Allaire & cfAnywhare became JRun
I have always felt that CF would be very good for ad hoc desktop apps.
With the advent of the initial version of CFMX and its integrated JRun,
and integrated RDBMS (PointBase) it seemed that everything existed in a
single pkg to easily do this --- and it was a rather trivial install.
The latest versions of CFMX perform much better, compile directly to
Java bytecode. so performance is greatly improved. There is a looser
integration with JRun (more install options) and a somewhat more
difficult install.
But, it's still all right there in a single package. I can write
desktop apps with CFMX that access the web, local databases, local
files, execute other programs or scripts, yadda, yadda, yadda,
I can use the familiar HTML Browser as a front end and UI. Or, I can
use a RIA with Flash or Robs PIA front end.
When you do web development and testing on a single machine, as I do,
every CF application is a desktop application.
Some apps I write, never go beyond localhost -- these in effect, are
desktop only CF apps.
But more often than not, I need to combine dynamic local data (from
files, databases, other desktop applications) with other dynamic data
available on the web. Then a combo Desktop/Web app is in order.
A good example of a combo app is a status monitor where local
historical data is combined with dynamic data from the web. Some
examples might be:
--- monitoring the status of multiple web servers
--- monitoring stock portfolios *
--- tracking shipments
--- monitoring sales leads & tele-marketing
* The stock portfolio app is one that I use daily -- during market
hours it shows me how my stocks are performing with real-time data from
the web. It alerts me of stocks that need attention by combining the
web data with local data that contains (buy/sell) thresholds I have set
and other position information (purchase price, days held) that may
have tax implications.
Given an ideal world I could write quite a nice cross-platform,
self-contained desktop(or combo) app in CFMX and have trial versions
available (for download and/or on CD) that would self install
(including, CFMX, JRun, DB) or be run from CD. (Of course, in the
ideal world, licensing and pricing of the integrated products would be
changed to satisfy the needs of this broader market).
I wish I could do that!
Dick
On Apr 3, 2004, at 7:34 AM, Stephen Moretti wrote:
> Dick Applebaum wrote:
>
> > ahhh ... if only we had CFAnywhere..... :)
> >
> ~cough~ bluedragon....
> Thats what CFAnywhere became. Plus you're showing your age now
> Dick.. ;)
>
> Unfortuately doesn't really help John with a cross-platform desktop
> application. Yeah I know it should run everywhere, but nothing is
> ever
> quite that simple and in this instance cf/php/etc are all a little on
> the heavy side. Mini flash app should be more than sufficient. (he
> says
> sticking to the thread)
>
> Stephen
>
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