CFBuilder versus CFEclipse

[DjonesAX]

OK Somebody sell me here.  I have been trying to figure out if I should by CFBuilder when CFEclipse is free.

Thanks,

David

[ilssac]

IF CFEclipse meets your needs, then it is probably the correct tool for you.

There are differences between CFEclipse and CFBuilder for which some developers are willing to pay.

Whether there are enough developers willing to pay for it is a question open to heated debate.

[Guest]

I would wait if I were you... CFB is in its infancy and I encounter just as many problems (though different) in CFB than I did in cf_eclipse. I haven't checked in a while, but if cf_eclipse were to fix some bugs, it could be a great cf editor. However, it doesn't support line level debugging, which is a huge benefit of CFB. If that's important, it might be worth the $300.

The CFB editor sucks right now, and it has since I started using it (last winter). It's slow and painful to edit some files. They've made some fixes in the first update that were much needed, but now they need to deal with performance. Some files cripple the CFB editor and it takes several seconds after every edit for the editor to catch up. There's also a ton of features that I don't use, which have to do with automatic code generation and so forth.

If you are to switch, it takes a little time. You have to re-import all your projects and then configure RDS. It's not entirely straight forward and it might take a little time for you to figure it out.

[DjonesAX]

I didnt realize that Eclipse didnt support CF line level debugging.  I am taking over an existing project with over 4,000 CF files so I will most likely be relying on the debugging heavily to help me understand the code faster. 

David

[Guest]

Eclipse itself doesn't support line level debugging, and cf_eclipse doesn't either. However, it is supported by CF Builder, though the implementation will hopefully be better in future releases. It's slow and it doesn't save the expansion state of your variables between steps, which makes it hard to watch what's happening to nested variables. But at least you can step through your code, which is something you haven't been able to do since HomeSite, back about 10 years ago!!!

[DjonesAX]

Yeah I also noticed that with CFBuilder.  Each step would colapse my variable tree. Very annoying.

I have to say that I am getting conflicting answers about stepping through code with CFEclipse.  I have read that some that are doing it but people here tell me it cant be done.  I just spoke to a guy that said he had it working a while back but he said it was something he downloaded from adobe for free.   I dont know if that was pre CFBulder and now abobe doesnt offer those extentions anymore or what.

David

[Guest]

From http://www.adobe.com/support/coldfusion/downloads.html#cfdevtools

ColdFusion 8 Extensions for Eclipse

This collection of plugins adds the ColdFusion 8 code debugger,  code wizards, RDS capabilities and more to Adobe Flex Builder or  Eclipse. For installation instructions, see http://livedocs.adobe.com/coldfusion/8/htmldocs/othertechnologies_11.html.

• Download  the ColdFusion 8 Extensions for Eclipse (ZIP, 24.4 MB)

[DjonesAX]

I saw that too.  I noticed that there are no extensions for CF9 so I am assuming that they are killing that to encourage users to purchase CFBuilder.  We are currently using CF8 and I assume CFeclispe would be fine but I am unsure if we move to CF9 if we will run into problems and will want CFBuilder after all.  I hate to beat what seems like a dead horse, I just want to make sure what ever we decide to use will work going forward.

David

[Guest]

To clarify semantics...

You asked if Eclipse supports line level debugging. Eclipse itself doesn't support anything ColdFusion... you need a plugin.

The CF_Eclipse plugin does not provide line level debugging.

I have no experience using CF_Eclipse with the CF 8 Extensions for Eclipse plugin. Does it work for CF 9?

CF Builder integrates line level debugging into the CF Builder plugin.

Good luck!

[Guest]

Eclipse DOES support line debugging!!!

http://eclipse.sys-con.com/node/382427

I've been line debugging with CFEclipse and ColdFusion 8 since 2007!