2024-02-06 Weekly News — Episode 211

Watch the video version on YouTube at https://youtube.com/live/_Uo1izajUeM?feature=share

Hosts: 

Thanks to our Sponsor - Ortus Solutions

The makers of ColdBox, CommandBox, ForgeBox, TestBox and all your favorite box-es out there. 
A few ways to say thanks back to Ortus Solutions:

Patreon Support (skillful)

We have 45 patreons:
https://www.patreon.com/ortussolutions.


News and Announcements

CF Summit East Announced
Hey east coast Adobe #ColdFusion developers, get ready because #CFSummitEast2024 is coming in hot, on April 23rd-24th!
This #FreeEvent brings together some of the most accomplished #CFML speakers in the world in a government, military and adjacent contractors focused #conference,in an intimate, small setting in Washington D.C..
We are also once again offering an in-person training and certification opportunity to earn your Adobe Certified Professional: Adobe ColdFusion ($99).
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/marktakata_coldfusion-cfsummiteast2024-freeevent-activity-7158533583014436864-u182
 
Mark Takata at Adobe
On LinkedIn earlier this week, Mark Takata said that he is both thrilled and humbled to announce that he had been promoted to Senior ColdFusion Technical Evangelist at Adobe!
Congrats Mark!

Second set of ITB Speakers & Sessions announced - more to come!!!
Get ready for an innovative and exciting experience at the upcoming Into the Box 2024 conference, where we're changing venues and reshaping the essence of content delivery. Anticipate a surge of excitement with thrilling product updates and new releases. Join us from May 15th to 17th, 2024, in the dynamic city of Washington, DC, hosted at the cutting-edge Optica venue. Witness a conference that marks the dawn of a new modernization era, curated by the forward-thinking Ortus Solutions Team.

https://www.ortussolutions.com/blog/into-the-box-2024-second-round-of-sessions-released

https://www.intothebox.org/


New Releases and Updates

ColdFusion Builder extension for Visual Studio Code -  A new update is available!
We are pleased to announce the availability of the updated ColdFusion Builder extension for Visual Studio Code.
Highlights of the release
ColdFusion Builder extension for Visual Studio code (update 2) (release date: January 16, 2024) contains dictionary support for the functions added in ColdFusion (2023 release), such as JWT, serialization, and XML. The update also contains a few bug fixes.
https://community.adobe.com/t5/coldfusion-discussions/coldfusion-builder-extension-for-visual-studio-code-a-new-update-is-available/m-p/14365891

Hyper v7.3.0
Retrying Failed Requests
You can now configure a HyperRequest to automatically retry failed requests.  See the HyperRequest docs for details.

Default User-Agent
Hyper now sends a default User-Agent of HyperCFML/#versionNumber#.

Reset Fake Request Counts and Sequences
Hyper can now reset the fake request counts and sequences without losing the fake configuration using the resetFakes method.

https://hyper.ortusbooks.com/whats-new#id-7.3.0

Webinars, Meetups and Workshops

ICYMI - Online CFMeetup - “The Many Capabilities of CF Package Management and cfpm" with Charlie Arehart  #305
Thursday, January 25, 2024
9:00 AM PST
You may or may not have heard that CF2021 added a new tool called cfpm, the ColdFusion Package Manager. It was introduced in CF2021, and while some are aware that it can help manage the new modular packages-based design of ColdFusion, many are unaware of the many features of this cfpm tool--and how this package management mechanism can be used to their advantage.
In this talk, veteran CF troubleshooter Charlie Arehart will introduce the feature (CF's package-based design and the package manager), including identifying the way it can manage the packages used in a current CF instance as well as in automating creation of new instances. Perhaps most useful, we'll see how the tool offers a mechanism to SCAN your CFML code base to identify what packages you would need. We'll also see how the tool can help with updating CF, as well as managing the update download "repo". And speaking of updates, we'll discuss ways the cfpm/package mechanism has evolved in updates since the release of CF2021 and in CF2023.
Meetup:https://www.meetup.com/coldfusionmeetup/events/298727912/
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYTW7adg_Ao&list=PLG2EHzEbhy0-QirMKgSxhjkUyTSSTvHjL&index=1&pp=iAQB

CF Hawaii - ColdBox Modules - Jon Clausen
Feb 23rd - 12pm Hawaii Time
https://cfml.slack.com/archives/C06TSRXCJ/p1706309775867449?thread_ts=1706236924.005739&cid=C06TSRXCJ


Recent Releases
Into the Box 2023 Videos are now available for all Paid Subscriptions https://cfcasts.com/series/itb-2023
 
