I upgraded to Vista and almost immediately needed to run ColdFusion pages. I didn't find much on the internet that explained ColdFusion server installation and configuration on a Vista box and indeed, ran into some sticky problems when I tried to use the install program (since it was intended for IIS6).

When I finally got all my ducks lined up and had the ColdFusion server running smoothly with Vista and IIS7, I figured I better write about it since I'll never be able to remember all the steps ... there are missing DLLs, a confusing little Vista bug, and new mappings to be defined in IIS7.

Check out my free article, which takes you step by step through the process, explaining all the little gotchas along that way that you'll need to deal with.

It's coming! Our 2000th article.

What a milestone that is for us here at Community MX. And we couldn't have done it without you! Our loyal readership. To say "thanks" we're giving away something special tomorrow. Be sure to check out Community MX on Tuesday, February 20, to find out what the surprise is.

Members ... you rock! Thanks for supporting Community MX and helping to make us the resource for Adobe/Macromedia and web information.

Visitors ... check us out! Tomorrow's surprise is a sample of the quality information we publish each and every day. The trial subscription is free!

Now that I have your attention :-)

Santorini is the location for our latest JumpStart offering. Sun-drenched beaches, legends of Atlantis, strong coffee. What could be better? ... Something free, of course.

The Santorini JumpStart is free. Take the design and make it your own. It's got the goods with respect to valid XHTML and CSS and compliance to accessibility and 508 standards. And when you're done, submit your adaptation to our brilliant panel of CMX judges.You might just win a one-year subscription to Community MX!

Oh, and did I mention that Santorini is a 3-column fixed/fluid layout? The two outside columns are fixed width but the center one is liquid, stretching to fill the remaining space. Plus, it's got a bunch of cool, Gordon-Mackay-quality icons.

Cast your memories back to the early 80's when guitar music was all the rage in midwestern Catholic churches. I'm around 12 years old and not nearly as good with my guitar as my older brother and sister. Nonetheless, I get roped into playing during mass. Our priest was from the "old school." Definitely liked old fashioned organ music better. Anyway, it's spring in Michigan. In fact, it's time to spring-forward. You know what that means, right? Yeah, yeah, reset all the clocks. Not in my family, though. We always forgot to reset them. So, of course, our family gets to the church late. The priest has already begun and is singing the old fashioned organ music - a capella, no less! My parents "encourage" me to get up there and do my guitar thing. I do. Some of the people out there in the pews respond but the priest doesn't. I don't think he intentionally ignored me. But he was really old! So after a few half-hearted attempts, I slink back down to join my family in the front pew. We never spoke of it again.

Oh, and I'm still scared of public speaking. I did perform music in public again. Never guitar, though. That was it for me.

We published my very first JumpStart today. When I'm not working like a fiend, I love to garden. So I combined my two passions into our latest JumpStart offering: Greenville.

Like all of our JumpStarts, this one is uses valid XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.1 markup and follows WAI and Section 508 accessibility guidelines

Be sure to check out Sheri's redesign. Besides being a lovely site, it does a great job of showcasing how easy it is to adapt our JumpStarts to your own projects.

I hope you have fun with Greenville!

If you've just upgraded from ASP.NET ver 1.1 to ver 2.0 and discovered that existing pages with editable DataGrids no longer work, you're not crazy. There really is a problem with DreamweaverCtrls.

I've reported the problem to Adobe (Macromedia - Feature Request/Bug Report Form) but no reply just yet. I'll update this post when I hear back.

Problem Description

ASP.NET pages with an editable DataGrid do not update the database. There's no error message. The only indication is that when the page redisplays the DataGrid, it still has the old data.

Why the problem exists

ASP.NET automatically creates unique ID's for controls. For example, the 1.1 version of the .NET Framework, the ID looks like this:

DataGrid1:_ctl11:_ctl0

For ver 2.0, Microsoft changed the naming scheme used to generate unique IDs. In ver 2.0 that same control now looks like this:

DataGrid1$ctl11$ctl00

The problem is that DreamweaverCtrls relies on the naming scheme used by ver 1.1 of the .NET Framework. The code looks for the colon character when it's figuring how whether or not the editable DataGrid uses links or buttons for the edit/update/cancel functions. Since the colon doesn't exist in the ver 2.0 unique IDs, the DataGrid is not updated.

