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CFChart problem solved!

I changed multiple variables at once so all of this may not be necessary. The final solution to the CFChart doesn’t work / won’t display / is blank problem is to add a virtual directory in IIS under the website wanting to use CFChart for "CFIDE" and another virtual directory for "JRunScripts". The last post in this thread helped me realize that having virtual directories for CFIDE and JRunScripts in the webroot was not sufficient.

Allan – CFUG Spain 5 Dec 2004 21:16:55 [ permanent link ]
What you have do is:

  1. Create the file GraphData.cfm in the CFIDE directory. (As a file can’t be empty stick a comment in there )
  2. Make sure the IIS website entry has a virtual directory to CFIDE (C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\CFIDE)
  3. Make sure the IIS website entry has a virtual directory to JRunScripts (C:\CFusionMX\runtime\lib\wsconfig\1)

Then restart CFMX server and Bob should be your uncle.

Allan

Update: Insult to injury. 6.5 hours ago, someone online recommended I confirm my mappings for CFIDE and scripts. I misinterpretted their question and blew it! Time to self-deprecate.

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Time to regroup – CFChart or not CFChart

So I’ve spent most of the day working on this issue. To recount, I’m trying to use CFChart to plot some data but the webpage returns blank. What we know:

The zero byte file reference was interesting. For people having trouble with CFChart or RDS you may need to know:

Some ColdFusion Administrator functions, as well as RDS and cfchart functionality, rely on two ColdFusion templates. However, these templates do not exist by default. You will need to create the following zero-byte files, since IIS will check for them during processing.

  1. Open Windows Explorer.
  2. Navigate to the web_root/CFIDE directory, typically located at \inetpub\wwwroot\CFIDE.
  3. Create a blank file named GraphData.cfm.
  4. Create a directory called main.
  5. Navigate to the new directory at web_root/CFIDE/main.
  6. Create a blank file titled ide.cfm.
  7. Repeat steps B-F for any additional instances of web_root/CFIDE.

At this point I’m running out of time. Can I do this with a different solution?

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Simple is never simple

So I take on two quickie low cost, fast turn around projects and they are eating me alive!

The first is a ColdFusion reporting project that is simply supposed to take the existing statistics report and produce a chart using CFChart. Works fine on my CFMX6.1 development server but apparently IIS6 and CF7.1 don’t play nice when it comes to CFChart. The problem is with IIS but Adobmedillare has been kind enough to release a hot fix that doesn’t work. "This hot fix explicitly generates HTTP headers before the chart data."

The second simple project is a PHP COTS shopping system (x-cart) that needs some customization. Only, it’s not using PHP per se. The customizations are all done using SMARTY. The challenge with programming, particularly web application programming, is constantly having to learn new languages/frameworks/methodoligies and being able to turn work like its old hack.

Using this simple CFChart example works in CF6.1 and fails in CF7.01 even after the hot fix.

<cfchart>
   <cfchartseries type="pie">
      <cfchartdata item="New car sales" value="50000">
      <cfchartdata item="Used car sales" value="25000">
      <cfchartdata item="Leasing" value="30000">
      <cfchartdata item="Service" value="40000">
   </cfchartseries>
</cfchart>

Anyone have extra tickets for CFUnited? I’d love to go this year but can’t justify the cost of the event.

UPDATE: Just tried the ColdFusion MX 7.0.1 Cumulative Hot Fix 2 with no luck. Note the hot fix advises:

Any individual hot fixes previously installed that are now contained in this cumulative hot fix should be removed.
…
we recommend always using the latest version of the cumulative hot fix

In short, remove any previous *.jars and only install the latest fix.

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The cute things they do that we don’t talk about

So parents have to go to the bathroom too. You find an activity that may occupy the child just long enough but at one year old they move fast. Pretty soon this knee high, nearly bald bundle of cuteness has snuck up behind you, grabbed one knee with both hands with a squeeze that would make you think the floor was about to fall out beneath him, then from his hidding place behind your leg he slowly peers around your knee looking up at you with these wide round eyes as if to say " Whatcha doing? Oh Daad! Don’t you know you are supposed to do that in your diaper?!"

