install, all this in the first show), we would proceed in future shows to start really integrating the site into Mura.

I'm really looking forward to it, and I hope others will too.

Update: The recording is now posted and available.

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!

"CFUNITED Trailer: Who killed ColdFusion?", with David Stockton

Thursday, July 30, 12pm US EDT (GMT-4)

Meeting description, details, optional RSVP

"CFUNITED Preview: Using Apache Derby", with Charlie Arehart

Thursday, July 30, 6pm US EDT (GMT-4)

Meeting description, details, optional RSVP

If for some reason meetup.com is blocked in your environment, then while you can't see the descriptions and use the RSVP mechanism, no worries. Just show up on the day at the time above at experts.acrobat.com/cfmeetup. Use the "enter as guest" option and offer your name (as even meetup.com members must do), and you're in. No fuss. (In the future I may do something to address how you can see the meeting details even if the meetup.com site is blocked from you.)

All CF Meetup meetings are recorded, and the URLs are all listed on the recordings page and UGTV site, both of which are updated after each meeting.

Call for speakers

If you may be interested or know someone who is (or you may want to suggest someone you think I should ask), have them view this past blog entry or get in touch with me.

Been challenged by Eclipse-based editors?

If like me you've been using other CFML editors (Dreamweaver, CF Studio, HomeSite+, etc.) for years, you may be a little intimidated by CFBuilder, Adobe's new Eclipse-based CFML editor. Perhaps you've also tried CFEclipse in the past and (like me) were dissuaded.

Whether you have or not, I think you'll find CFBuilder addresses a lot of the challenges you may have had. Still, it can still be a little daunting making the switch.

So I created a class for the rest of us

I'd like to help, and I've created a day-long class to help you make the transition, which will be offered at the CFUnited conference on Tuesday 8/11 (the day before the conference) from 9-5:30.

Only announced in the past several days, the formal title is "CU250 - Getting Started with CFBuilder, for those coming from Dreamweaver, CFStudio, HomeSite, etc.", and you can learn more (and register) at http://cfunited.com/2009/classes#class-CU250.

I created an extensive description, to make it clear to people what they should (and should not) expect from the class. The link above shows just a few paragraphs. The more complete description is at http://cfunited.com/2009/cfbuilderclass.

As I clarify in the description, the class is not meant for those who already know Eclipse or CFEclipse. Rather, it's the class "for the rest of us" who may or may have struggled making that transition. If you know such people, please let them know about the class. I really hope to help get them excited.

Please spread the word

Even if you can't attend, if you think others may appreciate it, please spread the word. Since it was only just announced (to replace a class that was dropped), I could use help getting the word out.

Check that out the link for details, but in brief there will be three sections:

• Part 1: Getting Familiar with Eclipse
• Part 2: Getting Familiar with CFBuilder
• Part 3: A Brief Look at Some Important Additional Features

Adobe's done a great job making this a desirable and powerful editing environment. If you didn't know, you can join the beta for free now. Let me help guide you into getting into the CFML editor of the future.

Other classes available too

This is one of several day-long classes which can be separately purchased for the day before the conference begins. I've done them in the past and they've always been well-received. (To be clear, these are separate from the 100+ hour-long sessions that will be included in the conference itself, which is shaping up to be awesome.)

If you have any questions, fire away. I'll be offering more entries over the next couple of weeks sharing tidbits of what we'll cover, to wet your whistle. :-)

You may think, "what's new about that?" Well, nothing. I've just had people ask for more beginner/intermediate and more admin-related talks. This seemed to fit the bill for both. Here's the (detailed) description (to make sure the right audience shows up).

Introducing the Adobe ColdFusion Extensions for Eclipse

Have you wondered about using or trying out the "multiple instance" feature of CF (technically the "multiserver" installation option). Available in its current form since CF 7, many developers and shops still have not adopted it, perhaps because they don't understand its benefits, or maybe they tried it and got confused about the options during installation/configuration. Or maybe they assume it's only about creating clusters/load balancing and/or replication: it's not and can be valuable for many other reasons.