Coming Soon - After the break from Holidays
Mastering CBWIRE v3 from Grant

Conferences and Training

Adobe ColdFusion Online Summit 2024
Unleash the power of modern web development
Feb 15,2024 - Mar 15, 2024
Join us from anywhere in the world for the most anticipated ColdFusion event of the year!
https://adobe-coldfusion-online-summit-2024.attendease.com/register/registration/form
 
CF Summit East
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
8:00am - 4:00pm
Carahsoft Conference & Collaboration Center
11493 Sunset Hills Road,
Reston, VA 20190
Registration: https://carahevents.carahsoft.com/Event/Details/429564-adobe


ACP Training prior to CF Summit East
https://www.carahsoft.com/learn/event/50992-acp-adobe-coldfusion-at-adobe-cf-summit-east

ColdBox 7 Workshop at Adobe CF Summit East 2024
A Deep Dive into ColdBox 7.2 -
Date: April 25th - 26th, 2024 | After Adobe CFSummit East
Speakers: Luis Majano, creator of ColdBox
Elevate Your CFML Development Skills!
Master ColdBox 7.2 from the Ground Up in Our Workshop Following CFSummit East 2024
Calling all CFML developers and enthusiasts! We are thrilled to announce an upcoming event that promises to elevate your skills and empower you with ColdBox's latest updates and features. This two-day workshop is led by the creator of ColdBox, Luis Majano. You'll dive into ColdBox 7.2, exploring new features, updates, and fixes to build modern, high-quality projects.
Whether you're a beginner looking to jumpstart your journey into the MVC ecosystem or an experienced developer seeking to refine your ColdBox skills, this workshop is designed to meet your needs. Get ready for an immersive experience that keeps you at the forefront of ColdBox development!
Tickets are limited, get yours now and save with early bird pricing
https://www.ortussolutions.com/blog/a-deep-dive-into-coldbox-72

ITB 2024

More conferences

Need more conferences, this site has a huge list of conferences for almost any language/community.
https://confs.tech/


Blogs, Tweets, and Videos of the Week

2/3/24 - Tweet - David Rogers - Lucee Debug
#cfml #lucee luceedebug now uses the lucee compiler instead of the lucee evaluator, so all of the language is available in watch / eval expressions
https://x.com/__dwr__/status/1753814630042829239?s=20

2/1/24 - Tweet - James Moberg - QB for debugging complex SQL
I don't always write every SQL query using the #ColdFusion QB library, but it's a lot easier to troubleshoot complex queries in #cfml as a result of the  toSQL() method.
https://x.com/gamesover/status/1753210583779078253?s=20

2/1/24 - Blog - Gregory Alexander - Tags vs Cfscript in ColdFusion and Lucee
There has been a lot of talk about the virtues of using either tags or cfscript in the ColdFusion community. At times this topic turns into a heated conversation resembling a religious argument, but both of these language syntaxes have their purpose and other than very minor differences, both are fully supported by both Adobe ColdFusion and Lucee.
This article will discuss the history and some of the advantages and disadvantages of both language syntaxes, but in the end, it is a matter of personal choice.
https://www.gregoryalexander.com/blog/2024/2/1/tags-vs-cfscript-in-coldfusion-and-lucee

1/31/24 - Blog - Marjo Herrera - Ortus Solutions - Hotel Options - Into the Box 2024
As the landscape of Washington, DC, evolves and adaptability becomes key, we're dedicated to elevating your experience in the heart of the nation's capital. Prepare to unlock exclusive deals tailored to enhance your stay and elevate your experience at our event. We prioritize your comfort and affordability, ensuring you get the best value for your visit.
https://www.ortussolutions.com/blog/hotel-options-into-the-box-2024


1/31/24 - Blog - Ben Nadel - Comparing Binary Values In ColdFusion
I have a MySQL database table in which I'm storing a binary token (ie, a byte array). This binary token is easily passed from ColdFusion to the database. And, the database will happily compare binary values within an executed SQL statement. But, when that binary token is in a ColdFusion context, there's no native way to compare that binary token to another binary value. As such, I wanted to look at two possible ways to compare binary values in ColdFusion.
https://www.bennadel.com/blog/4589-comparing-binary-values-in-coldfusion.htm

1/31/24 - Blog - Majo Herrera - Ortus Solutions - Ortus Newsletter | January Updates
Welcome to our monthly roundup from Ortus Solutions, where we're thrilled to showcase cutting-edge advancements, product updates, and exciting events! Join us as we delve into the latest innovations shaping the future of technology.
https://www.ortussolutions.com/blog/ortus-newsletter-january-updates


1/30/24 - Blog - Charlie Arehart - Demonstrating Monitoring Solutions for CF and Lucee
This is a follow-on to Charlie's 2021 ITB talk, "Monitoring Solutions for CF and Lucee". In that presentation, he offered considerable detail about the variety of monitoring solutions available to solve various common troubleshooting and tuning problems, including tools built-into CF/Lucee or Java as well as tools that could be added--both free and commercial. As can happen, it was heavy on info, considerations, and resources.