Not yet son.

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From the mouths of babes

Noah, 10 years old: "I found a way to make the sugar stick to my toast. Since I don’t like butter, I use peanut butter."

Now, he is actually using cinnamon sugar but has used plain sugar before. Noah used to eat mac and cheese. Used to eat grilled cheese. Now has nothing to do with cheese in any form. Noah used to eat peanut butter and jelly; now jelly is off limits. Noah used to eat green beans; now gags. Noah will eat apple sauce, and apples but all other fruits and vegetables are off limits.

I thought your range of foods increased as you got older.

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I’m defined

Someone that I know only from online (irc efnet #coldfusion)sent me this message: "I was reading the Death Before Dullness article in the Make vol6 mag and immediately thought of you djuggler. :)" so I flip to page 14 and read the article, Following are the first 3 paragraphs:

I think many lightly organized geeks suffer from an overpowering fear of tedium. It’s part of being a novelty-seeking kind of person: when you get substantial amounts of pleasure from uncovering new knowledge, any task where you’re not learning — where you’re just repeating — is unbearably painful to pursue.

If you’re a programmer, there’s an additional level of suffering in drudgery. Doing the same thing over and over while coding, like copying and pasting the same function into different functions? That’s never a demonstration that you’re doing good work. It’s usually a sign that something is wrong with your code. You’re paid to remove redundancies. Programmers look at a task like weeding the lawn and think, "I’ve already done this. Why can’t I wrap it in a loop, and just run that?"

As a result, geeks often get themselves into terrible trouble because they cannot bear to do simple, everyday tasks — like pay bills on time, or fill in a tax form, or wash the dishes. It’s an aesthetic and moral offense. Better, says the subconscious, to be bankrupt and on the run from the IRS, eating from plastic cups and plates, than to have to do some brain-numbing piece of repetitious nonsense, even for a moment. Death before dullness!

Well now. That about says it. The rest of the article is equally great. Thanks atomi!

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Understand Net Neutrality

Understand that the Internet you know and love is being threaten. Take 6.5 minutes to watch this video to better understand net neutrality and why you should be in touch with your representative in Washington.

UPDATE: Be sure to watch this one also which presents the other side of the debate. Here’s a comment I just made at Say Uncle:

I think that link should be balanced with the other side.

Knowing the Internet on the technical side as intimately as I do, I think both videos leave out critical information. I’m still weighing my thoughts on the issue. Right now I think the 6.5 minute video in favor of regulation presents better arguments. The hands off video is more strongly deceptive in making people think that Google and the giants are getting a free ride which they aren’t. They have to pay for connectivity just like the rest of us and bandwidth at their magnitude can get expensive. Any small time publisher that has found the front page of Instapundit, Digg, Slashdot, BoingBoing or the rest knows the pain.

I still have to think this one over.

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Woohoo! Aardvark is working again. CSS troubleshooting is easier.


For you developers out there troubleshooting CSS, Aardvark is an extension for Firefox which greatly helps troubleshoot your css since it will show the elements with labels. Aardvark is not listed on Mozilla’s official list of extensions which typically means that the extension is not completely compatible with Firefox, sloppy, or the developer just didn’t submit it. I like Aardvark but had to quit using it when Firefox released version 1.5. Only today did I realize that Aardvark had a new release.

I definitely recommend adding Aardvark to your list of development tools!

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Lookout Flickr!

Riya brings an interesting angle to photosharing and album management. Riya uses facial recognition to automatically name the people in your photos. Now when you take 500 pictures on a family vacation you can upload the photos and search for all photos containing a particular person. Very nice! Riya is currently in an unstable beta. Flickr should buy them.