In this talk, veteran CF troubleshooter Charlie Arehart will introduce the topic, presuming you have no prior experience with it. (Note that while it's a feature of CF Enterprise, you can also use it with the free Developer edition, and he'll explain why you may want to.)

What we will (and will not) cover:

We'll address things from the ground up, starting with what the feature is, how it's evolved, and why you should use it in development and/or production. Charlie will demonstrate an installation from scratch, talking about the various choices presented, and proceeding to add another instance and how to demonstrate successful setup. He'll also show connecting the new instance(s) to an external web server and share tips about that.

Along the way Charlie will address such other practical concerns as how to share admin settings among the instances, whether and how to share jvm.config settings, how to find the various logs for each instance, why to be careful about scheduled tasks, how you can monitor the instances, and more. He'll also offer some recommendations that could vary depending on your setup, such why you might want to use the cfusion instance only for creating instances, when/why you may be able to stop and disable the cfusion and admin instances, why you may/may not want to consider sandbox security, and more.

We will not have time to discuss or demonstrate clustering, load balancing, and replication, but can mention it only briefly. If that may be what you'd want to hear more about, please know this is not the talk for that. Perhaps a later talk.

But you will be pointed to many resources available for you to further investigate more on all the things we discuss (with a warning to be careful about older resources which describe an older but still-supported approach to multiple instances, from the CF 6.1 timeframe.)

So were you surprised that the "simple" subject actually has a lot more nuance than meets the eye? You can RSVP for the event, as well as get a link to create an entry in your calendar and more, at the Meetup event page.

Note that you can also certainly just show up on the day at the Connect room.

Finally, again, there will be a 6pm (EDT) talk as well, Mike Henke on "Leveraging Eclipse for ColdFusion Development". For more on these, and all CF Meetups, see my blog category of CFMeetup announcements about them.

Hope to see some of you Thursday at noon.

PS Speaking of CFML development via Eclipse, I'll have yet another announcement about something that may interest many, separately.

This is not an introduction to Eclipse, and it's not about features in CFEclipse, so it may interest those who've long used CFEclipse but not the Adobe extensions. Yet it also doesn't presume prior experience with Eclipse or CFEclipse, so it's for pretty much everyone. And if you plan to be using Bolt, you'll want to attend since these extensions are included among the many features that Adobe has listed as coming Bolt.

Introducing the Adobe ColdFusion Extensions for Eclipse Whether you're already using Eclipse (via CFEclipse or not), or you've still not gotten into using it (or are waiting for Bolt), this talk if for you, if you don't know about the Adobe CF Extensions for Eclipse. Not to be confused with the CFEclipse plugin, the Adobe ColdFusion Extensions for Eclipse are a free set of very useful tools (for the free Eclipse editor) that many have missed, even if they do use CFEclipse. And if you don't yet use CFEclipse, these additional tools may offer features that might make you reconsider using Eclipse for CFML coding.

In this session, veteran CFer Charlie Arehart will introduce the extensions (not CFEclipse), including how to find and install the extensions from the Adobe site, as well how to use them to do many things: browse datasources and build queries, generate code using wizards, browse CFCs and web services, view log files, debug CF apps (discussed only briefly and supported only for CF8), and more.

Note that most of the features shown apply to if you're using CF7 as well. And since the upcoming new Adobe editor, codenamed Bolt, incorporates these same features (and many more, as discussed on the labs site), this talk will help you whatever your current or future plans.

Learn more about the event, including optional RSVP, a link to create calendar entries, and more, at the Meetup event page. You can also just show up on the day at the meetup Connect room.

There will be a 6pm (EDT) talk as well, by Sean Shroeder of Mura, introducing the Mura (formerly Sava) open source CMS. For more on these, and all CF Meetups, see my category of blog announcements about them.

Hope to see some of you Thursday at noon. I think most would learn something new. :-)