The fix

The solution isn't too bad. Only two lines of code in the source file for DreamweaverCtrls have to be modified. The downside to the solution presented here is that once modified, that version of DreamweaverCtrls will only work for ver 2.0. Not a big problem, granted, but something to keep in mind should you decide to implement this fix for your own sites.

Here are the changes that need to be made to the cs file.

Line 2018 --

current code:
int index = eventTarget.IndexOf(":"); 
changed code:
int index = eventTarget.IndexOf("$");

Line 2054 --

current code:
int strIndex = name.IndexOf(":_ctl"); 
changed code:
int strIndex = name.IndexOf("$ctl");

Be sure to make a copy of DreamweaverCtrls.cs before modifying it.

If you installed Dreamweaver in the default location, you'll find the source file for DreamweaverCtrls here:
C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Dreamweaver 8\Configuration\ServerBehaviors\Shared\ASP.Net\Scripts\Source\DreamweaverCtrls.cs

That folder has a bat file to assist with compilation of the C# source. For more information about compiling, see Demystifying .NET Compilers.

I started Dreamweaver 8 this morning and got the following Javascript error:

The following JavaScript error(s) occurred:

At line 56 of file "D:\Program Files\Macromedia\Dreamweaver 8\Configuration\Shared\Common\Scripts\dwscriptsExtData.js":
ReferenceError: dwscripts is not defined

Fortunately, the fix is easy. Exit DW, delete the WinFileCache*.dat file in the Configuration folder, and then restart DW.

When tracking down this problem I found posts from other people who recommended deleting the entire Configuration folder. This works but you end up deleting more files than you really need to.

The WinFileCache*.dat file will be recreated next time you start DW 8.

NOTE: The "Application Data" folder is hidden by default, so you'll need to change your Windows Explorer Folder Options to View Hidden Folders.

Always remember to back up your Dreamweaver 8 folder before deleting files!

I downloaded and installed the trial version of DW 8. My 30-day trial ran out before I purchased the upgrade so I had to revert back to DW MX 2004. I ran into a DB connectivity snag while working on a site originally created in DW MX 04, then worked on with the new DW 8, and then further worked on back in the old version of DW.

The problem is that DW MX 04 no longer introspected the database. But when I tested the connection, it was just fine. What gives?

I traced the problem to the files in the _mmServerScripts folder. When I installed DW 8, new versions of the files were placed in this folder. When I reverted back to DW MX 04, the new versions of the files no longer did a part of their job. Namely, to introspect the database.

The fix is to delete the files in the _mmServerScripts folder, then retest your connection. The act of testing the connection discovers that the files are missing and replaces them. However, since the test is done in DW MX 04, the correct version of the files is placed in the folder.

So, if you find that DW no longer knows about the tables, stored procedures, and views in your database but testing the connection is successful, AND you've loaded DW 8 and reverted back to DW MX 04, there's your solution!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to spend a week on a deserted tropical island? Well, I'm here to tell you it's wonderful. Do it if you ever get the chance. No phones, no internet or email. No husbands and no kids. Just 6 middle-aged women, hundreds of sand crabs, a couple of iguanas, and a varied assortment of sea creatures.

I've posted the pictures in two folders depending on your patience!

Check out a few of the better pictures. And if that whets your appetite, feel free to check out all 200 or so pics.

Awesome sunrises and sunsets. 

I recently installed SP1 on my Win2003 server box and discovered that DW could no longer introspect my databases. I'm not positive that the problem is due to SP1 but I can't think what else has changed from when it worked to when it didn't.

Symptoms: Connections test successfully and Live Data mode works fine but DW can't find the tables, views, and stored procedures when you expand the nodes in the Databases panel in the Application panel group. (Similar problem seen in the DataSet dialog, too.)

