Charlie Arehart - Server Troubleshooting - CFBuilder

Announcing major ColdFusion 2025 update of May 20 2026 - thoughts and resources

Wed, 20 May 2026 23:36:00 -0500

A substantial new CF update for CF2025 has been released today, May 20, 2026. It's unique/important, in many ways: [More]

Be aware that updates to ColdFusion 2016 will end Feb 2021

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 21:37:00 -0500

Are you still running ColdFusion 2016? Did you know that its "core" support (meaning, public updates from Adobe) will end in just a couple of months, Feb 21 2021? Same for CFBuilder 2016. The recent release of CF2021 is a great sign for the continued vitality of CF, but this looming deadline is a reminder that as the years roll on, we not only get new versions but we say good-bye to old ones. Wondering what you can do? or when CF2018 or CF2021 support ends? And what's the difference between "core" and paid Adobe support plans? For more on these, as well as official Adobe documentation that discusses such things, read on. [Update: CF2016 users got a "reprieve" of sorts, when Adobe released updates to CF2021 and 2018 in March 2021, and they also offered the final update to CF2016, update 17, especially because it address a security vulnerability. Sadly, some of the changes in the update--not related to the security fix--were "breaking" changes. For more on that update, see the Adobe blog post from March 2021.) [More]

What's new in CF2018, part 2 (finding still more info and resources about CF2018)

Thu, 19 Jul 2018 04:23:00 -0500

This is a continuation of my previous blog post, Part 1 about What's new in CF2018. In that first part, I had covered these topics:

In this part, I will continue with these topics:

Finding still more about what's new in CF2018 (bugs fixed, known issues, whitepapers, deprecated features, more info on new features)
Other info and resources on CF2018, like pricing, upgrades, licensing, trials, support timeframes
What about CFBuilder and the API Manager?

[More]

CF2018 released - what are the key new features, and where to find more?

Thu, 19 Jul 2018 02:46:00 -0500

Adobe has released ColdFusion 2018 late last week, July 12 2018, after a several month pre-release cycle. As is often the case, info about the release (new features, pricing, etc.) is a bit spread out, so I wanted in in this post to pull that info together, after I've been reviewing it the past few days. In particular, I want to highlight a new way (which you may have missed) where Adobe has been sharing info about the new release as a series of blog entries about each feature from CF team members. Some of these have examples (which have been missing sometimes in the past with discussions of new features). That said, and helpful though those are, there's not a single post linking to them all, so I'm offering that here in effect. There are also doc pages about each new feature, and I link to those also. And there is still more info about the new release which is NOT covered in those blog posts (including pricing, upgrades, licensing, etc.), and I want to add those here. Some may remember that I had done a series of posts back when CF2016 came out, and I'm condensing what I covered in a couple of those into this one. Hope it's helpful (and I will update it as I learn new information). [More]

Finding resources on ColdFusion's mobile development features

Mon, 28 Sep 2015 19:30:00 -0500

Have you wondered where you can find more about ColdFusion's mobile development features? (Did you know that CF11 had added such features?) There are several resources provided by Adobe and others. In this post I highlight those various resources, with a focus on the many (and many kinds of) Adobe-provided ones. [More]

Find ColdFusion installers, updates, hotfixes, and docs for all recent releases at CFMLRepo.com

Thu, 30 Oct 2014 08:55:00 -0500

This won't be new info for some, but many folks remain confused by the fact, that after Adobe release their current latest ColdFusion version, they no longer offer the previous versions(s) on their public-facing Adobe site. (Those who license CF are given access to a licensing site with a personal account there, where they can download the installers for versions they bought even years after they are no longer supported.) What if you either don't have such an account or only use CF for Development or trial purposes? How do you find older previous installers?

Find CF installers, updates, and docs for past several releases

The good news is that if one wants to find ANY installers for most ANY version of CF, they can be found on an external repository setup years ago by Gavin Pickin (and still maintained by him and others, including myself, at: CFML Repo The site even has installers all the way back to CF1.5, as well as updates, docs, CFBuilder installers, and more. The name, CFMLRepo, may confuse some if they presume it's a repo of CFML. It's not. IT's that it has both CF and Lucee installers, thus the more "generic" name. (And there used to be a longer and hard-to-remember URL for the site, when I had posted this originally in 2014, and I had created a shortened url, http://bit.ly/cfdownloads. It's now definitely not "shorter", but I leave this here for posterity.) Thanks so much to Gavin for creating the repo, and to him and others for maintaining it. Let's hope it remains a viable solution to find downloads for years to come.

