FAQ: "When will BlueDragon support CFMX features?"

This is another question that we get all the time, "When will BlueDragon support CFMX features?"

There are several answers to that. First, keep in mind that like CFMX, BlueDragon is built atop a Java platform (in the BD Server, Server JX, and J2EE editions). In the server products, we run atop our ServletExec (like CFMX runs atop JRun). That's transparent to most CFML developers, but it's important to note that it does open the door to our having things that really flow from being atop a JSP/servlet engine. Therefore, we already do support some CFMX features, including:

• support for J2EE sessions
• Server-side redirects (or forwards, both among JSPs/servlets and just between CFML pages)
• Improved shared scope locking: JVM makes them threadsafe
• URLSessionFormat function for managing sessions without cookies

And we give you the option of running JSPs alongside your CFML templates (and integrating with them) on our Server JX product for just $549 (whereas CFMX requires the Enterprise edition for $4995 to get that feature).

And of course, like CFMX (and indeed CF4.5 and 5) you can perform integration with Java Libraries, Java classes, and more.

I'll do another blog entry that discusses our J2EE edition and contrast that with CFMX's. For the sake of this discussion, the point is that we offer many of the same benefits of CFMX's J2EE edition, yet we also offer several benefits over it.

Getting back to CFMX features, naturally there are a lot more than those listed above and we are adding many in our 3.1 release later this summer. Among many other things, we plan to add support for:

• XML processing
• Web Services
• Internationalization
• CFTRACE
• CFIMPORT of CFML
• GetPageContext and other J2EE Integration opps
• and more

But to many, the keystone CFMX feature is CFCs. To be honest, the jury is still out on how best to support them. There are at least 3 use cases for them: segregation of logic and presentation, creating web services, and using them for OO-style programming. Not everyone is using all three use cases, and clearly Redsky is going to change the last one. It's probably just as well that we waited. We plan much more complete compatibility with CFMX in our Release 4, planned for later this year or early next.

What CFMX features do you want in BlueDragon? Which ones do you REALLY need? We are a customer-driven company. Your needs are paramount. We don't want to waste time on things you don't really want. Let us know. Again, drop me a line at charlie@newatlanta.com.