As mentioned before, CF Studio is the IDE for ColdFusion coding.
On the surface, Studio is a text editor, albeit one with many
valuable features for web page developers. It's based on Allaire's
award-winning HomeSite HTML editor. Studio simply adds many
features specifically for ColdFusion developers. Both Studio and
HomeSite, like ColdFusion, can just as easily be used to create WML
pages if you know what to write. However, release 4.5 offers
features that are specifically geared toward WML developers to help
make coding easier, especially if you're new to WML. (From now on,
I'll refer to simply Studio but all these features are in both
Studio and HomeSite.)
New Page Wizard
To make Studio create a new, skeletal page for coding WML
applications with CF, use the File | New menu command and choose
the WML tab from the dialogue offered. From there, you have the
choice of creating a new, blank template with skeletal WML code and
either with or without the <CFCONTENT> tag filled in for you
(referred to as dynamic or static, respectively):
Tag Insight
Even more valuable, when entering tags in Studio (whether HTML
or WML), is a feature called Tag Insight. If, after entering the
tag name and a space, you wait a second, you'll be presented with a
list of all the valid attributes for the given tag:
Tag Editors
Another useful feature for editing WML code is Studio's Tag
Editor. With this, you can place the cursor on a tag and either
right-click and choose Edit Tag, or press Ctrl-F4, which pops up a
dialog that displays the available attributes and their appropriate
values (where they are predefined). Also, this feature often
presents the attributes in the order of their most likely
usefulness, whereas Tag Insight simply presents them in
alphabetical order:
Tag Help
Yet another useful feature is Studio's built-in help. Sometimes,
you may not want to see the available attributes in a dialog (like
the Tag Editor) or in a list (as in the Tag Insight feature). You
may just want to read about the available attributes and their
predefined values (if any). To do that, simply press the F1 key
while the cursor is on an element (CF, HTML, or WML). Studio will
open a help window for that element:
To return to editing your code, simply press F12 or click the
Edit button offered above the window showing the help.
Studio's tag editing features are powerful; they make it easy to
enter code while typing (Tag Insight) and provide assistance when
you're not sure how to proceed (Tag Insight, Tag Editor, and Tag
Help).
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