I know many of you have been eagerly awaiting the next CFDevCon ColdFusion conference, well you will be happy to hear the new 2008 web site is now live as of yesterday and registrations are now open.

The survey results in 2006 were quite clear, most delegates wanted a better venue, a better conference hotel, better food, more tracks, more days and more bells and whistles and were happy to pay more for the tickets, so as this is a community driven event by developers for developers, that is what we have done, and we think we have still managed to keep the price quite reasonable too. For those that find CFUnited too expensive and too commercial, this is the event for you.

This year is a 2 day event with multiple tracks and an array of well known speakers presenting on popular topics. We have also opted for the seaside town of Brighton as the location this year, which is only 45 minutes direct from London Victoria on the train, so not only do you get to attend a great conference, but you can also then have a nice weekend break by the sea if you so wish. Much better than being stuck in rip-off London we think, with its outlandish prices, crowded/smelly streets and tube stations, unreliable public transport, and having to rush to catch the last tube back to your hotel every night.

So what are you waiting for, mosey on over to www.cfdevcon.com and register already.

I am currently considering adding SubVersion support to CFDeveloper. If this would be of interest to you, please vote in the poll.
If your viewing this from the front page, click on view/add comments link below.

what is SubVersion?

In computing, Subversion (SVN) is a version control system (VCS) initiated in 2000 by CollabNet Inc. It allows users to keep track of changes made to any type of electronic data, typically source code, web pages or design documents.

ColdFusion 8 is here

Tonight I have upgraded the CFDeveloper hosting server to ColdFusion 8. Thanks to Adobe for continuing to support CFDeveloper and providing the FREE upgrade. It was a lot less painful than when Macromedia were running things.

If you have any problems with your site not working since the upgrade, just login to HELM and go to

Domains -> Your Domains -> Web Site Settings

And uncheck the "enable coldfusion" box, click save, then re-enable, and lcick save again.

You may need to do this if your using BlueDragon as well due to the new application mappings may have overwritten the Bluedragon mappings so you may be using ColdFusion 8 now instead of BlueDragon.

Here are some useful links with information on the new features in ColdFusion 8

The official Adobe feature list:
http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/features/
ColdFusion 8 and Ajax presentation:
https://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/_a200985228/p17717628/
Some articles by Charlie Arehart
http://carehart.org/blog/client/index.cfm/cf8

Other plans on the horizon.

I will be installing a new Database server for SQL Server 2005 express. I have no exact ETA on this, but I do have a server sitting here waiting to be installed.

New Atlanta have provided me with a BlueDragon 7 license, so I will also be upgrading the existing  BlueDragon hosting probably next weekend.

Ever heard of Railo ? it is another alternative CFML engine, and so far the tests show it is even faster than both ColdFusion and BlueDragon. Well you will soon be able to test this for yourself as Railo Technologies GmbH are also now supporting CFDeveloper and have provided me with a license. More info on this soon.

Domain Names

Do you have your own registered domain name yet? If not then you may be interested to know that I have recently slashed the prices of registering your domain through CFDeveloper down to £8 ($16) per year. And don't forget that you can also host your domain on cfdeveloper for free too if you sign-up for the free developer hosting, or with the £29.99 per year PLUS account you also get email thrown in too.

Free Domain Services

We don't nickel-and-dime you. All of these value-added services are included in your annual domain name fee.

FREE Domain Name Control Panel - Our simple and powerful control panel puts you in charge, letting you manage your domain name whenever you want, from one place.

FREE Domain Forwarding - Have multiple domain names or another name that is long or confusing? Redirect them to a single, more memorably named site.

FREE Sub-Domains - Get the most out of your domain name by hosting other sites on different sub-domains (called "host records). For example, you can have www.example.com as your main site, and have a different site at sales.example.com

FREE Registrar Lock - Avoid any transfer mistakes and the loss of your domain. If a domain name has "register lock" turned on, transfers won't be able to go through until you turn it off.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TODAY

Well my first CFDevCon is now over, and i'm glad to announce it was a big success.

I have received lots of positive feedback and praise so far and plenty of people have told me they will definitely come next year, so it was worth all the hard work and late nights.

The turnout reached my expectations which was around 200 people, which resulted in a nicely packed venue with the main room being about 3/4 full with room for a few tables for people to sit with their laptops, which was mainly the speakers tweaking their presentations, or actually writing them at the last minute (no names mentioned Alex).

New Atlanta and Charlie Arehart seemed very happy with the event and the turnout, so i'm really glad the trip was worth their while too. 

I just wish I was able to sit still long enough to watch everyones talk myself. 

The after party was also great fun, although only about half the delegates were able to stick around due to the need to catch trains and drive home, but those who did stay polished the tequila with gusto. The magician (Hugh Nightingale) also went down great and amazed everyone with his tricks. You always think that if you see these guys tricks face to face you will be able to suss out how they do it, but you can't. How he managed to turn my £10 note into a $50 bill I have no idea.

The only disapointment for me was the conference centres own hotel, which was a total dive. Thankfully it wasn't the only hotel, and most people I spoke to ended up staying at the Jury's inn instead, which luckily was right next door. If I hadn't had all my boxes of t-shirts and goody bags with me, I would have moved to the Jury's Inn as well, but I didn't fancy having to move it all just for the sake of 2 nights.

So if your ever in Croydon DO NOT stay at the Fairfield Hotel. The Fairfield Conference centre itself though is great. 

As some other people have already started reviewing the event on their blogs, i'll just post their links here as I find them.

Mark Drew has posted a PDF of his presentation HERE and his photos  HERE.  Most of the pics of me are at the party, but I did actually wear a a shirt and tie during the conference honest.

Andy Jarrett's review and pics

Alan Williamson's review

Trond Ulseths review