#bugconnect

I've recently moved several projects over to GitHub. Most of the open source work I've released is based on ColdFusion or Ext JS (Sencha). There are 5 projects at the moment.

I added a link on the right to my GitHub repositories. Or you can click here.

CFAmazon is the latest and probably most regularly updated right now. The code library is quite functional, but I don't have a lot of live examples. You can download them and run on your own, or see the recent presentation I gave on Slideshare.

AssetTracker is a full web-based GUI application written with a ColdFusion back end and an Ext JS front end. It connects to Active Directory and helps document all of the stuff Active Directory doesn't track about your computers. For example, I use it to keep track of ColdFusion apps running on a specific server, track IP addresses (pub/priv), etc. Screenshots are available at http://open.ecorgroup.com.

PostIt is a full web-based GUI application written with a ColdFusion back end and an Ext JS front end. The visual interface allows people to construct surveys that generate XML, allowing developers to apply common XSL/CSS for custom display. It also supports reporting. This was mostly an experiment converting an older application to ColdFusion 9, so there are a few issues that are pretty easy to work around. You can read about it in the Best of CF9 Contest. Screenshots available at http://open.ecorgroup.com.

BugConnect is a ColdFusion wrapper for Bugzilla. It supports creating a custom interface when the ugly Bugzilla interface is simply too much for end users to handle. I probably won't be updating this project anymore, but I've put it on GitHub for archive purposes. If anyone is interested in contributing to it or taking it on, let me know.

CFExtConnect is a replacement for Ext.Direct, specifically targeting ColdFusion interaction. It simplifies the process of communicating with CF from Ext.

What's Next?

To be completely honest, I don't anticipate updating these projects much anymore, except for CFAmazon. I'm not saying the projects are dead, because there are people using them (including me). However; the motivation and time is lacking. Sponsorship would help with the motivation, mostly because I am running a consulting firm and working on 4 other startups. There are a few thoughts I've had regarding each project, which I feel comfortable sharing publicly.

AssetTracker & PostIt are both based on Ext 3.x. I have moved to Ext 4, which is significantly different. Even though the apps are probably backward compatible (shout out to the guy working on compatibility at Sencha), the Ext data model package is so different (in a great way) that the ColdFusion portion would be easier to rewrite. I'd also like to see more standard JSON out of CF. Furthermore, I am considering a commercial SaaS version of both of these projects. The feedback so far (which has been minimal) is people are interested in using the applications, not developing them. A friend of mine recently commented on AssetTracker being a thesis in CF/Ext. I certainly hope there is educational value, but the project has a fair number of infrastructure requirements my company could better support out of our data center.

BugConnect was created to support a public beta testing site we had. That project has taken a significant turn in a different direction and Bugzilla is no longer the right fit for it. I still use Bugzilla regularly, but I don't have a need to have Bugzilla facing the public anymore.

CFExtConnect is the most likely to get updated from time to time, for odd reasons. I use ColdFusion in some very non-traditional ways. I've recently favored using SSJS (Server Side JavaScript) instead of CF for web back ends, and my CF development focuses more on processes like ETL, Gateways, and bulk data processing. However; I also do a lot of transition work helping companies upgrade and integrate different technologies. I can see myself continuing to add features to this library, but it will be primarily dependent on the needs of the clients I'm working with.

So what new stuff will be coming out?

CFAmazon will continue, but you can also expect to see new projects using new technologies.

Aside from running a web consulting practice, I also run a data warehousing and business intelligence practice. We use a lot of Cognos, and I've been coming across a few clients interested in using ColdFusion to increase their Cognos capabilities. It's a niche, but one I've seen slowly crop up over the years.