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Steven6282
Inspiring
February 17, 2017
Question

Builder 2016 Remote Compare and Synchronization

  • February 17, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 1834 views

Hello all,

I'm a project lead for my company and am currently evaluating switching to ColdFusion Builder 2016 from Dreamweaver as our primary IDE.  As such, I'm having a bit of a learning curve finding some neccessary items for our development and deployment strategy currently in place.  Granted our set up is not the best, and if I would have been around when it was initially designed, would have done it differently, but doing a complete change at this time is not really an option.

Our current set up, every developer has a local server configured (we are currently developing in CF9, but I'm working on getting us switched to CF2016, lots of issues to work out with that).  When a developer is working on stuff and ready to test it on a our staging server, they compare files to the remote staging server, merge any changes that other developers may have made, then upload the new version to the staging server.  This is all handled through RDS currently.

As part of the upgrade I was thinking about having us switch to using Coldfusion Builder as it is a better IDE since it's really just Eclipse with Adobe's name on it and a few extra tools.  I've gotten a lot of issues worked out but where I'm stuck at is recreating the compare -> upload steps.  I cannot find anyway to compare to a remote server without downloading the file locally then selecting both in the Navigator and doing compare to each other.  In Dreamweaver that process is as simple as Right Click -> Compare with remote server.  The only way I've found to upload is extremely tedious having to go through Export -> Remote File System -> Specifying a destination folder -> Finally clicking Finish to upload.  In Dreamweaver it's a simple Ctrl+Shift+U or Right click -> Put.  Also, pulling things down from the server are equally tedious, where in Dreamweaver it's a simple Right Click -> Get.

I see a lot of references to this:

Adobe ColdFusion Builder 2.0 * Deploy projects over FTP and Secure FTP connections

However, that method does not apply to Coldfusion 2016.  There is no Synchronization option when right clicking on the project in the navigator.  The only place I can find anything concerning synchronization is in the Team Synchronization perspective, however I can't find anything in it that makes any sense.  If I try to synchronize something, the only option I'm given is to "Sychrnoize with Patch" which does me no good.  After seeing that I though maybe there would be some automated way to create a patch file based on changes to files, but I don't see anyway to do that either.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  My googlefu on this one is failing to be up to the task apparently.  I really like a lot of the features of CB2016 over Dreamweaver, especially the built in line level debugger.  But I can't recommend it as an upgrade if it's going to make some of our routine actions way more tedious.

Thanks

EDIT:

I also just noticed when doing an Export there is a Review / Synchronize option.  I got excited by that possibly being a solution and my hopes were quickly ruined when it did absolutely nothing.  Even having selected a remote desintation folder clicking Finish on the Export screen with Review / Synchronize option selected, the window just goes away and nothing else happens.  No review / synchronize window or anything is opened.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    Charlie Arehart
    Community Expert
    Charlie ArehartCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 26, 2018

    For folks looking to add FTP support back to CF Builder, it's pretty easy, really.

    First, or context, it was lost in CFBuilder 3 because Adobe removed the Aptana plugin that had added that and some other functionality. They rewrote what they thought was needed. They left other features off, with folks needing to rely on more traditional Eclipse-based solutions. (For those who don't know, CFBuilder is built atop Eclipse.)

    And there is indeed an FTP client for Eclipse, called Remote System Explorer (RSE). Once you install and configure it (in a couple of minutes), you can then just double-click a file on a remote FTP server, to edit it, then save it, and it's automatically pushed back to the server.  (And there are still more other ways to work with files, for those preferring drag and drop operations.) You can also do searching of the remote files, and more.

    For more on how to setup and use RSE with CFBilder, including even CFBuilder 2016, see:

    https://wiki.hostek.com/ColdFusion_Builder

    And for more on RSE in general, see:

    http://help.eclipse.org/kepler/index.jsp?topic=%2Forg.eclipse.rse.doc.user%2Fgettingstarted%2Fg_start.html


    All this said, and to the assertion that this removal of FTP support is an example of Adobe "killing CF", well, I suspect that less than 50% of people use CFBuilder (perhaps far less). And of those, it's also a relatively small percent who rely on FTP.

    FWIW, folks have also found value with other editors which support CFML (even if not as completely), such as Sublime Text, Visual Studio Code, Notepad++, and others. I list them in a category of my CF411.com site, here: http://www.cf411.com/editors. And some of those may support FTP in a way more appealing to different users.

    Hope that's helpful.

    /Charlie (troubleshooter, carehart. org)
      W
      wwisner
      Participant
      June 26, 2018

      Thank you for your input.  The discussion was more on the DW functionality that allows check in and check out logging which includes the local network connection, not necessarily FTP.   The synchronization feature is also very useful.  Both functions are available in the Adobe DW package.  The current releases including 2016 further discourages the CF development using DW 2016.  I actually uninstalled DW 2016 and loaded back DW 2014 to be productive.  It is interesting that you state that less than 50% use the IDE developed by Adobe to develop within Adobe ColdFusion.  That statement probably points out the issue we are having.  I have not used any of the editors you list other than notepad++, MS VS, and Eclipse.  None of these editors have the Dreamweaver functionality mentioned, that I know of.  I am not sure if the other editors do have this functionality or not but unless they are free I am sure we are not going to be able to get them in today's environment.  Plus I do not enjoy learning IDEs and would prefer just using Dreamweaver with CFML support.

      You state that it is a small percentages of users looking for the Dreamweaver CFML support but I believe you are very mistaken.  I am reading this is a major headache an CFBuilder is not the solution, as you point out.

      It is too bad.

      Charlie Arehart
      Community Expert
      Charlie ArehartCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 28, 2018

      wwwisner, I hear what you're saying and you're entitled to your opinion, but I am confused by a couple of your points. You state that it is a small percentages of users looking for the Dreamweaver CFML support but I believe you are very mistaken.

      First you say (to me), "You state that it is a small percentages of users looking for the Dreamweaver CFML support", but I did not say that at all.

      Second, you open saying, "the discussion was more on the DW functionality that allows check in and check out logging". Well, that may be your focus, but that was not what the original poster here (Steven6282 ) said. He specifically referred to FTP, And then Louis, and you said were having "the same issue".  Indeed, you referred to it (whatever you had in mind) as "probable the most important feature in Dreamweaver".

      Sorry but I couldn't have known you meant the checkin/checkout capabilities, regardless of using FTP. You are the first to mention it in this thread.

      So about that, I think you will find that nothing else will have the simple checkin/checkout that DW offers. it was an incredibly simplistic form of "source control" from the days of visual source safe, CVS, and the like. The world has moved on by and large to distributed source control, such as Git. And both CFBuilder (and Eclipse) and other editors support that, for those looking to integrate modern source control practices.

      Anyway, I leave what I wrote to stand as an answer to Steven and Louis, and indeed anyone else who may find this thread when looking for FTP support in CFBuilder. Sorry I (and Adobe) couldn't give you what you wanted.

      /Charlie (troubleshooter, carehart. org)
        W
        wwisner
        Participant
        June 14, 2018

        I have the same issue.  This is probable the most important feature in Dreamweaver that is preventing us from using CFBuilder. Why is this not being answered by Adobe!!  Either Add back CFML support in Dreamweaver, this is my first choice, or add this feature into CFBuilder.  Adobe, you are killing ColdFusion!  Please help.

        A
        AlbertO
        Participant
        March 16, 2018

        I'm having the same problem. I don't see the synchronize windows. Coldfusion Builder 2016 is terrible software with even more terrible support!!

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