Just a reminder that when you install CFBuilder as a plugin either to Eclipse or Flex Builder or Flash Builder, you're installing CFBuilder to its own directory and inside the full install of Eclipse or Flex Builder or Flash Builder installation, there's a folder called 'dropins' and inside that, is a single file called "CFBuilder.link". If you need to re-install Eclipse or Flex Builder or Flash Builder, you don't need to re-install CFBuilder, you could just preserve that file and then drop it in place when you've got your new Eclipse / Whatever Builder re-installed.

So, if you're the type that likes to have the nightly build of Eclipse running at all times, you can, just copy/paste CFBuilder.link around and put it in the dropins folder and you're done. I believe the .link file is nothing more than a pointer to the real CFBuilder folder.

I guess this tip only applies to those of you that haven't fully jumped over to ORM yet and still write your own SQL. One of the habits that I've gotten into seems to have dramatically cut down the amount of SQL errors complaining about commas for me. It's very simple.

Instead of writing insert/update statements like such:

<cfquery name="insert">
INSERT INTO tablefoo(col1,col2)
VALUES(
<cfqueryparam value="#data1#">,
<cfqueryparam value="#data2#">
)
</cfquery>

I write them as:

<cfquery name="insert">
INSERT INTO tablefoo(col1,col2)
VALUES(
<cfqueryparam value="#data1#">
,<cfqueryparam value="#data2#">
)
</cfquery>

Why? It's easier for me to look down the list and scan for missing commas.

Anyway, just a stupid little tip that seems to be working for me. I doubt I'm the first that have done this. ;)

Today is "How I got started in ColdFusion" day, a great idea suggested by Steve Bryant.

Back in the mid 90s, I was working for a Mom & Pop ISP as a "Webmaster." The problem with Mom & Pop ISPs is that sometimes they weren't so reliable in paying. After my 2nd bounced check, I decided that it was time to leave. I came back to the PA area, specifically around Pittsburgh because my older brother was living in the area and he let me crash on the couch while I was looking for a job.

In '97, I landed a job at a place called MetalExchange (later renamed to MetalSite). I was doing Tech Support at first, but being employee number 11 (out of 200 something), you eventually start moving up through the ranks. I got promoted to QA. They sent me to a ColdFusion class so that I would be able to assist better with QA.

A bunch of us went to class and Glenda Vigoreaux was our teacher for the "Fast Track to ColdFusion 4.0" training. The CTO at the time saw that I was picking up CFML faster than some of the other programmers and that was basically because I wasn't struggling with all the HTML tags and such.

A week later, after training, they promoted me to a developer. I started picking up contacts with people at Allaire and hanging out on the forums and learning even more. Two months after that, I was promoted to a manager. I was responsible for getting all the new developers in the door more training (which, we brought Glenda back twice more to Pittsburgh for).

Around 2001 or so, the company started going downhill (dot com bubble popped) and I jumped ship having survived 2 rounds of layoffs. I found a little firm in Pittsburgh that was looking for a ColdFusion developer for a 6 month contract that could possibly lead to long term. I came on as a consultant. 6 months later, I signed on full time.

11 years later, I'm still with the same company. I've worked with a lot of big name clients in the Pittsburgh area.

I've had a lot of great opportunities thanks to my adventures with ColdFusion (Team Macromedia, Going to Japan for my previous job, Meeting awesome people at conferences, etc). The only rough patch when I was really starting to doubt ColdFusion was when ColdFusion MX was released (6.0, 6.01... 6.02 was semi-stable).