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Server Side Includes for HTML in IIS 7
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Server-Side-Includes-for-HTML-in-IIS-7-A7DB60D947B6AD75I found myself wondering if there was any way to create server-side includes with HTML today, so I did some research and played around with some stuff and came up with the following method. First, open up Windows Features (probably titled "Turn Windows features on or off") and expand the following folders:
ColdFusion Roadmap
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/ColdFusion-Roadmap-EF70445636790E23It's nice to hear, after the on-going rumors, that Adobe has released a public facing roadmap for ColdFusion. Details are available at: http://blogs.coldfusion.com/post.cfm/product-roadmap-for-coldfusion
Is It HTML5?
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Is-It-HTML5?-536BDE61C41316CB
Multiple Skype Sessions
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Multiple-Skype-Sessions-1473FF375CD05245Here's a cool little trick I found out about Skype: You can run two separate sessions of Skype at the same time. If you have multiple accounts like I do (yes, it's weird, but I do), then you can accomplish this by simply adding a new shortcut to your desktop pointing to your Skype .exe file and adding /secondary to the end of the path. Here's an example of how it looks on my machine:
ColdFusion 10 Beta
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/ColdFusion-10-Beta-C05BE522878A3010ColdFusion 10 beta and ColdFusion Builder 2.0.1 beta are now available to the public at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/coldfusion10/
Fort Collins Internet Pros Meetup
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Fort-Collins-Internet-Pros-Meetup-45DF48D5690E32CBTonight's discussion is about time management techniques. Don't miss out!
Detecting elements in jQuery
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Detecting-elements-in-jQuery-4ADEC07D8A137FBBThe way I generally use to detect if an element exists is to use the size() method. The following code snippet determine's how many div tags exist on our page:
jQuery Animations
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/jQuery-Animations-A49D3F86DCFE0D25Animations can be tricky, but they're fun! This example will show you how to move a box to the right 100 pixels every time you click it. Let's throw some styling out there for our box to start out:
jQuery Mobile Page Structure
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/jQuery-Mobile-Page-Structure-62E0294DD351B83DjQuery Mobile is pretty rockin' if you're looking to create a web-based phone application. This is still somewhat new to me, but I hope this helps you develop your basic application structure.
Favicon Recognition
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Favicon-Recognition-11D7AFFF54F6AB81A favicon is the small icon that appears in the browser's title bar or next to the URL bar. Creating a favicon helps establish your brand visually and can help your website become more valuable to search engines.
jQuery AJAX Method
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/jQuery-AJAX-Method-5F1AF54EE94927DBThe .ajax() method provided by jQuery is one of the most useful methods I've used. This method allows you to make asynchronous HTTP requests and receive a response. As an example, lets pass a string to a CFC, then return that same string with the .ajax() method and output it to the console. This would probably never be a real-life example, it's just to give you an idea of how it works:
jQuery Mobile File Upload Form
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/jQuery-Mobile-File-Upload-Form-E9BDC1D8511A05ECA real quick explanation of how to upload files in a form using jQuery Mobile. Since AJAX is enabled throughout your jQuery Mobile application, file uploads cannot be performed. Add the following attribute to your form tag:
Google Weather API
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Google-Weather-API-AC659E6518B0BC61Spent some time playing around with the Google Weather API last night for kicks. I'm not sure how accurate the information is, but it was a nice feature to tap into and play with. First, you have to send a location to the address to return the XML. You can use either a zip code or a city name (that I'm aware of). Here's a snapshot of a quick weather app I put together:
Happy Monday, Everyone!
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Happy-Monday,-Everyone!-93309665679A1F86
ColdFusion CFCs, CFFunction, CFObject, and CreateObject
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/ColdFusion-CFCs,-CFFunction,-CFObject,-and-CreateObject-396B1AC5D4231E70Learn it. Live it. Love it. CFC's (ColdFusion Components) are a good demonstration of some true power behind ColdFusion and a great way to separate your logic from your display. I live off of CFC's and use them in every application I write. To get acquainted, lets start with a pretty basic example that uses a component to house a function for pulling SQL data:
ColdFusion CFCookie
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/ColdFusion-CFCookie-DF9452956953C799The tag is used to store simple values up to 4KB (a cookie) to the client. Cookies are great for storing short bits of information to the client such as a username and password combination so that information is remembered when the user returns to your site.
