Builder 2016 Remote Compare and Synchronization

[Steven6282]

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.

[AlbertO]

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

[wwisner]

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.

[Charlie Arehart]

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_star...

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.

[wwisner]

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]

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.

[wwisner]

Really, thank you for your input.  No hard feelings.  I think stever6282 and I are talking about the same thing and I will reference his original post so you will understand how we are using the Adobe tools, especially Dreamweaver.

To help clarify your confusion from my comments, you wrote "...well, I suspect that less that 50% of people use CFBuilder (perhaps far less)."  I inferred that this means less than 50% which may not be strictly considered a small percentage but it is not a large percentage of people use CFBuilder and reading into your statement further you seamed you inferring that most people don't use it.  If that is incorrect my apologies but that is how I read your statement.

Your second statement was that you were responding to steven6282 and not to me, and I would welcome steven6282 clarification if needed, but I believe I was further explaining his use of DW in the way we apply our application deployment environment.  He states "...When a developer is working on stuff and ready to test it on our staging server, they compare files to the remote staging server, merge any changes that other developers may have made, then upload the new server to the staging server."   He makes other statements about Dreamweaver that has to do with synchronizing and this is all part of the check in and check out abilities of DW.  They are the same thing.  This functionality is what is missing out of CFBuilder.  There is also the ftp aspect of Dreamweaver to move the files but this is secondary to the comparing and merging and seeing who is working on what.

It shows you as an Adobe community professional in you profile.  I would very much like to hear from Adobe directly or if you are representing Adobe I am more than willing to speak with you directly to further explain to you what we are missing out of Dreamweaver since they stopped supporting CFML.  I have seen many posts and you are the only one responding to our pain.  Thank you for responding and hopefully our voice will be heard.

[Charlie Arehart]

Bottom line, you're a voice crying in the wilderness. Do not expect any changes. The DW team cares nothing about CF (or anything but PHP), it seems. And CFBuilder will not likely add DW things it doesn't already have.

And yes, you are reading me right: it seems from my observation that less than 50% of CFers use CFB. Most of the rest seem to use other editors, and perhaps 20% seem to still use DW. These are just my observations. I could be wrong, of course.

And no, I am not speaking "for Adobe". Yes, I am speaking as an ACP, who has watched the CF space for 20+ years and this debacle of concerns about CFB vs DW for over a decade. It is what it is. There's an audience who loves DW and wishes it did more CF stuff. There is the CF team who sees CFBuilder as the developer tool that CFers should use (and not for web design, but for coding). Sadly, it seems that never the twain shall meet.

You can certainly continue to press your point. There's just not been much occasion of Adobe folks responding to this sort of plea. And while some use that as a testament to their "lack of CF support" or "killing CF", I just don't see it that way.  Again, it just is what it is (to me). They can't be killing CF and still be bringing out CF2018, constantly updating CF2016 and 11, and having the annual CF Summit, to name just a few things.

So I help where I can, as in this case where I have been responding to what earlier in the thread seemed clearly a question about FTP. But FWIW, no, you won't find compare features in the RSE feature I pointed out (well, not satisfactory ones).

Really, and going back to my last note, this is a great time to use this pain point as motivation to get into using source code control to manage code changes (including compares), and to move them to a remote server (rather than use FTP).

I understand that most who come from traditional/legacy tools/approaches will turn their nose up to that. It's your choice how best to use your time, when faced with this challenge. The other approach is to hope Adobe will hear you and address your desire. I just don't hold much hope on that, when it comes to adding more DW-like features to CFB.