How to create a "new file" in ColdFusion Builder without use of a project

Mon, 08 Jul 2013 22:16:00 -0500

A newcomer to ColdFusion Builder (coming from Dreamweaver) expressed frustration on the Adobe CFBuilder forum about the challenge of doing something as simple as creating a new file--without having to name it first, and when not using "projects". I offered a reply, both explaining why CFB has a project-oriented nature (being an Eclipse-based product) and also how they could be seen akin to DW "sites". Still, I appreciate the difference and the challenge to newcomers. But most important, I explained how the Aptana plug-in built-into CFB does indeed offer a solution for him, in its "Untitled Files" feature, easily accessed from the File>New dialog. This would let him create a new file without need of either naming the file first or picking a project (whether when creating the new page or when saving it). It's not an obvious solution, but I show how it can be made to be easily accessible with a single keystroke. Rather than repeat myself here, I'll just point interested readers to the forum thread, "Creating a new file". Perhaps others will share more insights after mine, and feel free to leave comments here or there as you see fit.

Some hidden gems in ColdFusion Builder 2.0.1 for those who edit via FTP

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:46:00 -0500

Let me say this up front: I realize that some folks may well decry my pointing this out (hold that thought). But in the spirit of my tradition of pointing out "hidden gems" in things related to CF and CFBuilder, those who may edit files via FTP will want to know that there are some enhancements for that support in CF Builder 2.0.1, now in public beta. Among the "other enhancements" mentioned at the bottom of the "New Features Notes" (PDF), note a few related to FTP:

New Upload On Save option on the FTP connector dialog box to upload a file by way of FTP when saved locally
Use shortcuts to perform Synchronize and Upload (Ctrl+Alt+W U)/Download (Ctrl+Alt+W D) simultaneously
Take advantage of the shortcut for Synchronize (Ctrl+Alt+W Y)

Those may be big news for some, which might be easily missed, and which are not likely to be pointed out in most posts on what's new in CFB 2.0.1. And some would even intentionally leave them out, so I'm "takin' one for the community" here by pointing these out. :-)

Why some may decry these features

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Setting up CFBuilder to process htm files with the ColdFusion editor

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:31:00 -0500

A client of mine asked if I might know how he could setup ColdFusion Builder 2 so that when he opened an htm file with it, it opened with its ColdFusion editor. He's one of those folks who've configured their environment so that htm pages are processed by CF so they can have CFML code in them. (More on that notion, the pros and cons, in a moment.) 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). [More]

cf.Objective() - I'll be there, and I'll be busy with 4 sessions

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 05:10:00 -0500

I've gotten word from the folks running the cf.Objective() conference that besides the 2 talks I'm giving, they've also recently accepted my proposals for a BOF (birds of a feather) session and a slot in their lightning talk session. Phew! I'll be busy. 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.

CF911 - Want to modify the CF Step Debugger's use of a random port?

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 14:15:00 -0500

Here's a quick tip (and some elaboration): if you've noticed that the CF step debugger (in CF 8 or 9) causes CF to listen on a randomly changing port, you can change that behavior (assuming you have good reason to do so, such as perhaps some challenges with firewall configuration). 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

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My CFBuilder Debugger chapter (for CF9 WACK Vol 2) is online

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 23:21:00 -0500

Here's good news for folks seeking more documentation on how to configure, use, and troubleshoot the ColdFusion Builder debugger. 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. (Update: It was previously offered as one of 3 chapters available at Ben's site. The link I had long used, (forta.com/books/0321679199/CFWACK9-2-echapters.pdf) no longer works, so I created my own version of it for posterity.) 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.

How to open CFBuilder/FlashBuilder/Eclipse to view a given perspective, from command line

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:12:00 -0500

Someone on a list asked an interesting question: how do you switch perspectives in CFBuilder (or FlashBuilder or Eclipse) from the command line? For instance, if one has CFB with FB as a plugin, how might one use the command line to create a shortcut so as to launch to the CFB or FB (or another) perspective? 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. [More]

More reasons to buy ColdFusion Builder

Tue, 25 May 2010 13:33:00 -0500

I wanted to add some more thoughts to Adam Tuttle's helpful recent entry, Why (I Think) You Should Buy ColdFusion Builder. I started to offer them as comments but it got lengthy, so I decided to create this entry instead.

A little background on the question

Adam's entry was his response to an observation I'd made on a private mailing list that I'd not seen any good single resource to point people to when they raised concerns about having to pay for CFBuilder. We who have "seen the light" wonder why people even debate it (as he addresses with observations from others in his entry). 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. [More]

Presenting "CFBuilder Hidden Gems" twice this week

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:41:00 -0500

This week I'll be offering my "Hidden Gems in ColdFusion Builder" talk, which was well-received at the recent CFinNC conference. Besides sharing the date/time/location details, I also want to clarify here what the talk is and IS NOT going to cover. [More]