Web Biz

I presented on Gears, which is a set a tools available to Web Developers to build more compelling web application. So, its all about offline, right? Well — kinda. Gears exposes new modules and capabilities to the browser that provide general purpose building blocks for web applications to unlock the capabilities of the local machine in a safe manner.

As you might have heard, Google has joined the ranks of AOL and others with their newly released AJAX Libraries API.  What does this mean for you as a developer?  Well, Google will now provide hosting of various JS libraries.  So, you get the power of Google to serve the file to your clients, so you can depend on their reliability and incredible speed.

One of the features of the prototype library that I like to use is the Enumerable class.  Although highly debatable in regards to the legitimate necessity for such class, I like the simplicity and beauty of using Prototype’s enumerable class.

So, when using Ext as a base library (not using the Prototype adapter) for JavaScript DOM manipulation I looked into the enumeration methods available, such as Ext.each().  Here is a quick overview of how I used Ext.each to traverse members of a collection of HTML nodes.  I decided to split this up into main topics; first I will talk about why I like to use the enumerable class, and then show you a simple example of using the Ext.each() method.

If you are using ColdFusion 8’s <cfgrid> tag for a CRUD interface you might be utilizing the editable grid feature or you might be utilizing the <cfwindow> tag.  Because of some of the limitations of inline editing, such as the lack of a rich text editor, I am using <cfwindow> for a project and here is how I am setting the title programmatically from the <cfgrid> binding.

Have you ever wanted to know if a request is coming from an Ajax call or from a standard GET/POST from the browser when using the ColdFusion 8 Ajax functionality?

HistoryTabs.js is a Prototype class to make tabbed navigation with history management simple.  Designed for simplicity and convenient Ajax navigation using a tabbed interface that maintains the state of the  browser’s back and forward buttons. 

Interested? Read more and download HistoryTabs.

I will be giving a brief presentation at the local ColdFusion User Group meeting tomorrow on my Ext.CFC that implements the basic features of ColdFusion 8’s <CFGRID> and associated tags.  After releasing the inital CFC I began working on upgrading to the implementation to using the latest Ext 2.x - which required some minor changes.  I have also completed the basic implementation of an editable grid, but want to finish the rest of the form controls available.  So, here is the Ext.CFC upgraded to Ext 2.x with grouping ability.

In case you missed Jack’s post, check it out: IDEs and tools for Ext JS 2.0.  He goes over several options that developers have when it comes to using an IDE to streamline their Ext 2.x coding.

Jax commented on my last post regarding the load time of my new homepage.  I definitely noticed the load time increase dramatically after implementing ColdFusion 8’s <cfwindow>, <cfdiv>, and <cfform> tags instead of just using Prototype/scriptaculous with a custom JS/CSS file.  Here is a quick summary of what I found.

If you have ever hiked long distances you realize just how important it is to pack light.  The same is true when you are carrying a lot of JavaScript on your site, especially if your site is using various JS libraries.