Adobe® ColdFusion® 9 Web Application Construction Kit, Volume 1: Introducing ColdFusion Builder
- The Relationship Between ColdFusion Builder and Eclipse
- Getting Started with ColdFusion Builder
In this chapter
- The Relationship Between ColdFusion Builder and Eclipse
- Getting Started with ColdFusion Builder
ColdFusion applications are made up of files—lots and lots of files. These files are plain text files containing CFML, HTML, SQL, JavaScript, CSS, and more. Because they are plain text files, ColdFusion developers are free to use any editor they like to write and edit their applications.
One of the most exciting and eagerly anticipated additions in ColdFusion 9 is the ColdFusion Builder, a new development environment designed specifically for us ColdFusion developers.
The Relationship Between ColdFusion Builder and Eclipse
ColdFusion Builder is an integrated development environment, or IDE. That’s important. Cold-Fusion Builder is more than a text editor. Rather, it is a complete workspace for ColdFusion development, supporting ColdFusion itself and lots of related and supported products and technologies.
ColdFusion is built on top of Eclipse. Eclipse is an open source, Java-based application development environment, and it is used by millions of developers working in all sorts of programming languages. ColdFusion development using Eclipse has long been supported by the ColdFusion community, and now ColdFusion Builder provides an official ColdFusion development environment built on this same trusted platform.
ColdFusion Builder is designed to be installed and used in either of two ways:
- If you have no prior experience with Eclipse and do not have an existing Eclipse installation, then you can just install and use ColdFusion Builder as a standalone application without paying any attention to the Eclipse internals until you are ready to do so.
- If you already use Eclipse (or other Eclipse-based tools, such as Adobe Flash Builder), then ColdFusion Builder can be installed as a plug-in inside that existing Eclipse application. This way, you’ll have a single integrated development environment for all projects.
Eclipse is a code-centric tool, and it is designed for experienced coders. Eclipse lacks the design tools that many users love in Adobe Dreamweaver, but by concentrating on just what hard-core coders need, it does a better job of addressing this group’s unique requirements.