Charlie Arehart

Have you ever wished CFINPUT provided a way to validate an e-mail address? Or were you frustrated that its telephone validation didn't allow parentheses around an area code among other such limitations? Well, your wish has been granted in a new, little-known feature of CF5. While many will know of the top 10 or so new features in CF5, few will know about the dozens (yes, dozens) of less-promoted enhancements. One of these is the ability to validate user input by way of regular expressions. (If you're new to regular expressions, we'll show you some examples and point you to the CF docs where you can learn more.) The new feature isn't something that you couldn't do previously, if you knew how to code input validation tests in JavaScript. But, like so many features in CF, the point is that a single tag can solve the problem for you much more easily. New Capabilities fo... (more)

Getting Focus()ed and a Quick JavaScript Lesson

Many new J2EE developers get caught up in focusing on the details and nuances of servlets and JSPs and, as a result, may not learn how to leverage JavaScript. Some may even dismiss it as too much hassle, given cross-browser compatibility issues. For both audiences there's still value in learning at least a minimal amount about client-side scripting. Even learning about just one feature - setting the cursor on the first form field you may have - can bring measurable benefit to your site visitors. In this month's Journeyman J2EE, we depart from pure J2EE topics to address this su... (more)

E-Testing: Debugging Your Projects

You're nearly finished with the code you've been slaving over for hours (or days or weeks, or maybe it was just a few seconds' effort). You're about to turn it loose for your customers to enjoy. The questions are: Is it ready? Do you know it will work? Have you tested it? If so, how? Indeed, should you be turning it over to the users as the next step? Running the code to make sure it works is the most common "test" performed by beginning and even many experienced developers, but it's rarely adequate. There are just too many things that can go wrong within a given CF template, it... (more)

FusionDebug Tips, Tricks, and Traps

FusionDebug is an easy straightforward tool, but if you leverage the experience of others, you can be even more productive. Elsewhere in this issue, Jeff Houser introduces the FusionDebug interactive step debugger. I'd like to carry that discussion a bit farther and share various tips, tricks, and traps I've learned from my experience with the tool and that I've gleaned from available FusionDebug resources. I've been using FusionDebug (FD) for a couple of months now and am a fan. First I'd like to share some general tips that address some common questions or concerns I've observe... (more)

Free, Limited Functionality Version of ColdFusion

It seems that many, especially newcomers, are not aware that Allaire created a free, limited functionality version of ColdFusion. Called ColdFusion Express, you can learn more at www.allaire.com/cfexpress. There are links to pages the explain the differences between it and the full version of CF, what tags are and aren't supported, and of course a link to download it. You can also get the documentation online. Charlie Arehart Founder and CTO Systemanage ... (more)