Solution: I tracked the problem to the MMHTTPDB.js file in the _mmServerScripts folder. This folder resides under the root of your site. Specifically, I modified the calls to OpenSchema by removing the 2nd, optional, parameter. Everything worked just fine then.

Old code:

return MarshallRecordsetIntoHTML(this.Connection.OpenSchema(adSchemaTables,VBVariant));

New code:

return MarshallRecordsetIntoHTML(this.Connection.OpenSchema(adSchemaTables));

As far as I can tell there are no adverse side effects when the optional argument is removed. Of course, the bad news is that you have to make this change for all websites that you're working on that are hosted on a Win2003 server that's been upgraded to SP1.

Anyone else out there experience this problem? If you try this fix, please write back and let me know if it works for you and if you see any problems with this solution.

I just bought my first iPod. Finally, I've joined the ranks of the musically inclined. Heretofore, I listened to whatever happened to already be in the CD player. Of course, I'm not fully initated just yet. My shiny new iPod sits on my desk with all of TWO songs on it. Free ones that I got when I signed up at iTunes.

Total Volume

None to speak of but I'm hoping to change that soon as I fill up my new iPod.

Last CD Bought

It's been quite a while ... I think it was Jack Johnson's "On and On"

Song Playing Right Now

"The Promise" from Tracy Chapman's album titled "New Beginning" (always a great theme but esp good for Mondays)

Top 5 Tracks

Puh-leeze! This is why I don't buy lots of music. I can't remember who's who and what's what. That's probably why I like buying movie sound tracks. If I liked the music in the movie, I'll like the sound track and all I have to remember is the name of the movie. Besides, who wouldn't get a kick out of "The Mask of Zorro"!?

Five people I'm passing the baton to

This is a tough one. I'm a programmer. I live in a cave. But, okay, I'll pass the baton on to my nieces and nephew. All teenagers. It'll be interesting to see what they have to say:
Harpal, Devindar, and Kiran Aulakh

PS - Thanks a LOT, Ray, for passing the baton to me. Ya just had to expose my musical naivete, didn't ya?

I work in code view a lot and recently, DW's nifty neat-o code coloring stopped working. I didn't want to spend the time to track it down and worked for a few days in B&W. But today I decided to knuckle under and figure it out.

The solution isn't so bad after all. I was thinking that I had to reinstall DW or fool around with registry settings. But it turns out that I (aka, dunderhead) accidently turned color coding off!

Edit > View > Code View Options > Syntax Coloring

Just make sure it's checked and you're back in a colorful world.

If you haven't used Code View Options before, check it out. Besides disabling color coding, you can also turn on/off Word Wrap, Line Numbers, Highlight Invalid HTML, and Auto Indent.

I recently joined a networking group called BNI - Business Network International (great concept BTW, check it out at bni.com). One of the members, Ace-ana Promotions provides promotional items. You know, pens / water bottles / notepads / etc with the company's name imprinted on it. I decided this year to jump on that bandwagon and instead of giving out impersonal (but delicious) chocolate confections, I ordered these cool tool sets. They've got every little tool you could ever need to open up and mess around wtih your computer. A great geek gift.

Anyway... I needed two sets of graphics. One for the toolcase and the other for the box. Dreamweaver MX Studio to the rescue! With lots of help from CMX partner Kim Dudley, I created a simple Freehand image suitable for printing on the toolcase and then I used Fireworks to create the image for the labels pasted on the outside of the box and printed up the labels myself.

The logo on the toolcase itself is really simple. Just a curvy graphic similar to my business card and my domain name. But I got a little more creative with the label. I used one of the images that came bundled with the new North Pole JumpStart (the cute little wrapped packages at the bottom of the page) and simply added a "Happy Holidays" message.

No, I'm not going to quit my day job as an ASP.NET programmer but the side trip into graphics was fun!

Only time will tell if my client gifts garner continued business but as with all gift giving - it sure feels good.

Happy Holidays to my CMX colleagues and all our great subscribers!