ColdFusion CFSwitch vs. CFIF
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/ColdFusion-CFSwitch-vs.-CFIF-45FC3135B12EC792The and tags are used to evaluate an expression you pass to it and find a match. First, lets look at how a tag can be structured. In this example, we'll evaluate the variables.myVar variable and look for a value of 1, 2, 3, or anything else:
ColdFusion CFBreak
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/ColdFusion-CFBreak-EB59CDADCA226E4FAnother pretty basic tag I'd like to bring up is the tag. Short and sweet: This tag is used within a tag to break out of the loop. In this example, we're going to create a loop that starts with 1 and ends in 10, but breaks out of the loop once we hit 7. You can do this using the following code:
ColdFusion CFAbort
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/ColdFusion-CFAbort-C739DA985F9E35CAThis topic is pretty basic, but can be very useful, especially during debugging or sections where you just want to see a quick data dump and nothing after. The tag is used to stop page processing at the location of the tag. For example, if you have the following code:
mWISE Marketing
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/mWISE-Marketing-E72D1E536115693AnVision launches mWISE.net! mWise Professional Marketing Solutions specializes in providing marketing solutions that fit each company's specific needs, taking into account each company's type of business, products offered, audience, and demographics. mWISE creates an advertising packet specific to your needs and distributes them to the areas of your choice. These packets may include flyers, brochures, business cards, or coupons. To take advantage of these services, all you need to do is sign up for an account, provide some information about your company, select the types of advertising you require, and sit back and watch customers and new clients come in as they continue your advertising campaign!
TrueFitz
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/TrueFitz-48FE457DAD514515nVision Creative Web Solutions, LLC releases TrueFitz.com! TrueFitz provides an avenue to find highly qualified personal trainers who will help you reach your personal fitness goals. Many factors make it difficult to find a certified personal trainer you can trust and who will have the flexibility needed to adapt to busy work and family schedules. TrueFitz is here to bridge that gap. The importance of having a personal trainer who can adapt to your individual needs cannot be underestimated. Plus, you need not worry about the credentials of TrueFitz's personal trainers; they have all been verified prior to becoming a TrueFitz trainer. Seeking a trainer to come to your home on Sunday evenings? To meet in a park on a Thursday over lunch? Whatever the case may be, TrueFitz.com is designed to help you find the perfect personal trainer.
Listing .class files in a .jar file in ColdFusion using CFZIP
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Listing-.class-files-in-a-.jar-file-in-ColdFusion-using-CFZIP-8B2FDF4481BF9818A few days ago, I came across the need for a spell checker in a customer service application I was writing. To accomplish this, I downloaded Google's Spell Checker API which contained a single .jar file. I highly recommend using their API if you ever need a spell checker in one of your applications. It's quick and easy to setup and a very powerful tool.
CineMatrix Home Theater Consultants
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/CineMatrix-Home-Theater-Consultants-152F2334FC90AC5FnVision Creative Web Solutions is proud to announce their latest release for CineMatrix Home Theater Consultants: A consultation and design business located in the Phoenix Metro Area, specializing in home theater products. Their certified staff members are here to help you find the best home theater equipment that meets your needs and budget. CineMatrix Home Theater Consultants believes that every consumer needs to save money without being pressured into purchasing anything you don't need or want and offers a free initial consultation with no obligation to purchase their services.
Freedom in Balance
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Freedom-in-Balance-F2A88A241D93DB83nVision has released a new website for Freedom in Balance! Freedom in Balance are a group of Independent Wellness Consultants dedicated to helping others recognize and achieve their dreams. They are connected to a Global Wellness Company founded in 1975, with a 5A1 Dun & Bradstreet rating. Their program is designed to provide you the infrastructure, tools & support on a journey to build a global business and the life you desire. Freedom in Balance provides an Elite Team of diverse professionals dedicated to helping others through continued service and a commitment to excellence, while creating financial freedom.
