The World Wide Web According to …

Hello World,

In my last post I talked about two of the several new features of the CFEclipse 1.3 update. One of which was the Code Snippets feature. Although the Code Snippets has been a feature of CFEclipse for some time now most people (including myself) are either unaware of its existance or its features. I would like to revisit the Code Snippets in this post. I admit that I did not give Code Snippets the credit that it deserved. After playing around with the Code Snippets panel for more than 15 minutes I found that it has a bit more to it than one might think at first glance. So let’s look a little beyond the first glance and explore a couple of the coolest features of the Code Snippets panel.

1) User Variables: One of the coolest features I found while using the Code Snippets was the use of variables in your snippets. You can define variables within your code snippet. Your variables can be defined as shown below:

$${yourvariablename}

Here is an example of how you would use the variable definition:

<cfquery name="$${queryname}" datasource="cfdocexamples">
</cfquery>

Now when you double click on your Code Snippet in order to place it into your code, a dialog box will be displayed prompting you for a value for the queryname variable. You can define more than one variable within your code snippet. See below:

<cfquery name="$${queryname}"
datasource="cfdocexamples"
cachedwithin="#CreateTimeSpan($${days}, $${hours}, $${minutes}, $${seconds})#">
</cfquery>

Using this code snippet, the dialog box will prompt you for the queryname, days, hours, minutes, and seconds.

2) System Snippet Variables: In addition to being able to use your own variables you can also use the following System Snippet Variables:

$${DATE} - Enters the date as MM/DD/YYYY E.g. 11/30/2007
$${MONTH} - Enters the month as text E.g. February
$${TIME} - Enters the time E.g.: 7:29:58 AM
$${DATETIME} - Enters the date and time E.g.: 2/9/2007 7:29:58 AM
$${DAYOFWEEK} - E.g.: Friday
$${CURRENTFILE} - Current file name (just the file)
$${CURRENTFOLDER} - Current folder (The path to the containing folder)
$${CURRENTPATH} - Current path (full file name)
$${CURRENTPRJPATH} - Just the folder
$${USERNAME} - Current user
$${MONTHNUMBER} - Month as a number
$${DAYOFMONTH} - Day of month as a number
$${DAYOFWEEKNUMBER} - Day of week (the week starts on Sunday)
$${DATETIME24} - DateTime24 - a 24 hour clock version of datetime.
$${YEAR} - Current year.
$${YEAR2DIGIT} - Current two digit year.

Here is an example of you might use one of the System Variables:

<!---
<fusedoc
fuse="$${CURRENTFILE}"
language="ColdFusion">
<responsibilities>
$${response}
</responsibilities>
<properties>
<property
name="Date"
value="$${DATE}">
</properties>
</fusedoc>
--->

As you can see this is a sample fusedoc that uses a couple of the System variables to automatically substitute the current file and the current date. A user variable is defined which will prompt for the responsibilities text.

CFEclipse TV

The CFEclipse.org site has added a new section called <a href=”http://www.cfeclipse.org/index.cfm?event=page&page=TV”>CFEclipse TV</a>. This section hosts several screencasts describing some of the features of CFEclipse including Using Snippets for Speedy Coding and Getting Started.

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Hello World,

Many people have wondered, “just what are the enhancements to CFEclipse?”. Well I asked myself that same question and began to do a little research to find the answers. So I will present to you a few of the enhancements you will find in the CFEclipse 1.3 update. I will alos include my personal experience with those features as I make use of them.

Methods View: A new panel has been added that allows you to see and include your ColdFusion CFC methods. I’ve used it and it works resonalbly well. I have been using such a functionality in Dreamweaver for a while. I’m glad to see it now in CFEclipse. You can find the Methods View by Selecting Window > Other Views. Then within the Show View window Expand the CFML tree node and Select “Methods View”. now Click on the OK button.

Code Snippets: Once again, this is a functionality that I’ve used in Dreamweaver for quite some time. You can find the Snip Tree View by Selecting Window > Other Views. Then within the Show View window Expand the CFML tree node and Select “Snip Tree View”. now Click on the OK button.

Many developers tend to “put down” Dreamweaver for many reasons. However, as a developer and dessigner I still find Dreamweaver quite useful. As CFEclipse adds more and more functionality I will then look to make a complete move from Dreamweaver to Flex Builder 2 or Eclipse, using the CFEclipse plugin for ColdFusion development. Until then I use each tool in the appropriate setting to achive my goal.

I will have more for you in the near future as I explore what the new release of CFEclipse has to offer.

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