Did you know that you can narrow your Google search down to a specific site?

In the Google textbox, type the domain name of the site, prefaced by site: and then type your search phrase.

For example, say you've been reading one of our many articles on CSS hacks and want to find eveything we've ever published on css hacks. One way is to use our search page. But an alternative is to use Google. Type this into the Google search textbox:

site:www.communitymx.com css hack

In my last blog posting, I included a link to a tech note on the Macromedia site. Since then, they've updated the information.

If you're experiencing database connectivity problems - just in Dreamweaver, not when you view the page in a browser - Macromedia has an extension that you'll be happy with. According to the tech note, this extension fixes problems on XP SP2 boxes running ASP.NET or ASP test servers.

Read the tech note: http://www.macromedia.com/support/dreamweaver/ts/documents/dw_xp_sp2.htm#aspnet_db (updated Sept 27, 2004).

Dreamweaver users on XP boxes that have been upgraded with SP2 have reported problems connecting to databases with their ASP.NET pages. If you've gotten wierd errors trying to create MM:DataSets or build OLE DB connections, check out this Dreamweaver support document at http://www.macromedia.com/support/dreamweaver/ts/documents/dw_xp_sp2.htm

The ASP.NET so-called "workaround" is to use a testing server not running XP SP2. Sorry folks.

The second ASP.NET problem discussed in this support document: "Build" button does not work in ASP.NET OLE DB connection dialog -- affects Win2k users, too, not just XP SP2. I'm pretty sure this it also has to do with MDAC 2.8 since I just did my Windows update, which included MDAC 2.8, and now can't use the Build button. The workaround to use templates worked great for me.

The technote has other important info for XP SP2 users, besides the ASP.NET stuff, so check it out if you've upgraded to SP2.

I recently got a new computer with a gigantic hard disk. So I dutifully partitioned it and loaded a couple of different operating systems. Yes, this hard core Windows nut is finally getting with the program...My version of Linux is from SuSe.

The first interesting thing I noticed is that when I reboot, Linux is now my default OS. Now I can imagine lots of people who'd say, "Of course! What's the problem?" Well, it's just that I still use Windows for most of my work. So I needed to figure out how to change the default. And, now that I know, I just have to share it with everyone :-)

The file that must be modified is the menu file, /boot/grub/menu.lst. This file contains information on all partitions and operating systems that can be booted with the menu. Device and partition numbering starts with zero, which coincidentally corresponds to my Linux install. The Windows 2003 Server is next in line. Therefore, to have Windows be my default OS, all I had to do was edit the menu.lst file and change from the value after the "default" keyword from 0 (for Linux) to 1 (for Windows).

color white/blue black/light-gray
default 1
timeout 8
gfxmenu (hd0,6)/boot/message

title Linux
    kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda7 
         vga=0x31a splash=silent 
         desktop resume=/dev/sda9 showopts
    initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd

title Windows
    root (hd0,0)
   chainloader +1

etc etc

Hmm, maybe this Linux stuff isn't so bad, after all!

Amazon announced last Friday their new and improved web services, now in beta.

Amazon promises:

• More access to data - more product images and customer reviews, products from every category, and details galore about the products.
• Extended capabilities - better searching (including wish list searching) and shopping cart functionality.
• Improved usability - No more "lite" and "heavy" responses (now you can stipulate exactly the data you want to retrieve) and better performance (specify two operations in a single request).

Even if you don't want to get embroiled in a beta test, check out the current version of their web services. You have to register first since usage of the web services requires a unique subscription id, which you supply each time you make a call to the web services. Happily, Amazon doesn't spam you to death. I've only gotten a handful of emails since signing up last October (2003), and all the messages have been about the web services specifically.

You'll find several articles at Community MX when you search for web services.

Lance Hunt has compiled an impressive set of guidelines for C# coders. Check out his blog and download the pdf for yourself. If you're an old hand at C# coding, you may find some newly preferred standards (like using the as operator instead of direct casting, top of page 12 in the pdf) and if you're a newbie, this is a great place to learn.