Apache Virtual Host
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Apache-Virtual-Host-C4347C91E5C39A0AYou can set up multiple domains on your server by using virtual hosting through your Apache server (assuming that you are running Apache). To set up virtual hosting in Apache, open your httpd.conf file in your Apache directory. Scroll down near the bottom of the document and uncomment the httpd-vhosts.conf file by removing the #:
ColdFusion CFSPREADSHEET
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/ColdFusion-CFSPREADSHEET-5627967842BC7F6EThe cfspreadsheet tag was introduced in ColdFusion 9 and is proven to be very powerful. Before, you had to layout your data in XML format and write the result to an .XLS file format. Now, you are able to save your Excel data in one simple line of code.
ColdFusion CFPOP
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/ColdFusion-CFPOP-2CF9B249F7A43558One of my personal favorite tags of ColdFusion is the tag, which allows you to retrieve and delete emails from a POP mail server. You can use this in cases where you want to build an email client instead of using a pre-made one such as Yahoo Mail's interface or Microsoft Outlook. I have also used this tag for incident tracking applications. Short and simple, this is how it works: To get started, define your mailbox login credentials:
Populating a DataGrid with Remote XML Data in Flex 4
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Populating-a-DataGrid-with-Remote-XML-Data-in-Flex-4-C0305181CAEF0233Last Friday, I posted an article about how to populate a DataGrid using inline XML in Flex 4. This is a short tutorial explaining how to clean up your code a bit by saving your XML code outside of the .MXML file and doing a remote call using code similar to the previous example.
Populating a DataGrid with Inline XML in Flex 4
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Populating-a-DataGrid-with-Inline-XML-in-Flex-4-B8907E4CF8EC6193Flex 4 offers an easy way of populating XML data into neatly formatted DataGrids. First, you must create an XML declaration and start your application:
Dynamic Arguments with ColdFusion
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Dynamic-Arguments-with-ColdFusion-23E99643938B9C8DThere are times when you need a function where not all of your arguments are required. Instead of passing multiple arguments into your function, I have designed a quick solution that allows you to pass in a structure as an argument which is then looped through to to find the arguments key/value pairs.
Assigning Form Variables to a Structure in ColdFusion
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Assigning-Form-Variables-to-a-Structure-in-ColdFusion-4EE676DEC84DF32AAssigning form variables to a structure can be useful in instances where you have a sign-up process broken down into several steps and don't want to commit the user input to the database until all steps have been completed. One thing that I found out today, though, is you cannot assign form variables to a structure, then change pages... the data is lost. Refer to the example below:
jQuery Error
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/jQuery-Error--3A2B268A155E3BC5This error can occur when either the core jQuery file is not included or the SRC attribute in your tag is pointing to the wrong location. This could be due to your SRC attribute being called out as a relative path to the files' location like the below example:
Detecting video player state with YouTube JavaScript Player API
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Detecting-video-player-state-with-YouTube-JavaScript-Player-API-A87E61E894B24809If you need to implement a way in your application to prevent users from proceeding to the following step or section until they have viewed an entire video, then read on!
Setting an image position with jQuery
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/Setting-an-image-position-with-jQuery-99657CCCF3496752This example illustrates how to use jQuery to detect the screen width and height so we can place an image in the bottom-right portion of the screen.
ColdFusion's ArrayIsDefined() function throws an error
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/ColdFusion's-ArrayIsDefined()-function-throws-an-error-C97ACE71E37961D2Something I ran across today when creating an application to output array elements to an Excel spreadsheet: If you define an array and want to test its' elements before you output them, using ColdFusion 8's ArrayIsDefined() function will throw an error if the element does not exist.
nVision Launches New Website!
http://www.nvisionweb.com/blog/nVision-Launches-New-Website!-F4B049939D6EF690nVision Creative Web Solutions was founded in Chandler, Arizona and is quickly becoming a leading solution for web development thanks to our respected clients and dedicated team. We strive for excellence, a professional and determined attitude, and great support and service for our clients to help them with their needs and provide a level of support that can't be compared anywhere else. To meet and exceed these goals, we continue to dedicate ourselves to our clients and to further expand our knowledge and experience.