In this talk, Charlie will focus instead on actually demonstrating these various tools, showing some key observations/metrics you can view, get alerts about, and more. You'll come away appreciating what's possible and how easily it can be found--if you know where to look. He'll also cover how some of the tools have evolved since the last talk, as he shares here his experience from helping thousands of folks leverage such tools and techniques daily, whether they're running on servers, containers, or via CommandBox.
https://www.carehart.org/blog/2024/1/30/delighted_to_be_speaking_at_intothebox_2024


1/30/24 - Blog - Ben Nadel - Performance Of Struct vs. Ordered Struct In ColdFusion
Yesterday, in the Working Code podcast Discord, Sean Corfield and I were discussing the trade-offs of various data structures. The conversation started from a code-comment that I had made about using an ordered struct. To which, Sean mentioned that ordered structs were slower than regular structs due to the fact that they have to maintain insertion order in addition to the key-value pairs. This has never occurred to me before; especially since the size of my standard data structure makes any difference inconsequential. But, I thought it would be an interesting things to test more explicitly in ColdFusion.
https://www.bennadel.com/blog/4587-performance-of-struct-vs-ordered-struct-in-coldfusion.htm


1/26/24 - Blog - Ben Nadel - Powering Email Unsubscribe Links Using Signed URLs In ColdFusion
Earlier this week, I talked about using signatures to prevent URL tampering in ColdFusion. Then, yesterday, I was having a conversation about spam emails and unsubscribe links. It occurred to me that using signed URLs is one way in which unsubscribe links can be implemented in ColdFusion. As such, I wanted to run through a small demo.
https://www.bennadel.com/blog/4586-powering-email-unsubscribe-links-using-signed-urls-in-coldfusion.htm


1/26/24 - Blog - Charlie Arehart - Recordings and links for my presentations in Jan 2024, Dec 2023
I've done a few online presentations in recent weeks, and while I've done a blog post announcing each when it was upcoming, I was torn about also doing a blog post after each, just to mention their recording URL. I don't want people to feel there are "too many" posts. Also, since I use youtube live for the CFMeetup sessions, technically the url for the meeting is indeed the same one to use to view the recording of it: so if you know one, you know both.
But some people seem to notice when news is shared of a recording being made available, so here you go.:-) These are 4 sessions I've done in Jan 2024 and Dec 2023.
https://www.carehart.org/blog/2024/1/26/presentations_recordings_jan2024_dec2023


1/25/24 - Blog - Majo Harrera - Ortus Solutions - Into the Box 2024 | Second Round of Sessions Released
Get ready for an innovative and exciting experience at the upcoming Into the Box 2024 conference, where we're changing venues and reshaping the essence of content delivery. Anticipate a surge of excitement with thrilling product updates and new releases. Join us from May 15th to 17th, 2024, in the dynamic city of Washington, DC, hosted at the cutting-edge Optica venue. Witness a conference that marks the dawn of a new modernization era, curated by the forward-thinking Ortus Solutions Team.
https://www.ortussolutions.com/blog/into-the-box-2024-second-round-of-sessions-released


1/25/24 - Blog - Ben Nadel - Converting Strings To Integers Using Hash, HashCode, And CRC-32 In ColdFusion
In my Feature Flags book, I had a snippet of code that uses the CRC-32 checksum in order to map strings to integers for user targeting. In his review of the book, Adam Cameron suggested that my code was longer than it needed to be; and, that I might use the hash() function for brevity. This gave me pause; especially in light of James Moberg's recent post on using .hashCode(). I want to take a moment and step back and think about how and why I'm converting strings to integers in ColdFusion.
https://www.bennadel.com/blog/4585-converting-strings-to-integers-using-hash-hashcode-and-crc-32-in-coldfusion.htm


