Spike, Thanks for your input. I'd like to address your issues.
> There is quite a lot of configuration work up front to set up a project > and ensure that Plum knows all about the ColdFusion, Web server and > Database. Any application will eventually need all this information. Plum just collects it all up front. > Once you've got your project set up Plum uses these to allow > you to perform configuration tasks without leaving the IDE and to > generate code for task like CRUD operations on a single table, and > searching, again on a single table. Plum search forms can search on parent tables, too. > The major downfall I can see is that there doesn't appear to be *any* > way to actually edit the text of a file directly. You have to use an > external text editor of some kind to to that. This was intended from the beginning. Plum is a tool to add to your toolbox, not replace your toolbox. To try and recreate HomeSite inside Plum would not have been realistic for us. > Also, once you start modifying the generated code you can't easily merge > your modified code with code that Plum generates in the future. You can > either choose to overwrite an existing file or leave it alone. I guess > that means that PLUM is designed primarily for generating stub code that > you then modify and don't use Plum to manage in the future. Once you've gone as far as you like in the Plum IDE for a page, you right-click the page node and choose "Lock This Page", which prevents that page from being overwritten by future generations. Plum was never intended to be a round-tripping tool; it was intended to generate all or most of the code you need for a page, then its job is done and the rest (if anything) is up to the developer. > It's certainly a promising product and I can see why it would be useful > to a lot of people, but there are a few areas where I think it's missing > key features. Appologies to the developers if any of these are already > in there. I looked but I couldn't find them. > > They are in no particular order: > > Integrated text based editor that supports the same sort of stuff CF > developers have become used to - tag insight etc. > Integrated SQL editor to support searching and other SQL operations on > more than 1 table. > Round-trip code management and merging. > Customization of the CFML code generation to suit individual coding styles. We've never intended to include any of these features in Plum. That's not the application space we're occupying. > Support for frameworks other than the Plum framework. The Plum IDE is tightly coupled to the Plum Framework, and wouldn't have any utility with any other frameworks. The Plum IDE is not a traditional IDE, but an IDE for Plum application development. > Support for a less page-centric application model. Could you clarify this a bit? Spike, I really appreciate your feedback, and I hope you continue to look into Plum and let us know what you like and what you don't like. If you go through the tutorials provided with the product, they will show you quite a lot of what Plum can do to really improve your daily development effort. Respectfully, Adam Phillip Churvis Member of Team Macromedia http://www.ProductivityEnhancement.com Download Plum and other cool development tools, and get advanced intensive Master-level training: * C# & ASP.NET for ColdFusion Developers * ColdFusion MX Master Class * Advanced Development with CFMX and SQL Server 2000 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Silver Sponsor - CFDynamics http://www.cfdynamics.com Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:187817 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