1/25/24 - Blog - Charlie Arehart - Presenting "The Many Capabilities of CF Package Management and cfpm", Thurs Jan 25, Online
You may or may not have heard that CF2021 added a new tool called cfpm, the ColdFusion Package Manager. It was introduced in CF2021, and while some are aware that it can help manage the new modular packages-based design of ColdFusion, many are unaware of the many features of this cfpm tool--and how this package management mechanism can be used to their advantage.
In this talk, veteran CF troubleshooter Charlie Arehart will introduce the feature (CF's package-based design and the package manager), including identifying the way it can manage the packages used in a current CF instance as well as in automating creation of new instances. Perhaps most useful, we'll see how the tool offers a mechanism to SCAN your CFML code base to identify what packages you would need. We'll also see how the tool can help with updating CF, as well as managing the update download "repo". And speaking of updates, we'll discuss ways the cfpm/package mechanism has evolved in updates since the release of CF2021 and in CF2023.
https://www.carehart.org/blog/2024/1/23/presenting_on_cfpm


1/25/24 - Blog - Igor Driker - Dealing with Deprecated tags
In my recent work on migrating older projects to ColdFusion 2023, I encountered the need to recreate the functionality of the deprecated CFMENU tag. Although I hadn’t used CFMENU before, adapting to the new environment prompted me to develop a solution using custom tags.
I propose creating two custom tags to replicate the required functionality. Let’s refer to Adobe’s documentation for CFMENU as an example:
https://coldfusion.adobe.com/2024/01/dealing-with-deprecated-tags/


1/20/24 - Blog - Gregory Alexander - Recursive ColdFusion Function
There are a couple of good articles on how to create a recursive ColdFusion function found on the web, and of course, the prolific ColdFusion blogger, Ben Nadel, has one, However, I had to program a recursive function for a breadcrumb widget that I introduced, and though that it would be a perfect candidate for a blog article and think that I can contribute to this conversation by putting in my own two cents in.
https://www.gregoryalexander.com/blog/2024/1/20/recursive-coldfusion-function


1/19/24 - Blog - Igor Driker - Using Custom Tags for Migration from Older Versions to ColdFusion 2023
When working on migration projects to ColdFusion 2023, one of the most common updates is to bulk replace instances of ‘cf_sql_int’ with ‘cf_sql_integer’. In some projects, data validation for variables may have been overlooked, such as using float data or commas in numeric values.
To address these issues comprehensively, we can employ custom tags like ‘cf_query’ and ‘cf_queryparam’ to handle required conversions and data validation.
https://coldfusion.adobe.com/2024/01/using-custom-tags-for-migration-from-older-versions-to-coldfusion-2023/

1/15/24 - Blog - Fusion Reactor Attention FusionReactor Cloud Users: Important Upgrade required for FusionReactor version 8 and 9 users. Action by Feb 29 2024
Over time, we’ve made substantial strides in enhancing the FusionReactor agent. These improvements not only bolster its security and capabilities but also bring an array of features previously exclusive to on-premise solutions directly to our cloud users.
After February 29, 2024, we will no longer support FusionReactor agent versions 8 and 9 running with a cloud license.
https://www.fusion-reactor.com/blog/important-update-required-upgrade-to-the-latest-version-of-fusionreactor-by-february-29-2024/


CFML Jobs

Several positions available on https://www.getcfmljobs.com/

Listing over 117 ColdFusion positions from 70 companies across 48 locations in 5 Countries.

0 new jobs listed in the last few weeks

Other Job Links
There is a jobs channel in the CFML slack team, and in the Box team slack now too


ForgeBox Module of the Week

Webp by David Levin

WebP is a Coldbox module that provides a simple API for converting images into WebP format. It can also be used to convert WebP images into other formats. It uses the precompiled binaries provided by Google.

Why WebP?
WebP is a modern image format offering superior lossless and lossy compression for images on the web. Google encourages the use of modern image formats, like WebP, as part of their Core Web Vitals initiative. WebP images are typically 25-35% smaller than their JPEG or PNG counterparts, resulting in faster page load times and reduced bandwidth usage. WebP is compatible with all major modern browsers.

WebP Support in ColdFusion
Lucee's Image Extension supports WebP as of version 2.0.
Adobe ColdFusion does not support WebP. There is an open ticket for this feature. Please vote for it!

https://www.forgebox.io/view/webp

VS Code Hint Tips and Tricks of the Week

Duplicated code detector (jscpd)
Find duplicated lines in your code using jscpd

What is jscpd?

Copy/paste detector for programming source code, supports 150+ formats.

Copy/paste is a common technical debt on a lot of projects. The jscpd gives the ability to find duplicated blocks implemented on more than 150 programming languages and digital formats of documents. The jscpd tool implements Rabin-Karp algorithm for searching duplications.

CFML is not a currently supported language - vote here https://github.com/kucherenko/jscpd/issues/619

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ctf0.duplicated-code-new

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You can support us on Patreon here https://www.patreon.com/ortussolutions


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You can see an up to date list of all sponsors on Ortus Solutions' Website
https://ortussolutions.com/about-us/sponsors

Thanks everyone!!!